“FOR many years I believe God’s Holy Spirit has been striving with me, and urging me to decide for Christ. I have for the last six years associated with believers, especially since I have been on this ship.
“I have heard time after time that grand old story of how Jesus died for me: and I am a man who ever loved to hear that old, old story.
“I have been ‘almost persuaded’ more than once, but my heart was like a stone, and it seemed as if I could not decide for Christ.”
“And so I remained still far away from Him, who is ever saying, Come unto Me, and I will give you rest.’”
“So time rolled on, and when Christmas came round again, everybody was wishing each other a merry Christmas and a happy time. Then I began to think seriously, and I said to myself, ‘What is it that can make a happy Christmas?’ Surely there can be nothing lasting in all this noise, hilarity, eating, drinking, and singing songs? However, Christmas passed away, and I was still undecided.”
“Soon afterward I became uneasy in my mind, and just then I received a letter from my wife, who said in her letter, that the dying moments of the old year seemed to her just like the fire in the grate; both must die and go out, and come to an end. I was seriously impressed by this idea, and the thought struck me: there is a lesson to be learned even from the fire in the grate. We all must die; and suppose God were to call me hence, and require me to give up my soul, should I be ready? Could I say, in the words of the hymn, ‘Take me as I am’? And the answer came, No, I could not say, ‘Take me as I am.’
“The solemn moments of the year were fleeting fast away— my last, perhaps, on earth. And God was speaking to my soul, and saying, Behold, now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.’ I felt that I could no longer delay; I must decide one way or the other. And I did decide; I decided for Christ. I have ‘found in Him a resting-place, and He has made me glad.’
“My conversion is not of long standing, but ‘I am looking unto Jesus,’ and trusting to Him to keep me walking in the light that has now dawned upon me; knowing that ‘His grace is sufficient for me,’ and that He will never leave nor forsake His people.” M. V.