The tired old road, pocked with puddles and scattered bits of paving, wound across the town to the old building standing in the big yard. Behind the orphanage, dirty water from the farmer’s field ran into the creek where the children played as they swatted the mosquitoes.
Mr. Max pushed the old door open and went inside with his interpreter. “Why are all the children outside now except this little girl?”
“Oh, little Katya has no shoes. She can’t go outside.”
Mr. Max reached into the big bag he carried. “Last week before I came to Siberia, my wife picked up some little shoes for ten cents at the secondhand store. I brought them today; in fact; they are the only ones I have here.”
They fit the little girl perfectly, amazingly. Was that “just a coincidence”?
Katya looked up with lonely eyes. Even in her barren and cheerless surroundings, she was still an attractive little girl.
The visitors left melons and other treats for the children and then called them all in and read a Bible story to them. They told them about the love of God, and how He knew every child’s name. They explained how the Lord Jesus came from heaven to die and pay for our sins so God could bring each person into His family. The Bible says, “As many as received Him, to them gave He [the right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12)).
The next year Mr. Max returned to visit near the Ural Mountains in Siberia. He was anxious to see little Katya again — but she wasn’t there. Had she died? Was she sick? Was she hiding?
The director of the orphanage explained, “Some men came here and wanted to adopt some of the children, but we knew they would mistreat the girls. So we told the men that Katya and some others were sick and we hid them in the hospital.”
Mr. Max found the hospital, and the nurses gathered the children together. They listened to a Bible story about God’s love and how He wants to wash us clean from sin and bring us into His family. He gave a little doll to Katya, her first, “very own” doll, and then left to visit elsewhere.
After returning home to Canada, Mr. Max told about visiting Siberia and about a little girl who was in danger and needed parents, someone to adopt and love and protect her.
One day he got a letter from Texas, which was very far away. A family had heard about Katya and wanted to adopt her. But when they heard the price they would have to pay to travel to Russia and make all the necessary documents, they were not willing to proceed.
I am so glad that the Lord Jesus was willing and able to come from heaven and to pay the price that was required for me to be brought into the family of God! He said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Later he got a letter from Michigan. A family was willing to go and see Katya and to pay the price. Mr. Max sent photos and details of the sad little girl. After many months had passed, he could only wonder what had happened. Then one day a letter came and there was a photo of a happy, smiling little girl. It was Katya!
Her new parents wrote, “She already can speak English. She loves life and sports and games — and playing in the snow. Her whole life has changed; her future is bright.”
When this hopeless orphan came into her new family, everything changed. And this is what God’s salvation does for us. Life takes on a new meaning as we grow in the love and knowledge of our Lord Jesus. The Bible says, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
When we come into God’s family, we don’t want the tattered things of the past life anymore. The future is truly bright. To be washed from our sins, to be given new life, to have the assurance that I will be in heaven for sure is a blessing greater than words can tell, and it can be yours today.