Carol was a little girl of eleven years of age who lived with her Christian family on a farm in northwestern Ontario. It was a Saturday evening in May, 1958, and Carol decided to surprise her father and bring the cows in.
Finding a set of tracks she thought were calves’ tracks, she followed them, but before she knew it, darkness began to fall, and a cold wind was blowing. Suddenly she realized she did not know her way back to the farm, so she lay down and went to sleep.
When Carol did not come home for supper, her family became alarmed, and her father and other men set out to look for her. With aching heart her mother got down on her knees with two Christian neighbors and earnestly they asked the Lord to bring her safely back again.
Sunday morning Carol woke up, and started walking toward the sun to see if she might find her way home. It was a beautiful day but she was hungry, and finding some grass she ate it, and then she had a drink of water. She walked what seemed many miles, and when night came again, she prayed to the Lord for safety before she went to sleep. She did not know that 300 men were out looking for her.
Monday morning she drank some water from a swamp and ate more grass, but it did not help the empty feeling in her stomach. On Tuesday she heard the roar of an airplane motor which came over low, and she tried to flag it, but she thought the trees were too thick for them to see her.
Wednesday morning Carol was sick from hunger, but felt strong enough to go on. She remembered it was her brother Donald’s seventh birthday, and how she wished she could be there to share in some of the treats.
Meanwhile, at home and throughout the countryside the vast search for her continued. Her parents doubted if she could still be alive in such cold weather, but they kept praying to the Lord that He would find their daughter for them.
On Thursday morning Carol felt very sore and it seemed hard to walk. For the first time she began to wonder if she would ever be found. She wondered what her brothers and sisters were doing now, and if they would be bigger by now. Night came, and it began to rain, and she was soaked through.
Friday morning Carol was wet and cold and sometimes she cried because she felt so lonely. Sometimes she prayed out loud that the Lord would bring her home. Friday night there was lightning, and it gave her something to watch. She was glad she had learned to call upon the Lord, and now she prayed extra hard for someone to find her before falling asleep.
Saturday morning she awoke to the sound of voices and looked up to see a group of men hurrying to the log where she was sleeping. Those many prayers had been answered; the searchers had found her.
“Oh, I’m so glad you found me!” she cried. The men looked as though they wanted to weep, and hurriedly carried her to the nearest farm, where she was put in dry clothes and taken to the hospital, still alive and fairly well.
We can imagine the family’s happiness in seeing their dear girl alive and well again, and they poured out their hearts to the One who had so graciously restored her to them. Her near-tragedy had become a certain miracle, through the mighty power and goodness of God.
The Lord Jesus has told us in His Word, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye shall reive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:2424Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. (Mark 11:24). So He graciously answered the family’s prayers and brought Carol safely back home again.
How wonderful it is to be a Christian and to belong to the Lord Jesus; to be able to say, “My times are in Thy hand,” Psa. 31:1515My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me. (Psalm 31:15), and to know that come what may, all is well! So it was with Carol; and so it can be with you, dear reader, if you will but put your trust in that same blessed Saviour.
But we cannot claim His promise or expect Him to answer our prayers if we close our heart’s door to Him and go on through life without Him. We need to pray the prayer of the poor publican of whom we read in the Gospels: “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Luke 18:1313And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. (Luke 18:13).
“The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” James 5: 16.
ML 10/11/1959