Gathering Them, One by One
By Georgia A. Burrus
“For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered.” This promise has been very precious to me in my work among the shut-in women of India. A short time ago, as Sister Whiteis and I were visiting in the zenanas, we called at a place where I had been before, but getting no response to my knock, we went around to the side of the house, hoping to find some one. From there I noticed a path leading in another direction, and finding no one at home in this house, I felt impressed to follow that path. It led directly to another house, which I had never noticed before, and which could not be seen from the road. In this secluded place we found a young, sweet-faced woman with a look of inexpressible sadness in her eyes. On learning what we were doing, and how we happened to come there, she exclaimed, “Then God must have sent you here; for I am so unhappy, and I, too, wish to learn of Jesus. Won’t you tell me also about him?” I sat down and talked and sang with her, and as she heard the old, old story for the first time of a Saviour who is the friend of sinners, her eyes filled with tears, and she said, “These words have comforted my heart; won’t you come again, and tell me more?” The next time I called, her brother was at home. He came into the room where we were, and began to ridicule the idea of her listening to anything in reference to the Christian religion, saying that their own religion was far superior to Christianity. But turning to me, she said, “Don’t mind what he says. These few words which I have heard have brought joy and peace to my troubled heart, and I am determined to know more of them.” She then asked me if I would teach her to read so that she might read God’s word for herself. She has now had several lessons in reading, and the progress she is making is simply wonderful. The last time I called, she said that she was praying to God day and night that he would help her to learn quickly, and he truly is answering her prayers. The other day when I went there, she asked me to sing the song I sang to her the first day I called, “Christ the friend of sinners.” I began, and to my astonishment, although there were several of her Hindu friends in the room, she joined with me in singing, a thing unknown before in my experience among Hindu women. They are not allowed to sing; but in her joy at having learned of a Saviour who is the friend even of women, she forgot the restrictions of custom and caste, and from the fullness of her heart began to sing. There are in this country one hundred and fifty million of our Indian sisters bound with chains stronger than iron in the darkness and bitterness of heathenism, who have never even heard the name of the Saviour. If our dear young people in the home land could only realize the wretchedness and misery and heartache of these women, if they could only see them groping in the darkness of heathenism without one ray of light, with no one to comfort them, no one to care for their souls, and then if they could just once experience the joy of leading one such soul to the Saviour, I am sure that hearts would be touched, and many would be ready to say, “Here am I; send me.”