Is fine old house near the banks of a river, we had for a number of years spent our summer and autumn vacations. Our aged grandparents lived there, and there Mother spent her early years. So the place has many memories and associations. Playing in the green fields, wandering by the riverside, gathering apples and peaches in the old orchard, the long summer and autumn days went quickly past. It was while living there that an incident occurred which left an impression on my mind which rains until this day. I believe it was chiefly used in bringing my sister and me to the Saviour.
A young friend of ours, a companion of our vacation days, was playing with us on a Saturday afternoon in the woods. Suddenly she was struck down by an illness that proved fatal. The following Saturday she was buried in the little cemetery near Grandfather’s home.
Oh, how that sudden call to eternity made things that I had heard since my childhood so near and so real! I saw how uncertain were all things here in this world, and how needful to be ready to die, whenever that call might come.
My sister and I were deeply anxious to be saved, but we were ashamed to let anyone know it. Finally it became unbearable, and we told our aged grandfather our trouble. How lovingly he told us the way of salvation, and read to us out of God’s book the passages through which he had trusted the Saviour fifty years before. We both came to Jesus then. He washed our sins away and made us glad; never have we regretted our choice.
I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn and sad;
I found in Him a resting place,
And He has made me glad.
Years have passed. We still live in the old house on the banks of the river. Playmates and companions have gone, some to distant shores and many to eternity, but my sister and I praise the Lord that He saved us, in our girlhood days, and that He has been with us all along the way ever since.
ML-11/22/1964