We called her “Bunny.” She was different from most girls and boys, because she could not run and play like most children do. She also did not have parents who were able to care for her. An uncle and aunt adopted her and loved her just as if she were born into their family. They became her daddy and mommy. In spite of being crippled she was a very happy little girl. The Lord had given her a sweet voice, and she would happily sing her favorite chorus:
“A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
Jesus wants me for a sunbeam,
A sunbeam, a sunbeam,
I’ll be a sunbeam for Him.”
Bunny could sing this truthfully, because she belonged to the Lord Jesus. A gospel preacher once asked her, “Are you saved, Bunny?”
She answered, “Yes!”
“How do you know?” he asked.
“Because the Bible says, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved’ (Acts 16:3131And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. (Acts 16:31)). I believe, and so I’m saved.”
Bunny enjoyed playing school. She would get out her Bible verse cards and pretend she was teaching a reading class. One day a neighbor was visiting in her home and saw her playing. Bunny said to the neighbor, “It’s your turn to read now,” as she handed him some cards.
She listened while he obediently read the three cards: "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?’ Mark 8:3636For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? (Mark 8:36); ‘He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.’ Proverbs 29:11He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. (Proverbs 29:1); ‘Because there is wrath, beware lest He take thee away with His stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.’ Job 36:1818Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee. (Job 36:18).” These verses may have been used by God to cause the neighbor to think about his sins and God, for we learned that he was saved soon afterward.
The time came when it was the Lord’s will to take Bunny to be with Himself in heaven. On the way to the hospital, she began thinking that she would be lonely there, but immediately the thought came to her that her daddy and mommy would be lonely without her. She chose seven Bible verses from her collection of cards and told her parents, “Read these, and you will be happy.” After the Lord took her to heaven, these verses were a real comfort to them.
The Lord Jesus also comforted them in another way. Like Abram and Sarah in the Old Testament, they had waited many years to have a child of their own. Not long after the Lord Jesus took Bunny to Himself, He gave them a baby boy to take the place of their little “Sunbeam.”
ML-03/27/1983