Two young friends were both named Eduardo. These two boys were in the same class at school, and both were nine years old. They liked many of the same things and often played together.
But there was one big difference between them. One Eduardo had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour, and his parents were Christians too. The other Eduardo said, “I don’t believe in God because my dad says, ‘There is no God. He doesn’t even exist!’”
One day the unbelieving Eduardo’s mom and dad had a big fight. His dad told his mother, six-year-old Maria and Eduardo to leave their home. He ordered them to “get out and stay out!” But they had nowhere to go.
When the Christian Eduardo’s parents heard this, they invited the three of them to stay with them in their small apartment until the mother could find a job and a place where they could live. Two months later they were still there, jobless and homeless.
During that time, the Christian family had continued with their daily Bible readings and prayer time and included their three guests. The seeds of love and truth were being sown in the hearts and minds of their guests. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth” (Romans 1:1616For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)).
Maria listened eagerly to the stories they read from the Bible. There was something else that interested her. Before each meal, this family bowed their heads and thanked God for their food.
One day Maria asked if she could thank God for the food. The Christian family said, “Yes,” and little Maria was happy and prayed in a very simple way.
Through the love and kindness of this Christian family and the precious truths they shared from the Word of God with Eduardo, Maria and their mother, all three came to the Lord Jesus to have their sins washed away in His precious blood shed on Calvary’s cross. How happy everyone was!
But after two months of staying with this Christian family who lovingly cared for them, the children’s mother felt they could no longer stay there and be a burden to them. She decided to ask her husband to keep Eduardo and Maria.
As the mother walked to their house, she was afraid. Would her husband still be so rough and angry? But the Lord had been working in his heart too. He said to her, “I don’t want just the children. I want you to come back too.”
Now as the children’s father sees the happy change in his wife and family, his heart is softening toward the gospel message. We can all pray with this family that the father will soon accept the Lord Jesus as his Saviour too.
ML-09/04/2011