"DO you like to receive letters?" I fancy I hear you say, "Yes, of course we do." Well, I quite agree with you, for I, too, like to get a letter, and especially if it be from someone I love dearly. But the nicest letters, and those that help us the most, are the ones written by the true disciples of Jesus. So as I have a great many such letters I thought I should like to copy parts of some, in the hope that they may be the means of cheering and helping some of my dear young friends who are traveling on the narrow road to heaven.
It does not matter how old you are, or what position you may occupy in the world. Whether old or young, rich or poor, every one may be a disciple of Jesus. The first letter I am going to copy from is written by a young girl who was a member of one of my Bible classes some few years since: "I know that I cannot do right by myself," she writes, "but I feel as though some one was helping me on. It did seem difficult at first. The texts help me a great deal. I know that Jesus will help me.”
The next bit I shall copy is from the letter of another girl, in my present Bible class, who is only seventeen. She has had to pass through great trials, having lost her father in a railway accident, and her only brother, who was drowned. She has had no one to love her, and very few to care for her, and yet she is one of the brightest girls in the class, for, as her letter shows, she has found a friend in Jesus.
This is how she writes to me: "It is so nice to think of Jesus being always with us, and whatever comes, He will never leave us, nor forsake us. I just ask Jesus to help me, and whatever I pray for I think about all day. I seem to wait for the answer, and I could tell you of such a lot of prayers that have been answered... God knows how we are tempted, and He knows our weakness. If I only ask Him to help me, and trust Him, and believe He will, He is sure to do it. If only I have Jesus with me to guide me, and His strength to help me to resist temptation, I cannot go wrong, and I do indeed realize my Saviour's presence. I cannot find words to explain the joy there is in living close to Jesus. I have got into the habit of speaking to Him wherever I am or whatever I am doing. Don't you think He hears and answers just the same, as if we wait till we have time to kneel down? It is so nice to think that God never misunderstands us, and it is sweet to think that Jesus is smiling on us while others frown.”
I will only add in conclusion that the "same Jesus" my dear girls find so precious is willing to be your Saviour, your Friend, your Helper. If you go to Him, you will find His promise true to you also: "If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." (John 15:77If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (John 15:7).) May you, dear reader, find in Jesus your never-failing Friend in sorrow or joy, in care or prosperity, in health or in sickness. May each who reads this be able to say —
“I have found a Friend in Jesus;
Oh, how He loves!”
T.