Janet was just a little girl, but she had been brightly saved and she truly loved her Saviour.
When one of her friends who was grown up heard of her testimony he laughed at the idea of a little child getting converted. Janet had always been such a sweet, good little girl, he said. Why should she want to be better? If old Joe Graham were to get converted, then he would be willing to believe that a small child might be saved.
Her friend’s careless remarks made little Janet sad. So she went to her room, kneeled down by her bed and prayed: “Dear Lord Jesus, they won’t believe that I love Thee, because I am so little.” A few moments later she was off running down the road to old Joe’s house.
He was just in the act of sawing a board when a lovely little voice called out, “Good-morning, Joseph!” The voice sounded so sweet, that he turned around, without the usual frown on his face.
“Please, Joseph,” said the little girl, “I must tell you something, but you won’t be angry at me will you?”
For years, nobody had spoken to Joseph unless he had business with him, and he wondered why this little girl had come to see him.
He laid down his saw, and sitting on a bench, looked inquiringly at his tiny visitor. “Well, my child, what do you want with me?”
Janet sat down near him, and looking at him tenderly with her big brown eyes she said: “I must tell you, Joseph, that the Lord Jesus loves me, and I love Him too. But a man who is visiting our house says I am too little to come to the Saviour, and that I don’t need to, for he thinks I am good enough already. He will not believe that I have given my heart to Jesus. He says that if you, Joseph, will begin to love the Lord Jesus, then he will believe it. Now, Joseph, will you do that? The Lord Jesus loves you. Will you not love Him?”
She moved over and held the hand of the old carpenter and went on, “Oh, He loves you very, very much, Joseph. You do know that He died on the cross for us, don’t you?”
Poor old man! Nobody had ever spoken like this to him since his mother had died. The tears ran down his cheeks.
“You must not cry, Joseph, for God loves you. He loves us all, even though we are sinners, and He sent the Lord Jesus from heaven to redeem us.”
Joseph was deeply moved. All he could say was, “God be merciful to me a sinner!”
Joseph found out what a sinner he was, and he found out too what a Saviour Jesus is. The time came when he believed the message of God’s love and received Christ into his heart.
One day Janet went home and said to her visitor, “Now you will believe that the Lord Jesus loves me, for old Joseph has given his heart to Him.”
“Nonsense!” laughed her friend, “who told you that?”
“You can see for yourself,” she told him. And he did see, not only he but the whole village saw the change in the lonely old man. Instead of a frown, his face now beamed with joy. As folks passed his workshop they often heard him singing songs of the Saviour’s love and hymns of praise to God, who had brought him to know such happiness and peace.
ML 03/12/1967