Today (22nd October) is the anniversary of the death of Susannah Spurgeon, wife of English Baptist preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon. She died in 1903, about eleven years after her husband.

Mrs. Spurgeon often suffered from illness and one day Spurgeon asked her would she like anything. Half amusing herself with him she said, “I should like an opal ring and a piping bullfinch!” Spurgeon replied, “Ah, you know I cannot get those for you!” The matter was laughed over and there it appeared to drop.

I will let Mrs. Spurgeon tell the rest of the story.

“One Thursday evening, on his return from the Tabernacle, Charles came into my room with such a beaming face and such love-lighted eyes, that I knew something had delighted him very much. In his hand he held a tiny box, and I am sure his pleasure exceeded mine as he took from it a beautiful little ring and placed it on my finger. ‘There is your opal ring, my darling,’ he said, and then he told me of the strange way in which it had come. An old lady whom he had once seen when she was ill, sent a note to the Tabernacle to say she desired to give Mrs. Spurgeon a small present, and could someone be sent to her to receive it. Mr. Spurgeon’s private secretary went accordingly and brought the little parcel, which, when opened, was found to contain this opal ring. How we talked of the Lord’s tender love for His stricken child and of His condescension in thus stooping to supply an unnecessary gratification to His dear servant’s sick one, I must leave my readers to imagine; but I can remember feeling that the Lord was very near to us.”

“Not long after that I was moved to Brighton, there to pass a crisis in my life, the result of which would be a restoration to better health, or death. One evening, when my dear husband came from London, he brought a large package with him, and, uncovering it, disclosed a cage containing a lovely piping bullfinch! My astonishment was great, my joy unbounded, and these emotions were intensified as he related the way in which he became possessed of the coveted treasure. He had been to see a dear friend of ours, whose husband was sick unto death, and after commending the sufferer to God in prayer, Mrs. T___ said to him, ‘I want you to take my pet bird to Mrs. Spurgeon; I would give him to none but her; his songs are too much for my poor husband in his weak state, and I know that “Bully” will interest and amuse Mrs. Spurgeon in her loneliness while you are so much away from her.’ Mr. Spurgeon then told her of my desire for such a companion, and together they rejoiced over the care of the loving Heavenly Father who had so wondrously provided the very gift His child had longed for. With that cage beside him the journey to Brighton was a very short one, and when ‘Bully’ piped his pretty song and took a hemp seed as a reward from the lips of his new mistress, there were eyes with joyful tears in them and hearts overflowing with praise to God in the little room by the sea that night, and the dear Pastor’s comment was, ‘I think you are one of your Heavenly Father’s spoiled children, and He just gives you whatever you ask for.’”

“Does anyone doubt that this bird was a direct love-gift from the pitiful Father? Do I hear someone say, ‘Oh! it was all “chance” that brought about such coincidences as these’? Ah, dear friends, those of you who have been similarly indulged by Him know of a certainty that it is not so. He who cares for all the works of His hand cares with infinite tenderness for the children of His love, and thinks nothing which concerns them too small or too trivial to notice. If our faith were stronger and our love more perfect, we should see far greater marvels than these in our daily lives.”