Do you go to Sunday school, little girl?”
“No,” said the dear wee-girl, “Father won’t let me. He says I can go when I am big, but it’s no use a little girl like me going; I wouldn’t know what was said.”
“Is your mother in the house?”
“No, Ma’am, my mother is dead, and Father and I live together. He is at work right now, but if you come after six o’clock he will be here.”
I had seen Helen playing in front of the little home, and longed that she might know and love the Lord Jesus. I called that evening and found her father home. He was a careless, different man, but he loved his little Helen and he at once said she could go to Sunday school if someone would. take care of her.
Sure enough, Helen was all ready next Sunday, and she did seem so happy with all the other boys and girls. We sang that hymn “Have You Any Room for Jesus?” She had never heard it before and tried so hard to remember it, but couldn’t get any more than the first line. All that week she kept singing around her home, “Have you any room for Jesus?” The next Sunday she was back again, and wanted to learn more. In a very short time she was able to sing the whole hymn.
The next time I went to visit her, I found that her father, who had been so careless, was now most anxious to hear about Jesus too. He told me that when Helen came home singing over and over, “Have you any room for Jesus?” it made him feel unhappy for he knew that there was no room for Jesus in his heart and life. Each week he would listen to see what Helen had learned, and when she came to those lines,
Room and time now give to Jesus,
Soon will pass God’s day of grace;
Soon thy heart be cold and silent,
And the Saviour’s pleadings cease,”
he could bear it no longer and he wanted so much to let Jesus come into his heart. Then and there as we talked, he opened his heart and bowed before the Lord Jesus, taking Him as his own Saviour.
“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” Revelation 3:20.
ML 04/23/1950