Robert Sheffey 1820 - 1902 *****
On
his grave stone this is engraved "The poor were sorry when he
died" Because of the grace of God,
these words were very true. Robert was
raised by an uncle and ant, who were very well to do. They wanted him to go to college, and he went, for a time.
His
rich uncle died, and for a brief amount of time his ant was unable to supply
his tuition for college. This became
his excuse to discontinue going to college.
It is interesting to note that while in college, Robert was told that
whatever the future was to hold for him, it wouldn't include public speaking,
Robert had great difficulty speaking in public. But God, being rich in mercy
caused his son Robert Sheffey, to pray in such a way, that many people were
brought closer to God than ever before.
Robert,
tried to acquire a "preaching license" and was refused! The presiding
elder gave as one of the One reasons for refusal, the way in which Robert
prayed. The elder said that people had
told him, that when Robert prayed, he seemed to be talking directly to
God. Robert asked the elder, "When
you pray, to whom do you talk?"
The
one thing that set Robert's service to God apart from most other men was this,
he would travel many, many miles, to preach or pray, or just to rub liniment on
some elderly mountain man's back, all that Robert needed to know was that
another human being was in need, and he would go.
A
good example of the power of his
prayers can be seen in this example.
While travelling the back roads of Virginia, Robert came upon a
"moon shiner" the making of whiskey was legal back then, Robert told the man that his
"work" was hurting many people, for when men get drunk, they beat
their wife's, and children, they don't work, and many other hurtful things
happen that are not good. The man hit
Robert for his effort, Robert got down on his knees before the Lord and prayed,
"Lord cause a mighty oak tree to fall on this still, and break it into
many pieces, Amen. The moon shiner
began to laugh, he said, "there ain't any oak tree within 200 yards of
this place! That night, a storm came, with
lighting hit an oak tree high up in the mountain, above the moon shiners cabin,
the oak, a very, very large one, came rolling down the mountain side and
crusted his still. Robert’s prayer was
answered, and the results were wonderful, the man didn't make any more whiskey,
but instead, turned to the Lord!
It
has been said, when Robert prays for someone, things happen. Robert spent his life traveling the back
roads, visiting the cabins that were off the beaten path. He was truly God's servant. Once, while traveling a back road, he came
upon a wagon, with the horse laying on the ground, dead! He asked what happened, the man and his wife
said, "the horse just dropped dead as if it had been shot. Robert told them that just a few miles up
the road, was a town, and they could buy a new horse there. The man said in retort, "We ain't got
but four dollars, ever heard of a four dollar horse? Robert said lets me pray, and with that, Robert got down on his
hands and knees. As he started to pray
the told him to give the people his horse.
Robert asked the Lord,
"Lord do you require so much?
Then got up off of his knees and told the man and his wife to get there
bridle, and put it on "Gideon"
Robert then said to the man and his wife, sometimes praying is just an excuse, the horse was already
provided. Robert loved his horse. Robert carried his saddle into the town and
was asked "what happened to your horse?" Robert said he had given it away to a needy family, the man said
to him, "well bro. Sheffey, we are going to have a horse auction tomorrow
morning! Now ain't that a coincidence?"
The man went further he said, " I will buy you a new horse!"
When
bro. Sheffey died in 1902, the cemetery was crowded to overflowing, and every
year since that time, many people return to that cemetery, to visit the grave
of this servant of God.