“Old Mrs. Fan calls you to come to her,” was the unceremonious request made by a child to a lady as she was coming out of the house of an old blind Christian man.
Fearing that Mrs. Fan might only wish to look at her out of curiosity and not listen to what she had to say, the lady said to the child: “Where is Mrs. Fan? cannot she come and see me here?”
“Oh, no, she cannot walk, she is lying on the bed.” The child went on to explain that Mrs. Fan could only use her arms, and had been bed-ridden for many years.
“But I am not a doctor,” said the lady; “I can do nothing to cure the old woman.”
“She does not want medicine, she wants to hear the book,” was the reply.
Led by her little guide, the lady found Mrs. Fan lying on the bed, both herself and the bed repulsively dirty. The old woman was suffering from ophthalmia, and was so deaf that she could only hear what was spoken into her ear. She was far from a pleasant object to look at, much less to come into close contact with. But the lady took her dirty, bony hand in hers and said a few words of sympathy for her sufferings. She then told her of One who could heal the sin-sick soul, and who was full of pity for her.
She could not help asking herself as she came away: “Is it any use? Can one so deaf and dull understand the gospel?” However, she promised to return ather time, and meanwhile asked the Lord in earnest prayer to lighten the poor woman’s darkness.
When she went again, she found the old woman desirous of hearing “more of those good words”; she had been anxiously looking forward to the lady’s coming. She now understood readily, and listened breathlessly to the story of the Lord Jesus.
Then she wanted to learn at least one little sentence out of the Book. The lady taught her: The Saviour “loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood.”
A fortnight later, when the lady called, Mrs. Fan astonished her by words something like these: “My Saviour! my Saviour! He has been talking to me and telling me how He loved me, and died for me on the cross; He is always with me, beside me here, and He is so good. I tell Him when I am in pain, and He eases me. I tell Him when I am thirsty, and immediately He sends some one to give me drink. How He loves me! I could not do without my Saviour!”
Mrs. Fan lived two or three years, and grew in grace. The reality of the personal presence of the Saviour with her was the great feature of her life as a Christian, and her every desire seemed satisfied. In spite of her sufferings, joyfulness in all circumstances was henceforth hers.
One dark night, she told the visitor, her husband had lost his way on the hills and cried to the God of his wife. A man was soon sent to put him on the right road. “Now,” said poor Mrs. Fan joyfully, “my husband believes that the true God answers prayer, and he will give up all false gods.”
And so the ‘blessed Spirit of God, is still leading souls to the Saviour, to obtain the forgiveness of sins, and to wait for His coming from heaven.
ML 08/09/1959