Least Likely Prospect

THE LEAST LIKELY PROSPECT—

By Muriel Larson

My husband had just become the pastor of the small community church in a company mining town. One day when I was downtown, I stopped on the sidewalk to chat with the chairman of the church board, Mr. Dale.

A station wagon came speeding down the main street and squealed to a fast stop in front of the post office several doors down.

A tiny attractive young woman jumped out with a package in her arms. As she ran toward the post office with it, she tripped and fell. A string of expletives that might shame a drunk from skid row exploded from the angry young woman.

"That's Marie, the girl who sings for the dances and other social events here," said Mr. Dale. "You might not believe it from what she just said, but she has a voice like an angel!"

We watched her make her way into the post office.

"We'll have to visit her," I said, "and invite her to come to church."
Mr. Dale laughed. "Oh, I doubt if you can get her to come to church. She isn't the type!"

"Well, we'll try anyway," I said.

FIRST CONTACT: COLD
Not long after that, when my husband and I were doing visitation for the church, we stopped at Marie's home.

She answered the door and invited us to come in. Her four little children were running around the living room. Her sister was there to visit, sitting in one of the chairs.

"We came to invite you to come to church," I said to Marie.

"Well, thank you," she said rather coldly. "Er, you'll have to excuse me right now though. I have a lot of things to do."

Then Marie left the room.

Her sister talked with us for a while. When we realized that Marie wasn't going to return, we decided to leave. I called to the other room, "We'll be looking for you in church, Marie!"
"Well, good-bye," she answered. "Thanks for stopping by."

As we walked up the street, my husband said, "Mr. Dale is probably right. I doubt if we'll see Marie in church."

I agreed with him. That's why I was as surprised as he was when several weeks later Marie came into the church and sat down in the back row with her four little children!

NEW BEGINNING
The message my husband brought that day was a combination of salvation and exhortation, for both Christians and non-Christians. Al ended his message by saying, "Now, if you have never done so before, see Jesus Christ nailed upon the cross for your sins.

See that He shed His precious blood for you. See Jesus stretching out His nail-pierced hands in mercy toward you. Reach your own hand up and put it into His nail-pierced hand if you would receive Him and acknowledge Him as your Savior!"

A number of people responded to that invitation--including Marie.

She was in church again the following Sunday when an appeal was made for toys and equipment for the nursery being started.

The next day as Al and I were walking down the street where Marie lived, she came running up to us with her arms full. She piled a bundle of toys and blankets into my husband's arms.

"Here," she cried, "this is a down payment for hitting me in the heart with your messages from God!"
Marie came to church four weeks in a row.

Then she stopped coming. After she missed the second week, Al suggested that I visit her.

FULL COMMITMENT
"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" she exclaimed, when she answered the door. "It's as if God sent you to me." She pulled me into her living room, and we sat down on her sofa.

"Something is terribly wrong," she said. "For one thing, I've been very ill for the last week. I've felt an awful depression hanging over me that I cannot shake. I feel a wall between me and the Lord, and I want desperately to break it down.

I think the fault lies with me."

"Have you truly received Jesus Christ as your personal Savior?"

"Oh, yes," she exclaimed. "I believe He died for my sins. That's what makes me feel so terrible about my sinfulness!"

"You believe that He has also forgiven your sins, don't you?" I asked.

"I don't know," Marie admitted. "Yes, I think He has--but I have a feeling I haven't come as far as He wants me to come. For one thing, I have a deep conviction that there are certain things still in my life that Christ would have me let go of."

"Why don't we kneel together and pray about it, Marie?" I suggested. So together we knelt by Marie's sofa. With my heart deeply touched by Marie's problem, I prayed passionately that the Lord would help her come through to joy in Him and that the burden would be lifted from her heart.

Then Marie started to pray. "Help me to yield myself to You completely, Lord..." she murmured. Then she suddenly threw back her head joyfully. "I'm free!" she cried. "I'm free!"

After that day Marie was a totally different person. She no longer drank, smoked, or swore. She began using her beautiful voice to sing praises of the Lord in our church.

Everyone in town soon knew that something great had happened to Marie, not only from her changed life and vocabulary, but also because she went all over town telling her friends and acquaintances about the One who had made the difference.

As I listened to Marie sing, "God Did A Wonderful Thing For Me" in church one Sunday, I thought of what she had said to me that morning.

"You'll never know how thankful I am that you folks came to visit me that day. That was the first time anyone here invited me to come to church!"

I remembered my little faith. Truly the Lord had led us to seek out this precious person whom He did not count unreachable!