Ever since I was a little girl I knew that I was a sinner and was more or less anxious to be saved. But where I lived it seemed there were few to whom I could turn and unburden my heart or seek help on eternal things. Where I lived there was only the old stone church, with one long dreary sermon in the week, and my home was five miles away, so that in winter I seldom got there. Now and then a stranger would come and speak of conversion, but after a few days’ discussion of the subject among the church members, things settled down to the old dull routine.
Then one week-end I visited my cousin, Fran, who was a bright Christian. She seemed so very happy, and I was astonished to hear her speak with such assurance of how she was saved and on her way to heaven. It aroused all my former thoughts and anxieties, and set me longing to have the same salvation she possessed and enjoyed.
Sitting by the fireside one night, after the rest had all gone to bed, my cousin put this straight question, “Margie, are you saved?”
I answered, “No, Fran, I am not, but I want to be.”
“I have prayed for your conversion since I was saved,” said Fran tenderly. “I believe God has brought you here at this time to have the matter settled.”
“I have tried my best to attain to it,” I said, and so I had. For, groping in the dark as I was, I had prayed and striven, expecting to earn salvation by my own efforts.
“Let me read you the text that showed me the way,” said my cousin, and opening her Bible she read and explained the story of how in Acts 16, the Philippian jailer was converted.
I had never heard that story bore.
“It is not by doing or trying, you see, Margie, but by believing,” said Fran. “That is, trusting Another who has already done everything for you. Jesus died to put your sins away, and if you will believe what God says of Him and trust Him as your Saviour, you can be saved right now.”
That moment, the light of the gospel entered my heart. I saw that Christ had finished the work, and that in believing Him, I was saved. Now I love to quote and repeat the text that set me free: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.”
Praise His name, I have seen many a soul since then set free by the power of that word.
Now, back home, the children from the neighborhood farms come to our house, and I read to them stories from the Bible and other books, and seek to lead them to the Saviour who saved me and brought me to Himself.
Often in the evening we stand under the trees on our lawn and under the moonlight we sing His praise.
ML 01/10/1965