Do you remember reading about Samuel as a young boy serving in the temple? If you look up 1 Samuel 2:1818But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child, girded with a linen ephod. (1 Samuel 2:18) in your Bible, it says, “Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child.” Children and young people who know the Lord Jesus as their Saviour don’t have to wait until they are older to serve the Lord. The following story is another example of a young person who was used in an unusual way to bring the gospel to her family and to her hometown.
The village of Point in northern Saint Vincent is a pretty village overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Palm trees sway in the tropical breeze, and the people are friendly and easygoing. There are many believers there, including a lady by the name of Glenda. But let me tell you how it all began.
When Glenda was a young schoolgirl, she attended school in Georgetown, a few miles south of Point. One of the assignments was to write an essay describing the town where each student lived. So Glenda wrote her essay about her home village of Point.
As the story was told by Mr. Seymour, her teacher, she wrote such a delightful description of her village that he said to his wife, “We must visit that village with the gospel message, and soon.” He had never been there before and was anxious to see this village of Point that Glenda wrote about in her essay.
It wasn’t long until the teacher and his wife were on their way. They walked the ten miles to Point, carrying a good supply of gospel materials. They spent two days passing out tracts and “Messages of God’s Love” and visiting from house to house with the gospel message. They also held outdoor gospel meetings there, as well as children’s meetings at the nearby town of Owia.
This was just the beginning of a regular, weekly evening trip for Mr. Seymour. For years he would leave school at 3:00 on Thursdays, walking the ten miles to Point and arriving at 6:00. As a result, not only was Glenda saved, but many of her family were saved as well. The gospel message still goes out today in that area by this same teacher.
We never know how the Lord can use any one of us. Little did Glenda know that her essay would bring such eternal results. She is now a teacher in that area and often comes to a local Bible bookstore to buy pencils with Scripture verses on them, Christian books and New Testaments for her students.
The Lord can use each one of us. We are all missionaries wherever He has placed us. It may be in our own families, our neighborhoods or in a faraway land. What is important is to be faithful to the Lord from day to day and use the opportunities He gives us to shine for Him.
Many of us know this Sunday school song. Can you sing it?
Jesus bids us shine with a pure, clear light,
Like a little candle burning in the night;
In this world of darkness, so we must shine,
You in your small corner, and I in mine.
ML-03/04/2012