GOD MEETS US WHERE WE ARE.
By Mrs. H. W. Pierce
PERHAPS we are not where he wishes us; for although we have given ourselves to him, and professed a holy profession, yet it may be that he discerns in us self-love rather than the image of his dear Son. Nevertheless, “God takes men as they are, with the human elements in their character, and trains them for his service, if they will be disciplined and learn of him.”—Desire of Ages, page 294. “In order to reach all classes, we must meet them where they are.”—Id., page 152. I shall never forget the bitter experience through which I passed when God taught me this lesson. Our only daughter had gone from us. We had given her in marriage, and knew that she was engaged in the Lord’s work. But some mothers will understand me when I say there was an aching void in my heart. I often wept when alone. Finally I said, This will never do. We will adopt a young girl who needs a home. She shall be to me as my own dear daughter. I will be to her a loving mother. Thus, with God’s help, we will be a blessing to each other. We did not send off for a child well recommended, but took the first one that came in our way. A friend near by had taken a little girl of ten years from a children’s home, and after keeping her a short time, had sent her back. The child, having become somewhat acquainted with us, longed to come to us, and prayed every night that we would take her. After a few weeks we did so, adopting her, and changing her name, which greatly pleased her. But, alas for human frailty! I was not inexperienced in dealing with children; but the words of a friend who said to me, “I guess you have your hands full this time,” proved true. Whenever the child could not have her own way, all manifestation of love and tenderness toward her was distasteful, and only rendered her more rebellious. This grieved me much, and I often wept. We loved her, and had made her our own daughter; so the obligation could not be easily put aside. Sometimes I queried if there was not some way of escape. But when I carried it to God in prayer, I found no freedom in praying for a separation. Still I was unreconciled to her conduct. How could I endure to have my daughter act that way? After a while it seemed unbearable, and I begged the Lord to take away the sting. Almost immediately he answered my prayer. As if by accident, my eye rested on a story in an old copy of the Signs of the Times. It helped me to see that my greatest sorrow came from being unreconciled to meet her where, and accept her just as, she was, and trust God’s power and love to bring about the desired improvement, not all at once, but as the unsightly plant by culture and careful pruning develops grace and beauty. Thus God would use me to cultivate this neglected parcel of human life, and would have me trust him for the final result. My husband, although away much of the time, assisted all he could to inculcate in her right principles, and to win her with love to a more unselfish disposition. Gradually she recognized and despised the ugliness of her former ways, and came truly to desire that loveliness of Christian character which she did not possess. A few years later she gave herself fully to the Lord, and willingly took up every cross. She now sleeps in Jesus, and I am indeed thankful that I was not left to myself to rebel against my God-given privilege. I will just add that our daughter’s own grandmother, a conscientious Sabbath-keeper, had offered many prayers for this dear child, when to human appearance there was no prospect that she would ever have the advantage of a Christian home. Thus God uses some of his children to answer the prayers of other of his little ones, though they often never know each other in this life. Dear sisters, if any of you are having a similar experience, be patient; endure as seeing Him who is invisible, and you shall reap the reward of your labor. How would it fare with us if God did not meet us where we are, and choose us to work with him, not because of our imperfections, but notwithstanding them? How careful we ought to be lest we refuse the self-denial necessary to enable us to be workers with Christ, and so fail to be partakers in the glory that shall be revealed.