I REALLY think there never was a more timid child than Millie. She could not bear the dark, nor would she ever go alone about the house, even in the daytime. Her sisters, who were stronger and more robust than she, could not understand this nervousness, and I am sorry to say the poor child often had to stand thoughtless teasing from them.
But at last there came a change in Millie’s conduct. She was no longer the nervous little child she had been. What had made the difference? Was it only because she was growing older and leaving childish ways behind?
We will find out the secret. In a certain box, where Millie keeps her greatest treasures, there is a leaf torn out of a little diary, and against the date, March 10th, are written these words, “Jesus saved me.” Ah! now we know the reason:
“Her terrors all vanished before the Sweet Name,
Her guilty fears banished, with boldness she came
To drink at the Fountain, life-giving and free.”
Speaking one day of her former fears to her sister, she said:
“I will tell you how it was I so disliked being alone. I was in constant terror lest the Lord should come and leave me behind, and whenever the rest of you were out of my sight, I fancied this had happened.
But now Millie knows she is one of those who will be caught up to meet their Lord and Saviour when He comes, and she has nothing to fear down here, for she knows He is ever near her, and she can say.
“What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee,” “I will trust and not be afraid.”
And now should any child read this who is troubled in the way Millie was, do you dear one, put your full trust in the Lord, and then “under the shadow of His wings” will you rejoice.
ML 09/30/1917