I must talk with God,” said a tired mother to a guest, as she cleared away the last vestige of the midday meal. “That is my next duty, and my greatest privilege; I am sure you will gladly excuse me a little while, will you not?”
Her friend assented, and the mother went to her room, tired and heated with the duties of the day. She bathed, put on a loose gown, and lay down for a few moments to rest. When she arose, she dressed neatly, and sat down, her Bible in her hand, as if expecting a visit from some loving friend. She read for some time, then knelt in prayer. When, after a time, she returned to her guest, Mrs. Paull exclaimed, “How refreshed you look!”
“Yes, I am refreshed,” replied the mother, “both in soul and in body.”
“Tell me why you look so composed and so happy. Have you received good news?”
The mother sat down and, looking straight into the eyes of her guest, said:
“Three years ago I gave my heart anew to God. Before that time I had been greatly discouraged. My health was failing. My duties, as you know, were increasing with my large family, and I had no heart to live and face the future. I had been a professed Christian for many years, but I had grown peevish, fretful, and faultfinding both with my husband and with the children. Nothing seemed to suit me. My own life was far from happy, and I made others as unhappy as myself. During this time a sister came to visit me. I noticed how different she was from me. She always seemed reconciled and contented. She spoke so cheerfully and hopefully of her husband and her children, of the church, and, in fact, of everybody.
“One day I said to her, ‘Tell me how you can be so contented and happy, with all your work and pressures.’ She looked at me for a moment, her eyes filled with tears, and she said, ‘Well, will you go up to my room and let me tell you?’ Of course I consented. When we were seated, she said: ‘I, too, used to fret and worry. The harder I worked, the more cross I grew. I felt ugly at times. I complained at my hardships. I scolded my children almost continually. My husband never seemed to please me. One time a minister came to our place and preached a sermon, which greatly touched my heart.
I do not remember now his exact words, but I resolved, while listening to his discourse, that I would get the victory over these things. Then and there I set apart one hour of each day to reading my Bible and prayer. I began at once, and I have never failed to meet God daily since that time.’
“Then we knelt in a season of prayer together. It broke my heart to hear that woman pray. God showed me what a sinner I had been. There came to me an impression of my utter worthlessness. My supreme selfishness overwhelmed me. I cried to God with all my heart to save me from these failings, and he gave me a new experience. Never shall I forget the moment when I found my Saviour. I promised that sister that I would not allow any family cares to intervene, but would undertake to seek God daily.
“I have tried now for three years to lead a Christian life. This season of prayer has been the keynote to all the victories I have gained. Every day I spend an hour or more in meditation and prayer, always first letting God talk to me through His Word. Sometimes I feel God’s presence in the room in a very definite way. Then I talk to Him. I tell Him some of the promises, which He has made in His Word, and ask Him to fulfil these promises to me, and make them true in my life. I ask Him for cleansing, that I may be purified and made clean. I place before him all my troubles, all my little worries, all my cares and burdens. If I have any special hurts or particular trials that are pressing me sorely, I make all these known to the Lord. Nor do I cease praying until the load is lifted, and I am reconciled to His will. I never come from this audience with God until I know that everything is right between us. He has all my burdens and understands them, and I have His peace and am in harmony with His will concerning me.”
Mrs. Paull sighed, and said, “Is that experience for all? Would God hear me pray if I talked to Him as you do?”
The mother answered: “When I began this communion, I doubted as you seem to doubt. I wondered if God did hear me. Once, after a very earnest season of prayer over a severe perplexity, I said to myself, ‘I will watch and see if God answers this prayer. If He does, then I shall know that He hears me.’ But to my surprise the answer did not come. I was disappointed. I did not know what to do. I had made this case a test in my mind, and what I had expected did not come true. As I was brooding over this condition, it came to me like a flash of lightning, ‘You do not believe God. Until you truly believe, He cannot answer you.’ Then I began praying for faith. It did not come to me in any miraculous way, but by degrees. I tried to believe God. As I persisted in prayer, I learned to go from my room, and act as if God had done the thing. I left the entire responsibility with the Lord, but in all my actions and planning I sought to work on the side of God, with the understanding that He had answered me, and things were changed.
“Now I never worry concerning any of our troubles, but trust the Lord to see that His will is fully accomplished. As a result of this experience my health has greatly improved. I enjoy almost uninterrupted peace. My whole life and the life of my family have been entirely changed. My children have found Christ, and my husband has given his heart to the Lord. I can only say that this daily season of prayer has done more for me and my family than anything else that I know.”
With brimming eyes, Mrs. Paull said, “Surely I, too, need this experience. Will you not help me to find it?”
Gladly the mother replied: “If you wish, we can go to my room now and have a season of prayer together. I count this privilege of prayer the greatest and most precious of all things that God has given to me. I would not part with it for anything that this world has to give. It has given me joy in the performance of every little household duty, and I now esteem it a pleasure to work for my family, and I feel that the very things that to me before were drudgery, are among the sweetest pleasures that God has given me.”
“I shall undertake to find this blessed experience in my own life,” Mrs. Paull concluded, “for surely I need it as much as you did before you found the Lord.”
Reprinted from The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Review and Herald, Washington D.C., Vol. 93, No. 27, June 1, 1916, 13.