A Footstool in Heaven?

A Footstool in Heaven?

My mother was born in a small town in Germany. As a child she was brought up in the popular religion of the country, which impressed upon her the fact that she was a sinner.

Often as a child, Mother would pray, “Lord, make me Your footstool in heaven but don’t cast me down to hell.”

She always longed for a real sense of peace, but the years went by and she did not find it. In her twenties, she was invited by a school friend to move to America. She got a job as a stewardess on an ocean liner, and soon found herself in Boston.

Still the search in her heart went on. Crossing the ocean had not changed her, nor did her marriage, nor yet another move to California to live. She continued to pray, “Lord, make me Your footstool in heaven!” Still she was conscious of a dreadful fear that He might reject her at the last.

One day Mother was hanging out clothes and singing in German. Her surprised neighbor called to Mother in German, and a warm friendship was begun. As they talked, the neighbor said, “We’re Christians, and if you would like to come over and read the Bible with us we’d sure like that.”

Soon the Bible study with her neighbors grew to be a vital part of Mother’s life. But one day as they were sitting around the table with the Bible open, Mother shut the Book hard and said, “It’s no use to go on. I’m such a sinner.”

The neighbor replied, “How wonderful!”

Mother exclaimed, “How can you say that? If you only knew how I suffer!”

Then how happy her Christian neighbor was to tell her again of the One who has finished the work of salvation for sinners and now says, “Come.”

This was what Mother was looking for; this was the answer to her halfway-around-the-world search. She was ready to go on her knees that afternoon and accept the Lord Jesus as her Saviour. But―a friend came by and said, “Come with us for a little drive.”

Taken by surprise, Mother went. As she sat in the car she just groaned in her heart and prayed, “Lord, please bring me home in safety so that I can have the opportunity once again to come to You and be saved.”

The Lord did bring her home again, and she wasted no time before she came to the Lord Jesus and knew that He had received her. The search was ended; there was peace in her heart―and she prayed no more to be a footstool in heaven. She had learned that “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). Not a footstool, but a child of God at home in the Father’s house was to be her portion forever.

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