RUTH was an only child. Her dear mother died when she was ten years old, and after that she lived all alone with her father in a pretty little cottage in the woods. Ruth’s father was game-keeper on an estate and of course he had often to be away from early morning till late at night, so when Ruth was not at school, she was left alone the whole day, and she often grew weary and lonesome. You do not wonder at that, as very few little girls would care to be left by themselves as she was.
But I must tell you of a visitor that Ruth had one day and what changes that visit brought about. Two young ladies were out walking in the woods, and came to Ruth as she sat at the cottage door preparing her father’s supper. They both loved the Lord Jesus, because He had saved them, and wherever they had opportunity, they spoke of His love to ethers, and sought to win them to Him. The two young ladies sat down beside Ruth, and after asking about her school and lessons, they asked her if she knew the Lord Jesus as her own Savior. Ruth blushed and hung her head. She had never been asked such a question before, and she scarcely understood what it meant.
Dear child, she had no one to tell her about Jesus since her mother died, and there were no Sunday schools or happy children’s meetings, in that part of the country.
One of the lady visitors went away, but the other stayed a long time with Ruth, reading to her from God’s Word, and speaking to her lovingly and simply of the way of life through Christ. Ruth listened very attentively, and as the story was told her of the wonderful love of Jesus, and His death upon Calvary’s cross, the tears rolled down her cheeks. Better than that, her heart was opened, and she received Jesus as her own Savior. Joy and gladness filled her heart as she knelt down by the young lady’s side, and thanked the Lord for saving her, and giving her eternal life.
When her father returned with his gun and dogs, Ruth ran to the gate to meet him, and clasping her arms around him, said, “Father, I am saved!”
He was astonished, but when Ruth told him the whole story, he quite understood her, for he had a sister far away, who sometimes wrote of the same things as Ruth spoke. Before many months, Ruth had the joy of having her father confess the Lord Jesus, and now the pretty cot-tage in the woods, of which Ruth is the happy housekeeper, rings with the sound of Jesus’ name.
Dear young reader, can you say, like Ruth,
“I am saved?”
You may know the way of salvation, but that is not enough. You may sing the wondrous story of Jesus’ love, and yet be a stranger to Him. In order to be saved, you must receive Him as your own personal and only Savior. Then, like Ruth the little housekeeper, you will be able to say.
“I am saved!”
ML-01/25/1920