"Mary Glory-Face" was the name by which a happy old Christian woman was known in her native village; and it suited her well. For truly the glory of her beloved Lord shone in her face; while morning, noon and night her heart and lips overflowed with joy and praise.
She praised God as she went about her work. She spoke joyfully of His love and goodness to her neighbors.
One summer morning as she stood at her cottage door, a neighbor said to her: "We wish you would be more quiet about your God and His love, Mary Glory-face; you're brimful of it."
"Yes," added another, "we should like you to keep it a bit more to yourself, that's what we mean."
"Impossible!" said the old lady pleasantly. "No, no, I just can't help praising Him."
Then some of the neighbors complained to her landlord, and asked him to give her notice to vacate her cottage. But he said: "Why, Mary Glory-Face pays her rent better than any of you; I shall certainly not lose her." But he did call on the old woman and said: "Perhaps, Mary, you could come down from the skies a bit. Need you be always so full of praise?"
With a beaming smile she answered: "It's just eleven years ago that God told me I was saved, bless His holy Name, and He will never hear the last of it!"
So Mary was left in peace. And her influence for good told upon her neighbors and friends till first one and then the other joined her in her songs of praise.
When at last Mary Glory-Face was called to go home to be with her Savior, a young minister sitting by her bedside asked: "Is your faith strong now, Mary, as you near the glory?" He thought it strange as she shook her head and answered: "No, it's not faith with me now; but that I have the 'Author and finisher' of faith with me indeed. It's that what is filling me so full of praise. I'm just 'looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith' and it's just grand!"
Thus Mary Glory-Face passed into the presence of Him, "Whom having not seen, she loved." Thus for years, even on earth, was this plain old country woman "beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord... changed into the same image, from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2 Cor. 3:1818But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18).