“O LORD, open Thou my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise,” was the prayer of Ella Horton, a young Christian, who desired to speak forth the praises of Him who had redeemed her soul from death by dying for her, but she found it hard to speak, for it seemed she was dumb as yet about the things of God.
Although saved, she felt she could not speak of His love as she wished, and so prayed very earnestly that her lips might be opened and she might speak a word for Jesus. Her prayer was answered after a few days.
One afternoon she was introduced to Edna Ray, who was not a Christian, and then it was that her heart seemed so full of Christ and His love that she spoke of it and pleaded with her new acquaintance to accept Him as her Saviour. She hardly knew how she did it, but, as she thought afterwards, it was not she, but the Spirit of God within her, leading her to do God’s will.
Now, Edna was very much offended with her and sneered at her, while she gaily answered, “I am of the world—worldly.”
But, unknown to either of them, the seed of truth had sunk deeply in her heart, and it only wanted time to grow and bring forth fruit.
Days and months passed away and winter came on, and with it, great illness for Ella, whose life was despaired of, but, in answer to many prayers, she recovered.
One evening, when lying in bed very ill, who do you think came to see her? It was Edna, her old acquaintance, who had been in a sad state since Ella’s illness, for she was sorry to think how rudely she had spoken to her, and moreover, despised her for being a Christian. When she saw her lying so pale and wasted, she longed to speak the thought of her heart and ask to be forgiven. When she bid her “good-bye” (she knew not if it were the last time), she whispered, “O, Ella, I am so sorry I did not listen to your words about Jesus. I wish I felt decided about being a Christian.” And so saying, she turned away and went home heart-broken, for the look of Ella and the remembrance of her own unkindness troubled her, and she longed to be forgiven for Christ’s sake, but Ella had forgiven her.
Conscious of the burden of her sins, she went to a Bible class, and while listening to some of the sweet words of Jesus bidding the sinner come, she burst into tears and confessed that she believed in Jesus.
Thus was Ella’s prayer answered for herself, and also for her friend.
ML 08/19/1917