Jessie R—was a gay and thoughtless girl the first time I met her. She was at home for a few weeks with her friends during the holidays.
Her cousin, who was a Christian, was very sorry to see Jessie growing up to be a young woman, caring only for the pleasures of the world. She had often spoken to her about the Lord Jesus, and told her of the blessedness of being His; but Jessie had always put her off with a laugh and a sneer. Like many young people, Jessie thought that if she became a Christian she would lose all me joy, and have to become very grave and sad.
No doubt many people get frightened at conversion, by the miserable-looking faces that some religious people wear. They give one the impression that Christ makes people miserable, and they frighten others away from Him. The Lord Jesus never made anybody sad and gloomy. Be has made thousands of hearts to bound with perfect joy, and filled their tongues with singing. None are so truly happy as the people whose sins are forgiven.
But I must tell you about Jessie. Meengs for preaching the gospel were being held in the place where Jessie was spending her holidays, and after much persuasion Jessie’s cousin got her to promise to go. It was not that she cared a bit for the preaching, but she did not like to be continually refusing her cousin. She went, and was astonished to see everybody so happy.
It was entirely different from what she expected. Girls of her own age were there, singing the praises of the Lamb, their very faces beaming with joy: Some of them were her companions in childhood. She knew them long ago, and now they were saved and on the way to heaven. First one, and then another of them went up to Jessie, and told her what the Lord had done for their souls. She felt uneasy, and deep down in her heart she wished that their joy was her own. Next night she offered to come of her own aord, and sat deeply interested. The hymn was given out and sung by a coany of new-born souls with great power and sweetness—
“O, I have such good news for you;
A story wonderful and true:
‘Twill make you happy, that I know;
It made me glad, and now I go
To sing my great Redeemer’s song
With the happy saints above.”
Jessie could not restrain herself. The tears began to course down her cheeks, and she made no effort to hide them. Sitting down by her side, I told her of the One who came clown from God to die that she might be saved, and how He had finished the work, and gone back to sit on the Father’s throne, and was waiting there to gladden the heart of every one who by faith commit their souls to Him. I pressed upon her the necessity of immediate decision for Christ, and urged upon her to make Him the Saviour and portion of her soul. I was not very sure whether she did so then or not, but we were all anxious to see her the following evening.
As I was passing on my way to the meeting, she came out of her father’s house with her Bible in her hand. There was no need for asking Jessie if she was saved. The beam of joy in her countance told its own story. She came up and warmly shook hands with me, sang,
“JESUS IS MINE”.
She has gone back to the busy city, with its temptations and sins; but the “everlasting arms” of her Saviour-God are underneath, to uphold and keep her. She wrote some time.ago, to tell us that her joy is still in the Lord, and she does not regret having; made Him the portion of her soul.
ML 11/29/1942