A cross the Pentland Firth, in the far north of Scotland, lie the Islands of Orkney. Most of the families on these islands make their living by fishing, and they are very hard-working people.
Some years ago, a band of earnest Christians visited these islands and held some gospel meetings. Almost the first night, a fisherman’s wife and her little daughter, Nancy, were saved. They went home singing and rejoicing and told the good news to father, who said he was too busy to go to meeting. He was not at all glad to hear the news of their conversion, and he even threatened to heat his wife if she went again. Little Nancy loved her father very much, and he loved her too. She did want to get back to more of those meetings, so she coaxed and coaxed and at last her father said she could go. But of course she couldn’t go all alone, so mother must come along.
Together, mother and Nancy prayed for father that he might also learn to know and love the Lord Jesus. And he could see by their happy faces, and their cheerful singing, that something had surely happened to them.
A few weeks later, father had to go south to sell his catch of fish. This meant that he would. be gone for several weeks. Mother and Nancy stood at the shore and waved good-bye, urging him again to give his heart to the Lord Jesus.
While he was away, they continued to pray for him, that God would, “reach and save Father, and bring him back a converted man.”
When Nancy’s father arrived in Leith, he took quite sick, and had to stay in bed for several days. In the same house where he was staying, there lived a young man who was a bright Christian. In order to cheer the sick man, so far away from his home, this young man spent half an hour with him almost every night, and he always read a portion of God’s Word and prayed before he left the room.
At first, the godless man sneered at the Bible, but soon his attitude changed, and then one day he asked, “Do you think God would have a sinner like me?”
“Indeed, the Bible says, ‘This man receiveth sinners.’” Luke 15:33And he spake this parable unto them, saying, (Luke 15:3). That word was as the light of heaven to his dark soul. He grasped it, rested on it, proved it, and as every sinner does who turns to Jesus, he found rest. Then he longed more than ever to return to his Orkney home and tell his wife and Nancy that he was now a “saved man.”
Day by day Nancy and her mother were watching for the boat, and at last they saw its well-known sail coming round the coast. And you may guess the joy that filled their hearts when their loved one stepped on shore with these words, “Saved at last, praise the Lord!”
And they did praise the Lord that day, and for many days after. He took his stand amongst the Lord’s dear people and eagerly tried to lead others to the Saviour who had loved and died for him.
ML 05/20/1951