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Widow of Zarephath

The widow of Zarephath, who was among the poorest of the poor, was actually a very self-reliant person in the middle of her starving, drought-stricken land. Now, you may recall, she was about to run out of food and was gathering sticks to build a fire to cook one last meal. That seems like the opposite of self-reliant. But so deep were her spiritual roots of self-reliance, that when a prophet of God asked for her last portions of food, “she went and did according to the saying of Elijah” (1 Kings 17:15). The scriptures tell us that after she used her last grain to feed the prophet, “the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail” (verse 16), and “she, and he, and her house, did eat many days” (verse 15). She was about to run out of food, but she did not—not because she had enough money, but because she had enough faith. As we do our best to live the gospel and do all that we can to support ourselves, the Lord will reward our faith and hard work.

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