Betty was lighthearted and thoughtless, fond of dress and amusements. Daily contact with the world of style kept her mind occupied with the thing of earth.
But God had His eye on Betty, and through a Christian friend she was invited to attend a Bible class specially arranged for young business girls. Betty came only occasionally. After a long absence, the teacher of the class heard that she was ill and went to see her.
Betty listened quietly while a few verses were read from God's Word. There was no evidence that her heart or conscience were being reached. Those who watched over her became doubly anxious, for soon it became evident that a fatal disease was bringing her daily closer to eternity.
Her first sign of interest came one day when her visitor slowly read: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
Earnestly, Betty asked, "Where is that?"
"Romans, chapter 4, verse 3," her caller replied.
A ray of light from God's Word had finally reached her. As she lay with closed eyes, two great tears forced themselves from beneath the tightly compressed lids. The reserve which Betty had maintained gave way. Now she was happy to hear the Scriptures read, and was soon rejoicing in Jesus, her Savior.
Only once afterward did her joy seem to be interrupted. Lifting up her eyes one day, she said with a never-to-be-forgotten look and a tone of deepest sadness: "Oh, Miss Gray, I have lost my life!"
At once, her friend understood what she meant. It was not that she was dying; it was not that she was being cut down in her youth. No; it was that the brief life with which she had been entrusted had been spent for her own pleasure, and now it was nearly over. It was A LOST LIFE.
There was silence. No word was spoken between those two—one about to be called away just as she had entered the path to glory; the other with the path of life still before her.
It was a solemn moment. God was exercising each heart, and she who seemed likely to have many years still before her thought—"If one only lately converted, when dying, feels like this, how must it be with those who have known the Lord as their Savior, but have lived for themselves, and not for Him who laid down His life to save them!"
The cloud passed and the sunny smile returned, but it may be that the God of all grace permitted that cloud for the accomplishment of His own will. If her short life exercised others to follow the Lord, then Betty's life was not altogether a lost life.