Mary was the daughter of missionary parents in India. She lived there with them until she was six years old. As was often done in those days, when it was time for her to start school, her parents sent her to North America to live with her grandmother while she went to school. Mary’s grandmother loved her very much and often told her Bible stories, just as her parents had done.
As Mary learned to read and write, she wrote letters to her parents in India. They sent many letters to her too. At first her grandmother would have to read them to her, but soon she could read them herself.
One day close to her seventh birthday, she received another envelope from her father. Inside, she found some money and a note that said, “You will soon be having your birthday, Mary. I have enclosed money for you to buy yourself a new Bible as your birthday present.”
“That’s just what I wanted!” exclaimed Mary happily.
On her birthday, Mary and her grandmother went to a bookstore. They looked at a lot of different Bibles. There were big ones and little ones, some had gold edges on the pages, and some had leather covers, but those cost more. After looking at the Bibles for almost 15 minutes, Mary told the saleslady how much money she had and asked if it would buy two Bibles.
“Yes,” replied the saleslady, “but not the nice ones you’re looking at.”
Mary’s grandmother heard this and asked, “Mary, why do you want two Bibles?”
“Because I want one for myself and one to send to a girl in India who is my age so that she can learn about Jesus too,” answered Mary.
So Mary bought two Bibles. They didn’t have gold-edged pages or soft, leather covers. But as the saleslady told Mary, “The inside is just the same!”
As soon as Mary got home, her grandmother helped her carefully wrap the second Bible to be sent with a letter to her parents. She thanked them for her Bible and asked them to please give the second Bible to a seven-year-old girl in India.
Mary read her Bible every day and learned more about the wonderful love of Jesus. Her favorite verse was, “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:1919We love him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)). She read in a letter from her father that the second Bible had been given to a seven-year-old girl, just as Mary had asked. Each day Mary prayed for her unknown friend in India, that she would also learn to know about the love of Jesus and how He had died on the cross for her.
After Mary finished school, she went back to India to help her parents in their missionary work. Not long after she arrived, she met an Indian girl who was a happy Christian.
“How did you learn about the Lord Jesus?” Mary asked her.
“When I was seven years old, I was given this Bible,” answered the girl. “I read it and learned how the Lord Jesus loved me and died for me.”
Mary had finally met her unknown friend! This was the girl who as a seven-year-old had received Mary’s second Bible and the one Mary had been praying for all these years.
Do you have a Bible? If you will read it, you will learn about God’s love and how He sent His Son Jesus to die for you. If you already know Him as your Savior, why not do what Mary did — share God’s Word with others so that they can learn about the wonderful love of God and be saved.
Messages of God’s Love 8/20/2023