One night as the rain fell heavily and the wind shook the door on its hinges, a dear lonely mother lay in her bed and could not sleep. Her daughter had gone astray, and had been away from home for some time. The mother didn’t know where or how she was, but the fear that she might be out in such a storm awoke the tenderest feelings of her heart.
Soon the mother arose from her bed and knelt in prayer. She had often commended her dear Sheila to the Lord in prayer, and still earnestly she cried that her daughter might be found by the Good Shepherd.
While the mother yet prayed, and while the storm yet raged, she heard a knock at the door. When she opened it, a well-known voice asked if she could be forgiven.
What a meeting!
The tears and the endearing words of the mother mingled with the tears and the confessions of the wayward daughter. There stood the daughter, barefoot and in rags, wet with the storm, but repentant. And she was welcomed home!
As soon as the grateful mother had her daughter clothed and warmed, she knelt by her side and thanked God for her return, and then cried to God that He would save her soul. At this point, the daughter whispered in her mother’s ear, “I am saved already, Mother dear.”
The mother was overjoyed as they embraced again.
“Yes,” said Sheila, “about a week ago, heard a man preaching on the streets, and as I stood and listened, all my sins seemed to come up before me, and I was so frightened that I ran to my boarding house and there got down on my knees and accepted the Lord Jesus as my Saviour. And then I left for home at once, and I have walked all the way.”
Have you ever felt yourself a sinner in the sight of a holy God, dear reader? God knows all about you and there is nothing that you have ever said or done that has escaped His eye. And in spite of all this He wants you to do just what Sheila did—to come as you are.
ML 05/28/1950