Mary was quite excited. She was thirteen years old, and was going to have a visit from her cousin Jean. She had never met her cousin before and was looking forward to the happy time they would have together. At last the day arrived, and the two girls spent a very happy time exploring the countryside and chatting together as only teen-age girls can.
At last bedtime came, and although there remained very much more to be talked about, they knew that they must get some sleep. Mary was a happy Christian girl, and had always read at least one chapter from her Bible before she went to sleep. She opened her Bible reverently, and turned to her chapter for the evening. Then she said to Jean:
“Jean, shall I read the chapter out loud this evening, and then tomorrow you can read your chapter out loud to me?”
Jean nodded, but said nothing. She felt a little uncomfortable as her cousin read so lovingly and with such interest one of the chapters concerning the pathway of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the chapter was read, Mary knelt down by her bed and closed her eyes. Jean felt more uncomfortable, for she had not been in the habit of praying before she went to sleep. Mary seemed to be ever so long on her knees, and poor Jean didn’t know what to do.
At last Mary arose from her knees, and in a very few minutes the light was out, and Mary was soon asleep.
For a long time Jean lay awake thinking more seriously than she had ever done before. She had always gone to Sunday school and she had always been considered a Christian girl, but somehow her cousin’s love for the Word of God, and her cousin’s prayer, had made her realize that perhaps there was something lacking in her own life.
Mary had been asleep for quite a while, when she was wakened by a little moan. Quickly she sat upright in bed, and turned to her cousin.
“Jean, what is the trouble? Do you have a toothache?”
“No, Mary, it’s not my tooth, it’s my heart that’s aching. I’m so unhappy,” and then she burst into tears.
“What is the trouble, Jean? What can I do for you?”
“I’m afraid I’m not a Christian, Mary. I have always gone to Sunday school, and I have always tried to do what I thought was right. But, when I heard you read the Word of God, and when I saw you on your knees in prayer, it made me feel that I didn’t know the Lord Jesus as you know Him. Oh, Mary, can you tell me how to be saved?”
“Yes, Jean, I can, for I was just the same as you until six months ago. I used to go to Sunday school too, and I think that everyone thought I was a Christian, but just six months ago, I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my own Saviour. Don’t think for one moment that reading the Word of God and praying is what makes me a Christian. It is nothing but what the Lord Jesus has done for me. And He will do the same for you too. Shall we kneel down beside the bed and tell Him about it?”
Side by side in the darkness the girls knelt in silence for some time. Then Mary began to tell the Lord Jesus about her cousin’s desire to be saved, and at the same time she thanked the Lord once again for dying on the cross to wash her sins away. It was not a long prayer, and it was soon followed by her cousin’s voice. Between her sobs and tears she owned before the Lord Jesus that she was a sinner, and she thanked Him for dying on the cross to put away her sins.
When it was over, they rose from their knees and embraced one another with tears of joy.
Perhaps they did not know it, but at the same, time, there was joy in the presence of the angels of God. There will be joy in heaven right now too, if the reader of this paper will accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his or her own Saviour.
ML 07/08/1956