Rachel was a little Jewish girl. Her mother had died when she was very young. This was such a sorrow to her father that he left his own country and took his little daughter and settled in America. They had everything that money could buy to make them happy, and it was his only object in life to love and care for his little Rachel.
She was a sweet little girl, and better than that, she was a lovable child, and unusually clever. She was everything her father could wish. But when she was in her teens, dark clouds of sorrow gathered around them, for it was found that she was suffering from an incurable disease. No matter how much her father spent on doctors, nothing could be done to save her.
Her father was too full of distress for any comfort. He watched at his daughter’s bedside, powerless to keep the darling of his heart, and without any support from his religion that could shed light upon what was beyond death.
Often he sat beside her bed feeling as if his heart would break. Sometimes Rachel would smile up at him and squeeze his hand, but he could not speak for tears.
One day she grasped his hand and said, “Daddy, do you love me?”
“Why, my darling, will you give me such great pain? Have I never given you any proofs of my love?”
She continued, “But, my dearest Daddy, do you truly love me?” The father could not answer for sorrow.
Then the girl added: “I know, Daddy, you have ever loved me, and I have tenderly loved you. Will you grant me one request? Oh, Daddy, it is my dying request. Will you grant it?”
The poor father replied, “My dearest daughter, ask what you will, though it take every cent of my property, whatever it may be, it shall be granted you. I will grant it.”
“Daddy, I ask you never again to speak against Jesus of Nazareth!”
Her father was dumb with astonishment.
“I know,” continued the dying girl, “but little of Jesus, for I was never taught; but I know that He is my Saviour, for He has shown Himself to me since I have been sick, even to the salvation of my soul, and I believe He has saved me, although I never before loved Him. I know that I am going to Him, and that I shall ever be with Him. And now, dear Daddy, do not forget me... never again speak against Jesus of Nazareth. I ask you to get a Testament that tells of Him, and when I am here no more, you may show Him that love which was formerly mine.”
The effort of speaking was too great for her feeble body, and she stopped; but her father’s heart was too full even for tears. He left the room in great anguish, and before he could return, the spirit of his beloved daughter had gone to be with Christ—the Saviour whom she loved, and who had redeemed her.
Her father bought a New Testament, and as he read it, the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shone into his soul, and he became a humble follower of his Lord and Saviour.
ML-04/29/1979