Part 13 (1/2)
EXPERIENCE NUMBER 19
To show that G.o.d works the same in the hearts of his people wherever they are, I wish to mention the experience of one of my Indian sisters.
Her little son contracted enteric fever. Every possible aid was given him, but he continued to grow worse. The fever caused him to become unconscious at intervals. The parents then decided to remove him to a hospital, that he might have skilled attention. Soon after being taken to the hospital, he became entirely unconscious, in which condition he remained for weeks, yes, for months. He was unable to take nourishment in the natural way and became a wonder to all who came to see him, as he was at the point of death yet did not die. Many who were not acquainted with the parents, but heard of the case, went to the hospital to see him.
The father and mother spent as much time as possible at the hospital, but when weeks and months had pa.s.sed, they gave up hope for his recovery.
All the Christians who knew of this child's sickness were praying for him and felt that G.o.d only could restore him to health. The parents knew a man who believed in divine healing and called him, and he anointed the child and prayed for him. He became so sick that the doctor thought he would not live until morning, and asked the parents to remain at the hospital that night.
The next day the father and mother went for a walk together, and while out walking he said to her, ”We must become reconciled to losing our child, for it seems G.o.d is going to take him.” At first the mother-heart could not yield to giving up the child, but at last she became resigned.
Soon after this the child regained consciousness, but was weak, and his mind was almost a blank. He was like a new-born babe and had to learn to speak, although he was about nine years of age. Some thought he would never be normal again, and others thought he would be crippled. Since he has been restored to health, when that mother sees him enjoying the right use of his faculties and limbs, her heart is filled with thankfulness and praise to G.o.d.
She told me that the affliction of their child was a means of drawing their hearts closer to the Lord, and of enabling her to experience the sweet rest of being fully submitted to G.o.d, whereby she was afterwards able to teach others the way.
Just before this she had been urging a bereaved friend, who was grieving too much over the loss of her father, to become resigned to the will of G.o.d. Her friend said, ”You can not appreciate my loss, for you have never suffered such a loss.” She saw the force of her friend's remark and said no more. But when the affliction came upon her child and she was called upon to become resigned to the will of G.o.d, she came to know not only that it is possible to be resigned but that there is a great consolation in being submissive. When her friend afterwards came to know of her submission, she was very much affected.
Both my friend and her husband feel that G.o.d has given them their child from the grave, and their testimony is that through this severe ordeal they have come to love their Savior more.
The Conversion of My Father
EXPERIENCE NUMBER 20
The most precious experience in my life, I believe, next to my own conversion, was the salvation of my own dear father, for whom I had prayed a year and a half. He joined the Baptist denomination when only a young man, but, not having the real witness of sins forgiven, never felt satisfied with his Christian experience, or rather his profession.
A few years later, feeling that he would be acting a hypocrite to go on in that condition, he even dropped his profession.
Eighteen or twenty years ago he attended a revival held by the United Brethren people and began to seek G.o.d. Night after night he went forward for prayer, but for lack of proper instruction, failed to find the peace he so earnestly sought.
A DISCOURAGEMENT
One day in this great soul-struggle, he called at the home of one of the ministers to know just how to get rid of the great load of sins he was carrying. He was completely baffled and disappointed. The minister said: ”It is like this: A man might be carrying a heavy sack of sand upon his shoulders, and if for some reason there should come a little hole in the bottom of the sack and the sand begin to escape, it would leak out so slowly that it would be sometime before the burdened man would realize any difference in the weight of his load, and only in the end, after it had all slipped through a little hole, would he awaken to the fact that the entire load was gone. Now, just so it is with your burden of sins.
As you begin to seek G.o.d, they begin to run out, but you will not realize any change at first, and it will take some time for you to realize that your load of guilt is really gone after you are fully forgiven.”
Poor father! He turned away sick at heart, for he longed for an instantaneous work to be done in his soul. Through this discouragement he gave up trying to find G.o.d and for many years continued in that unhappy, dissatisfied state of soul and mind, although he often desired to be a true Christian for the sake of his family as well as for his own peace of mind, and yearned to be able to ”read his t.i.tle clear to mansions in the sky.”
In the spring of 1906 his brother and family came to make us a short visit before their departure from the homeland as missionaries to a foreign country. For some months they had been especially burdened that at least one of our relatives should be saved before they crossed the ocean to their mission field. Their pure, holy lives made a deep impression upon me, and through their earnest prayers and fastings for my poor soul, I was constrained to forsake sin and yield myself to the Lord. I was glad to embrace the privilege of being with the humble people of G.o.d who wors.h.i.+p him in spirit and in truth, and to become one of them. I had a feeling, however, that my father might be displeased with me for making such a decision; but when I met him a few weeks later, my soul leaped with joy, for he expressed himself as being glad that I had given my heart to G.o.d, and even made a favorable expression concerning my decision to a.s.sociate with the people of the church of G.o.d.
From this time I was much encouraged and determined to do what I could to help win my father and other loved ones to the Lord. I often read to him from the Bible and explained pa.s.sages of Scripture as best I could, especially those that clearly taught a life of freedom from sin. Being a school-teacher, my work called me away from home much of the time, but the burden continued for the salvation of my father.
EFFORTS BY MAIL
A year after the Lord saved me, I went to a distant city to engage in the work of the Lord. One day I wrote a few words of exhortation to my father on the blank s.p.a.ce of a little tract ent.i.tled Prepare for Heaven, and sent it with an earnest prayer that the Spirit of the Lord would apply the little message to my father's heart. In answer to this letter, he wrote me thus: ”My Dear Daughter: I would give this whole world, were it mine to give, for this great salvation which you possess and are writing about.” Then he opened his heart and frankly told me of his miserable condition and of how very hard it was for him to get right with G.o.d. He closed by asking me to pray G.o.d to send heavy conviction upon him.
It is needless to say that I became more earnest in praying and fasting for his soul. I felt much impressed to write him a helpful letter. Not only did I feel my inability to do so, but for lack of time deferred writing until I met with an accident that sprained my ankle badly, and then one day when I was unable to go about my work, I was reminded of my opportunity of writing to father. As I began writing and pouring out my heart to him, the blessings of the Lord rested upon me insomuch that it seemed I could write scarcely without effort; and as I mailed the letter, it was with an earnest prayer that the Lord would prepare my father for all that was written.