Grandma seemed rather solemn as she watched the girls clear the table and prepare for their next edition in Miss Annie’s story. Mark observed this, and asked, “Did Annie go and get in trouble or something, Grandma? You look kind of—sober.”
Before she could answer, Ginger sat down hurriedly. “Now, Grandma,” she asked, “When are we going to get to—well—in Sweet Sixteen there must be some romance or something. Isn’t `Mr. Wonderful’ due to appear pretty soon?”
Grandma laughed as Mark and Josh in one voice exclaimed disgustedly, “Good-night! If that isn’t a girl for you!”
“Oh, you children! You are so typical; you really delight me! Yes, Ginger dear, there is a love affair I would say, in Sweet Sixteen, and Mark and Josh, you will not find it ‘mushy’ I guarantee. Also, Mark, I do feel sober and I want you to be too. As I read tonight, I hope each of you will realize that as Annie faces new decisions, you, (who say you also have received the Savior) are no different. For what she found in the Word and acted upon, is there for you as well. Let’s not put Annie back in 1900, but here tonight encouraging you to follow her faith. Ready?” And she proceeded to read.
At the first ‘Believers’ Tea’ which we three girls attended, you will remember, perhaps, that dear Mr. Haines presented each of us with a copy of Kept for the Master’s Use. What an impact that little volume had in our lives! For those who do not know, let me tell you that the author was a very talented young woman with an outstanding singing voice. She later became a famous hymn writer. Now I put my Curtsie and Hortense right up there in the same class with Miss Havergal, so you see the book was ‘tailor made’ for us. Not that I could sing beautifully, but, as I was once told, I could at least ‘chirp like a sparrow.’ That put me up along with the song birds. Anyway, we made the happy decision to meet at my house on Saturday and together read one chapter. The week following, we would try to live out what we had learned. I would have loved for my Emily to be with us in it, but her parents were not willing for her to attend the little assembly readings and they busied her more and more in their own church group. I couldn’t feel sad very long now, for my Lord had made me glad. I was `espoused [promised]—as a chaste virgin to Christ.’ Well, we three had a delightful time for the first five chapters and weeks and then we hit a snag! For we read of Miss Havergal’s decision there:
“Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only for my King.”
“How can we do that?” Curtsie gasped. “You know, Hortense, how much money our education is costing! Surely, we could—well—we are expected to make use of it.”
“Oh yes, surely,” Hortense tried to sound assured. “To disappoint our financial backers would not be right.”
“Oh no, Lord,” I whispered, “I’m not going to stop now. I want to be—always only for you!”
Our ‘happy session’ was no longer happy and we parted early on a sad note. My two ‘nightingales’ had lost their song. We spent a miserable week of it, I can tell you, for although I had no intention of compromising, my heart ached for my friends. The word 'consecration' had scarcely been in my vocabulary at all. But it was happening to me. I was making my choice ‒ all the way with Him, the Lord of my life. There may be some dear souls to whom all the things of God are unknown, who, when they do come to the Lord Jesus, find that automatically this consecration takes place. When the light dawns and they find themselves loved, wanted and accepted in Him, their hearts cry, “Oh, my Lord—my life, my all!” Others just follow on until the Holy Spirit presses the word “Ye are not your own.... Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19,2019What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (1 Corinthians 6:19‑20) Or “Present your bodies a living sacrifice... which is your reasonable service.” Romans 12:11I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1). Consecration, I learned later, is not so much a step, as a course—a way of life; it is not so much an act, as a position to which a course of action belongs. We are not always to stand at the threshold, but to continue on, seeking to be maintained by the Lord in that position and to fulfill that course.
Having already said, “take my life, for I cannot give it to Thee,” one must also say, “Keep my life, for I cannot keep it for Thee.” Then the answer comes from the Word, “I the Lord do keep it... I will keep it night and day.” Isaiah 27:33I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. (Isaiah 27:3).
I had rather sadly settled myself the next Saturday on the floor with plenty of pillows and my book, expecting to be alone, when the old knocker on the front door downstairs sounded loudly. Before anyone could answer it, the door burst open and my friends bounded up the steps. “We’ve done it! We’ve done it, Annie!” I knew what they had done—yielded their beautiful voices and futures to Him they loved to keep and use as He chose.
Would you like to take a peek with me into the future (for that is now long past) to see how He did choose? We see Hortense at the side of her husband, a minister and professor in a men’s college, singing with full heart the songs of her Lord far into the night at many a gathering for the students. Only that day will declare how many young men made decisions for eternity as a result. Faithfully, she lived and sang “for the Master’s use.”
We see Curtsie, working among the poor in the slums of New York City, and there singing for Him she loved. Always, there are groups gathered to hear her sweet, consecrated voice. How she cheered, comforted, and brought the light to dark hearts with those heavenly strains! At last the scene changes and we see her in faraway India, “spending and being spent” from 5:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M. in schools for the desperately needy women and children. It is there that her sweet voice is silenced—a sacrifice for “the Master’s use.”
“There you have it, children!” Grandma gently laid the little book down. “Now, Ginger, in a romance the lovers usually say something like, ‘I love you ‒ will love you forever!’ or ‘All that I am and all that I possess is yours forever!’ Did you hear any hints of such a thing in today’s chapter? Any real constancy of heart affections?”
“Oh, Grandma!” exclaimed Crystal, “I’m all ‒ choked up ‒ about ‒ Curtsie! She was something.”
“Does that part about being ‘espoused’ to Christ ‒ does that mean that Annie wasn’t ever going to marry?” Ginger asked.
“Marriages are for time, honey. Her love affair with the Lord Jesus, if we may call it that, lasted for time and into eternity. Judging from her last name, however, when she published the book forty-six years later, the Lord had given her a husband for time. But very seriously now, please think about the choices Annie and her friends made. Remember, the issues are the SAME today ‒ for you.”