"But you don't know how hard it is—you don't know how dreadfully I forget; and then I think, 'Oh, what's the use of trying? I'd far better give it all up, and just muddle along as I used to do.'"
But Betty thinks, "Ah, that's just how it used to be with me, before I went to Grannie's, before I went to The Army Meetings near Grannie's home, and gave my heart to God. I have felt like that sometimes since; but only for a little while, for the Lord has always helped me through the bad times. It is only the Lord who can help us through. I ought to tell Clara that—I must tell her!"
There is a moment's pause. Betty is nervous, and doesn't know how to begin. She makes an effort.
"Clara," she says softly. "Clara, have you ever tried to understand those words in the Bible, 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee'?"
Clara looks up suddenly; her eyes round with wonder. "Why, Miss Betty, whatever do you mean?"
Betty makes a greater effort. "I used to feel as you do," she says. "I used to find I couldn't keep the good resolutions I made; I used to fall into dreadful fits of hopelessness, of wanting to give up trying any more; and then I went to Grannie's—my Grannie is a Salvationist, you know—and she took me to The Army Meetings. And one night, all of a sudden, I saw quite clearly how wrong I had been. I had been trying to live a good life, trusting in my own strength; and no one can do that. It is only by coming to the Lord Jesus that we can be truly good; for it is only Jesus who can wash our sins away, and change our hearts, and make us like Himself."
There is another silence. Clara has taken up a corner of her apron, and is picking at it industriously.
"You think, miss," she says, nervously, after a while, "that—that if I went to The Army Meetings I might find it easier to do right?"
"I'm quite sure of it, Clara! O Clara, pray for a changed heart, ask for it, claim it! With the Lord for your Saviour, you'll soon conquer all the little difficulties that distress you now." Betty is nervous no longer. She has broken the ice and her words flow freely.
"And, Clara, salvation gives you such a lovely kind of happiness—I can't explain it—but very often you'll feel just the happiest girl in the whole world. How can people help being happy when they know they are on the Lord's side, when they know that He saves them, and loves them, and will take them to live with Him at last?