MY daughter boarded the school bus each morning with a group of other boys and girls. She would always save a seat for a girl named Barbara, about fourteen years of age, who would get on the bus about a mile farther down the highway. The girls became good friends and sometimes Barbara would stop in and visit us on Saturdays, when her work was finished.
Barbara had never heard the way of salvation at the Sunday school she attended. Each Saturday when she came to visit us, she would listen very attentively when we told her about the Lord Jesus and how He longed to have her put her trust in Him. She asked us many questions and it wasn’t long until she accepted Him as her own precious Saviour and Lord, and her sweet face beamed with happiness and joy. This dear girl was quite hard of hearing but she had an “opened ear,” which means that she paid attention to, what God said in His Word, for we read,
Barbara’s special delight was to read these little “Messages of the Love of God” papers and we had them mailed to her home so she would be sure to get them. Her parents, however, were very displeased to think that Barbara had become a Christian. This was a great grief to Barbara but she bore it patiently. We were thankful that her mother let her keep her beloved Bible and we know she valued God’s Word.
We moved into the city and didn’t see Barbara often, but the Lord was very gracious to her. Some of her schoolmates and teachers bought her a hearing aid and she attended a school for the deaf. She has been able to tell others of the Lord Jesus and she is praying that her parents will be saved.
Barbara told her mother that before she was saved she was on the way to a lost eternity in hell but since she has put her trust in the Lord Jesus, she is on the way to heaven. What a difference! This dear girl knows what it is to suffer for Christ and His gospel as read in Philippians 1:29:
“For unto you it is given in the be-of of Christ, not only to believe on Vim, but also to suffer for His sake.”
Dear boy or girl, perhaps you are not deaf like Barbara, but have you ever listened to what God says, as Barbara did?
“Incline your ear, and come unto lie: hear, and your soul shall live.” —Isaiah 55:33Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. (Isaiah 55:3). “Behold, I stand at the door, and mock: if any man hear My voice, and Ten the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” —Rev. 3:2020Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20).
Messages of God’s Love 9/29/1957