A young girl, child of wealthy parents, was sent away to school to finish her training. There she learned science, art, dancing and other things.
But one night she went to a gospel meeting, and at the close of the service she accepted Christ as her own personal Saviour. Having given her heart to Christ, she made it her life decision to please and to serve Him in any work that He might call her to.
She wrote home to her father and told him of her decision. He went into a rage, and wrote her immediately, telling her to “Get on the next train and come home.”
His daughter obeyed and came home. As her father met her, he said, “I didn’t send you to school to get religion. That is all right for poor folks and half-wits, but not for a child of your standing. You will have to get this religious notion out of your head. If by tomorrow morning you have not decided to give up this foolish notion of religion, you may pack your suitcase and leave this home.”
The poor girl went to her room with a heavy heart. It would mean the loss of her parents’ love, culture, money, prestige. On her knees, she laid it all out before the Lord. The next morning she packed her suitcase. Before leaving, however, she stepped over to the piano and started to play, and as she played she sang:
Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave, and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my all must be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought and hoped and known;
Yet how rich is my condition,
God and heaven are still my own!
She then arose, and with tears streaming down her face, she turned toward the door. But before she could open it, her father stepped out from behind the curtain from where he had been listening, and choking with emotion he said: “Wait! I didn’t know that Jesus Christ meant as much to you as that. I didn’t realize that you were willing to give up your father, mother, home and everything just for Jesus. Daughter, forgive me. I must be beside myself.
If such love can take hold of your heart, there must be something in it. Sit down here and tell me how I can be a Christian.”
Her heart overflowing with joy and thankfulness to God, she sat down with her Bible and pointed her father to Christ, whose love had won her heart.
“Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.” Phil. 3: 8.
The Lord Jesus said, “There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.” Mark 10: 29,30.
ML 03/19/1967