Bob and Ken were two young missionaries who had just left their homeland to go to Africa to tell the natives about their Lord Jesus Christ. Trekking in the bush wasn’t easy for them, and they were thirsty and very tired. Finally they came to a village where the natives were yelling and dancing to the beating of drums, but when the missionaries asked them if they could spend the night in their village, the natives cried, “Missionary no come here!” So Bob and Ken went into the forest and lay down under the stars.
As they finished their prayers they heard a rustling and both of them jumped up with a start. Had the lions found them? Their fears were stilled, however, when a young native girl came out of the forest. She carried a bundle of wood on her head and a bowl of milk in her hand. She laid down the wood, gave them the milk and went off again. Soon she reappeared, this time with a cooking dish on her head, a leg of mutton in one hand and a bowl of water in the other. Without saying a word she sat down, prepared the fire and put on the meat to heat.
“But who are you?” Ken asked, “Why do you wish to help us? Are you a Christian?”
She turned to them, with tears filling her dark eyes, and said, “I love Him whose servants you are. Now my great joy has come to give a cup of water for Him... as His Book says.”
Her name, they learned, was Mameesha. She was the solitary light for the Lord Jesus Christ in a whole string of villages. She was now eighteen years old.
“Some years ago,” she told them, “I went to a missionary school and learned to love Jesus. I have here”—and she drew a book from her dress — “a Testament my teacher gave me.”
“But how do you keep living for Jesus out here without Christian help and sympathy?” Bob asked.
Mameesha smiled and fingered her Testament lovingly. “This is the oil which makes my lamp burn; it is the fountain where I can drink.”
Then without another word, she slipped off into the forest as quietly as she had come and the missionaries never saw or heard of her again.
This dear girl was the only Christian for miles around, but she was letting her light shine for the Lord Jesus, her Saviour. Christian, are you letting your light shine for Him, and do others around you know that you belong to Him? The Lord Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 5:1616Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16).
Do you value your Bible as Mameesha valued her Testament? Do you daily read it and glean fresh blessings from it? “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psa. 119:105105NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105).
“That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the Word of life.” Phil. 2:15, 1615That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; 16Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. (Philippians 2:15‑16).
ML 11/19/1961