A Christian lady, who loved to visit among the poor, gave a bunch of heather to a poor old lady. Sitting down in her tiny room, she handed it to her, saying that it had been just gathered from the Welsh hills.
She took the little bunch eagerly, kissed it over and over again, and the tears flowed down her face, and she told her visitor how years ago, when she was an innocent little girl, she used to play among the heather that covered the Welsh hills. And when she grew older, she got tired of her quiet country home, and against her mother’s wishes she went to live in the big city. There she married an ungodly man who made her a bad husband. Then followed a long life of sin and poverty, and her husband died and left her a widow. All this had hardened her heart against God and all that was good, but the sight of the familiar heather completely broke her down.
The next time the Christian friend visited her, she read to her Psa. 51 and when she came to the vs. 7—“Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow” — these words found an echo in her heart. She wept tears of repentance, and prayed for pardon, and cleansing, and that same day she surrendered herself to God.
Years have passed, and this aged Christian widow still lives. Yet when friends visit her, she tells them the story of her conversion, and shows item a bunch of heather, faded and dry, but still very precious to her as having been the instrument used by the Lord to lead her to Himself.
How wonderful that the Lord uses little things to draw souls to Himself.
ML-08/20/1978