William Dodd was a thorough-going atheist who used to lecture at infidel meetings. His wife attended the services at the gospel hall, mostly because she liked the singing. One night, however, she accepted Christ as her Savior, and when she got home, she confessed to her husband that she was saved. Dodds raised no objection, but personally remained unmoved by his wife’s confession of Christ and the change in her life.
The Dodds had a beautiful little daughter, eleven years old, who also opened her heart to the Lord Jesus and was brightly saved.
Not long after this the little girl took sick, and though everything possible was done to save her life, she passed away. Just before the end she said to her father, who wept beside her bed, “Daddy, don’t weep for me; I’m going to heaven to be with Jesus. Mother is coming later; won’t you come, too?”
Just before the funeral, Gypsy Hawkins visited Mr. Dodds and spoke to the man stricken down with sorrow. He told of how a timid sheep is led to cross a river by hearing the bleating of a little lamb carried across the water in the arms of the shepherd. The truth so simply put reached the father’s heart. He broke down completely, and there beside the coffin of his little daughter he gave himself up to God. He became a well-taught student of Scripture and an earnest soul-winner.
ML-03/04/1979