To the Christian who is ever on the watch opportunities for service are
never lacking, and Agnes soon found her hands full. Did a child fall
into the fire--a very common accident in that district--she must be
fetched, for so gentle yet so firm was her touch in dressing wounds that
the fame of her skill had spread for miles, and she was sent for from
far and near, to Protestants and Roman Catholics alike. Was some one
dying, still it was she who must come to smooth the pillow and speak the
words of life.
The spiritual side of her work she never lost sight of, but made the
rest subservient to this, as a means to an end, always reading the Bible
if allowed, and following the reading by a simple but practical and
faithful explanation. She was indeed "instant in season" and out of
season. In all weathers she might be seen speeding along the lonely
mountain roads, setting off soon after breakfast, to be at work the
whole day, with the exception of the early dinner-time, and often not
returning until after dark. She was tempted, as every other worker is,
to relax her energies and to stay at home if the weather were bad, or if
she were not feeling well; but instead of yielding, she would, if a bad
headache came on, start off the earlier, that she might not lose the
chance of a visit through the pain increasing. Yet her duties at home
were never neglected. Rather than omit them, she would rise at five,
that she might anticipate the wants of others, and save her
mother trouble.
Agnes herself, in her intense humility, considered that she was an
unsuccessful worker, and was inclined to condemn herself for lack of
zeal and earnestness. But her work was a great joy to her, and
especially did she love her happy talks with some of the aged Christians
amongst the sixty families she regularly visited.
He is a rash soldier who ventures into the battle without a weapon tried
and proved, and he can only be an unsuccessful Christian worker who does
not make the Word of God the rule and guide of his life. To Agnes Jones
the Bible was a constant study. She was a most earnest student of God's
Word, and delighted to meditate upon it. In her journal she
writes:--"What should I be without my Bible?" And again, realising the
truth of the promise, "He that watereth shall be watered also himself,"
she says:--"God's Word often comes home more strongly to my own heart as
I read to the poor, and try to make a few simple remarks." Little wonder
is it that, knowing and loving His Word as she did, Christ was to her a
very personal Saviour and Friend. Her one longing was for more and more
likeness to Him.
CHAPTER III.
FOREIGN TRAINING.
However strong and good our wishes may be, it is never safe to force on
their accomplishment. They are never the losers who wait God's time, and
the wisest course of all is the one which Agnes Jones pursued, of
telling her wishes to God, and then, in perfect submission to His will,
leaving the issue with Him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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