Even a child’s faith is tested. Abbie’s mother was ill. One night during her fifth year her loved mother had a severe hemorrhage, and was given up to die. An older sister hurried upstairs to bring the baby sister to receive her mother’s good-bye kiss, telling her that her mother was dying, and that they must hurry. The little girl commenced crying,
“My mother must not die! my mother must not die!”
As they passed a closet at the foot of the stairs, Abbie asked her sister to let her go in the closet alone for a few minutes. The sister put her down, but told her to hurry. Little Abbie entered the closet, shut the door and closed the window, then kneeling, prayed:
“Dear Lord, here I am; I’ve done just what You said. I have come to the closet, and I have shut the door. No one is here but just You and me. Please, dear Lord, don t let my mother die till I’ve confessed Christ.”
A great peace filled her heart, and she ran to her mother’s bed saying, “My mother will not die.”
Her sister lifted her to the bed, and laid her in her mother’s arms and, to the surprise of the physician, her mother fell into a natural sleep, clasping her little girl.
When she awoke the danger was past, and while she never became entirely well, God spared her life five years.
Then Satan began troubling little Abbie. Many people think it is not important for children to be saved, but Satan is on the alert to tempt even the little ones, so how necessary it is to lead them early to the Lord Jesus.
In her prayer for God to spare her mother’s life, Abbie had said, “Don’t let my mother die till I have confessed Christ,”
So every time she tried to tell her mother she was saved and belonged to Christ, Satan would whisper,
“The minute you confess Christ your mother will die.”
For two years this torture continued. Abbie longed to tell her mother she was saved. She knew her mother was praying and longing for her salvation, but fearing her confession would mean her mother’s death, Satan kept her lips closed. The child believed with her heart, but was afraid to confess with her mouth, Jesus as her Saviour.
One Sunday with her parents she started for service. The mother was taken in a wheeled chair, since she was unable to walk. Little Abbie would trot ahead to see things, then would run back to the chair to tell her mother. Soon they heard singing, but could see no singer.
“Run and see what it is, dear,” said her mother.
Abbie ran ahead and found a little, ragged girl a few years older than herself, sweeping the street crossing. As she swept, she sang:
“I do, I do, I do believe,
That Jesus died for me;
And through His Blood, His precious Blood,
I am from sin set free.”
Again she sang:
“O, I do, I do, I do believe,
That Jesus died for me”—
“If you believe that, then you’re saved, aren’t you?” said Abbie.
“Yes,” said the little girl. “Do you believe it?”
“I don’t know,” answered Abbie, great fear of confessing Him and the thought of losing her mother coming upon her.
“That’s queer,” said the little crossing sweeper. “Your father told me how to accept the Lord Jesus. You are his daughter, and you don’t believe in the Lord.”
This was more than the child could stand.
“I do believe, so there,” confessed Abbie firmly and joyfully. Turning she ran back swiftly and climbed up in the chair beside her mother. Then throwing her arms around her mother’s neck, she cried, “Mother, I’m saved; whether you live or die.”
What a great burden was lifted from the heart of a little child as she confessed Christ with her lips. Later in the day she told her mother how she had accepted Christ two years before, but how Satan through fear had kept her silent.
God spared the dear mother for three years longer, until Abbie was ten years old, and many lessons of faith were learned at her mother’s knee. When the mother knew her time had come, and she was soon to go to be with her Lord, Abbie was reconciled and willing to let her go.
ML 02/11/1940