In an upper room a sad-faced mother sat sorrowing over the death of her only child, a bright girl of twelve years of age. Kathy had gone to heaven to be with Christ. She had been converted in her early years, after attending a Sunday school, and her simple, earnest testimony to the gospel’s saving power brought forth little sympathy from her worldly mother.
But now Kathy had gone, and her mother had time to think. Many of her little daughter’s words were coming back to her memory, as she sat that evening at the open window, looking across at the little cemetery on the hillside where Emma’s body lay awaiting the glorious resurrection morning. The poor mother’s weary, unsatisfied heart longed for rest; she had not found it in the world and the pleasures of sin.
Sitting there brooding over the past, and wondering what the future would bring, sounds of singing fell upon her ear. She rose up and looking out of the window, she saw a circle of young men standing in the street below, only a few yards from her door, singing a hymn. The first sounds that fell upon her ear were:
“I came to Jesus as I was,
Weary and worn and sad,
I found in Him a resting place,
And He has made me glad.”
The tears fell thick and fast. She was weary and sad, but she had found no such resting place. When the hymn was finished, one of the young men spoke, and then another, telling the story of their conversion. The well-known words of the Lord Jesus, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” were especially dwelt upon, and the way of light and peace through Christ alone was made plain. God blessed the word to the heart of the mother, and she received the message by faith.
That night she was born of God, and the first evidence of her new life was manifested by her going down and taking her place in the circle on the street. Not only did she open her heart, but she opened her home, for when the meeting was over she invited the speakers to her house, and to their joy she told them what the Lord had done for her soul.
What a resting place is Christ for the weary sinner! Reader, is He yours? “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28).
ML 02/07/1965