Personal Experiences From the Sunday School Timea
A BOUT two months ago, I asked the prayers of the church for two things I wanted very much. No one, except the kind pastor and myself, knows who asked, but the response was warm and sympathetic. Before I left the room, one request was granted. On my way home, there came suddenly a thrill of joy that was almost pain. I felt, there surely is a God and he has answered, will answer. I could understand how it is possible for God to take away the fear of death, for nothing seemed to matter but the love of God. I felt surrounded by it. It was like my joy when first I found my Saviour. That joy is still mine, not so exuber- ant, but real. It was unexpected and unasked for. A LTHOUGH a Christian for some years, I was conscious of a lack of something in my life, and knew that if I were to be in harmony with God I must be able to say at all times, God's will be done. At times I could say it, at other times there would be rebellion, and so the struggle continued. Over and over again I sought to come to this place, until at last I almost gave up, thinking it could not be for me, yet still determined not to rest until I found it. Then came the time, although I cannot tell the day or hour, when a still small voice began to whisper these words: "Abba, Father." My own heart echoed the words, until, from the depths ot my being, a great cry went up as if in unison with the other voice, and the cry was "Abba, Father." I did not at once realize the greatness of the meaning, not thinking that this was the way God was giving me what I had sought so long, but the Scriptures began to have a new meaning to me, and one day I read these two passages which made clear to me the great mystery: "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." "Ye re- ceived the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Then I saw how these Scriptures were fulfilled in my own life, and I began to know what the joy of the Lord was; for is it not the greatest joy that can come
to any life to know that we can truly call God, Father, and to know that the wonderful love he sheds abroad in our hearts can meet his own great love in this word, "Fa t h e r ." M Y experience of joy was at first intermittent, later more in con- tinuous course. Those former periods were interspersed with "endur- ing," for I was not placed among those who were interested in the King's busi- ness, and, all alone, it seemed uphill work. Early in my Christian experience —I had been a Christian about a year— there came to me a revelation of the tre- mendous undertaking upon which I had engaged: that my life ahead should be in accordance "with God's plan, and not a thoughtless coming and going. Imme- diately came the suggestion, "But how may I know to do t h a t ?" I recognized my lack of wisdom, and the visipn that appeared' before me of a life of failure because of this lack of wisdom was al- most unendurable. Indeed, I was in such straits that, "as • I saw my own coming defection, and felt that my failure would involve my hus- band and family, for no one seemed to be praying for them but myself, the sug- gestion came: "Well hell isn't such a bad place anyhow." But I was led to prayer and grasping for a straw, I turned to Hebrews 11:1. Reading down, I found in the sixth verse, "He that Com- eth to God must believe that . ... he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." This was news to me. That God could show His people what they should know, dull though they be! Throwing myself into the current, I found God, and was upheld by His al- mighty arm. Then came the joy! He knew all things, and He was able to make even me know what I needed to know. The joy at that time did not continue —in a positive sense, I "mean—but I was undeniably on higher ground, and, when the temptation came to doubt in the next time of stress, it seemed more like stand- ing by and letting Christ fight my battle for me; then the joy came again. Many times since have I been brought up to "a stone wall," and the deliverance has always been in the same way: Believe God, and the light would shine!
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker