IN THE land of India one day a I crowd of people were gathered around a tiny baby girl, as she lay in her little swinging cradle. Some were decorating her crib with beautiful flowers, others were picking her up in their arms and hugging her until she cried. Altogether they were laughing and chattering and making too much noise for little Juanita. She was only two months old and could not understand what it was all about.
Then a big man she had never seen before held her tiny hand and slipped something around her neck. It was her wedding day and not for a long time did little Juanita understand that she had been married to a man, many, many years older than she.
For the next five years we know little of Juanita’s young life, but then we find her a little beggar girl, sitting by the side of the road, holding out her hand to passers-by and sang, “I am hungry. Father, Mother, my husband are all dead. Won’t you give me something to eat.” Poor little girl! There she was, her legs and arms covered with sores, her hair matted, and her clothes ragged and dirty. Once in a while some one kinder than the rest would slip her a little food, but most shunned or passed her by. They did not hear her cries at night, nor knew the longings in a little girl’s heart for someone to love her and the comfort of knowing that she was wanted.
Ten more years went by and Juanita was a young girl of fifteen. Her circumstances had improved but little, and she had stopped at an empty shelter along the roadside. Then along came a young man and saw her there. Afraid at first, Juanita shrank back into the shadows.
“What are you doing here, a young girl like you?” he asked. “Why aren’t you at home?” He was nicely dressed, his voice seemed so kind, and Juanita felt he wished to help her.
“I have no home,” she replied. “I used to have one. I was married when just a baby. Father and Mother died ten years ago, and my husband died too.”
She told him the name of the village where she once lived, whereupon the young man asked, “Your name wouldn’t be Juanita would it? And was your father’s name Pandara?”
She was too surprised to answer at first, but then finally she exclaimed: “Yes, that’s my name. But how do you know all about me?” Then he told her she must be his lost cousin, that they had been searching for her in many places throughout the country. “But what have you been doing all these years?” he asked.
“Just going about begging for a living,” she replied.
At this point the young man sat down beside her and said very kindly: “Juanita, This is not the kind of a life for a young girl like you. You may come to harm some day.” He told her he was a Christian and that he now belonged to the Lord Jesus. “If you will trust me,” he continued, “I will take you to a mission where you will have good food to eat and nice clothes to wear, and you can go to school and learn to read and write.”
Juanita began to sob and the tears flowed freely down her brown cheeks. The young man waited quietly, and then she told him she had always wanted to belong to someone. But no one wanted a beggar girl and probably they wouldn’t want her at the mission either.
“But you do belong to someone, for you are my cousin,” he reassured her, “and you don’t need to be a beggar girl any longer. The people at the mission love the Lord Jesus just as I do; they will love you and be so glad to have you. They will teach you about Jesus and what a wonderful Saviour He is. I am sure He directed me to you here today. Won’t you let me take you there.”
He seemed so kind and sincere that Juanita felt she could trust him, and so she said, “Yes, I’ll go with you.”
And so it was that Juanita arrived at the mission and found all that the young man had told her was true. What a glad welcome she got from the kind missionaries and friends! She had nice clean clothes to wear, she learned to read and write, to sew and to cook. But best of all she learned to know and love the Lord Jesus who loves boys and girls and people everywhere, for He died to redeem them from sin and to make them His own.
Juanita grew up to be a happy useful young Christian. Then one day a very wonderful and happy event took place in her life. A fine young Christian man came along and asked her to be his bride. Juanita consented, and so they were married. They were very happy tether, for Juanita had a young husband now who really loved her and a home of her own at last.
Missionary Stories Retold.
ML-01/09/1972