Until recently,
I refrained from sharing the testimony of God’s grace in my life, especially among
Nepali speaking world because it includes too many names that inflicted too
much pain in my life and without mentioning them, my testimony is not
complete. What makes it more difficult
for me to share my testimony is that the most of the sufferings I endured as a
Christian were at the hands of missionaries, pastors and Christian friends, primarily because I refused to be a bread and butter Christian. But now, as I plan to publish an autobiography
as how God has led me thus far, I am sharing some of the anecdotes. But in no way do I feel bitter for what they
did to me. In fact, if it was not for
them, I won’t be where I am today. Frank
Boreham tells a true story that illustrates how I feel when I share my stories.
From England, when
Boreham went for his first pastoral assignment at Mosgiel in New Zealand, there
was a maiden named Lexie Drummond, possibly in her 30s; slightly overweight but
wonderfully attractive woman who was always busy in helping the villagers in
one way or the other. Eventually took
the membership of the church where Boreham ministered. After enjoying many years of active service
in that church, one day, Lexie broke down emotionally. Turns out, Lexie was running from her
past. She chose Mosgiel because there no
one knew who she was in her past. She
wanted a brand new future.
Back in her home
village of Hokitiu, Lexie had fallen in love with David Bannerman. Bannerman was an active youth worker in Hokitiu
Church but Lexie had no interest in what he was doing. But they both loved each other dearly. Lexie had one problem. David had a beautiful cousin named Sadie
McKay whom Lexie despised. Being a good
youth worker, David was good to everyone, but at the end of each church activity, he
had to endure Lexie’s jealous fits. However, David was such a calming assurance, after a
while he would bring Lexie back to her normal smiling face.
Unfortunately
one day while Sadie was riding her wagon, she lost the control of her horses. She was being hurled from one way to another,
screaming for her life. The more she
screamed, the faster the horses galloped and as it happened, David was at the
outside of a shop for some errand in town.
Witnessing the horror, he jumped
on the wagon, hoping to control the horses. Control he did, but he himself fell in front
of the houses who stomped on his right shoulder, tearing it apart. After
a prolonged stay in hospital, it had to be amputated. Lexie never went to see him in the hospital
because he did that to save Sadie. Lexie
left the village; fell in love with some bloke visiting from England who
promised to make her princess if she accompanied him back to England. To her dismay and horror, she found out he
was a swindler and a drunkard. It was then;
she went to live in that little town of Mosgiel so that no one would ever know
whatever had happened to her in England.
Meanwhile David
had to learn how to make a living with one left hand; he missed Lexie but at
the same time knew it was unfair for him to hope for her to be his bride. Before Lexie left New Zealand, he had managed
to hand her that letter of farewell and good will. As a farmer, there was no way he could make a
living in Mosgiel, so, David also left Hokitiu for Auckland to learn a new trade
that would only require one hand.
Under the
faithful ministry of Boreham’s preaching, Lexie began to see her own wicked heart. Without letting her guards down about the
past, she undertook the task of repairing it by performing every available
ministry in the church and throughout the village of Mosgiel; if there was
anything to be done, anyone to be cared for, she would be the first person to
volunteer.
Alas, a day
came. She came crashing down with the
load of loneliness and guilt. She began
to realize how innocent David was. Watching
her own life, now she realized how great a Christian he was. How much David wanted to help those youths to
know Christ. He even risked his life to
save his cousin; lost his arm, lost his future.
She even wondered about the fate of Sadie. Lexie knew it was her jealousy that ruined
many lives.
After an hour of
crying and confessing her sins to the pastor, Lexie felt better and went on her
usual ways of serving the community.
From that day onward, she had a brighter face and lighter steps in what
she did. Time went on, years went by. Boreham continued to rise in fame as his
Sunday sermons were now being printed for a local newspaper reaching far and wide as far as Australia, England and even to the new world. He began to be known as the preacher of the
heart. Interestingly, Boreham was the
last student Charles Spurgeon had enrolled in his school of preachers. After two days of admitting Boreham, the
prince of preacher had died.
One morning
while Boreham was reviewing his newspaper and the printed sermon, he saw an announcement
that startled him. It read, “Mr. David
Bannerman, the brilliant Auckland solicitor, has been appointed Lecturer in
Common Law at the Otago University.” And,
the newspaper went on to give details of Mr. Bannerman's success, but there was
no mention of his marriage and family. Boreham
was certain that this must be the Bannerman Lexie talked about. Otago University was only about 10 miles from
Mosgiel. For better or worse, one day,
he wrote to the professor about Lexie.
The reply comes, “Wire me immediately the lady’s address”. In three months times, they both were married
and went on to live a happy life with many children.
In her old age,
she wrote back to Boreham a letter of thanks and said, “I am getting to be an old
woman now, and I spend a lot of time in looking backward. Isn’t it wonderful? It all came right after all! But for the accident, Davie would never have
been a professor; and, if we had been married in the old days, I should only
have been a drag and a hindrance. As it
is, we have passed o’er moor (wasteland) and fen (swamp), o’er crag and
torrent; but the Kindly Light that I once doubted has led us all the way”.
So, my friends, the
same Kindly Light that has led me thus far will lead you on into victory. Just hang on there when the going gets tough.
No comments:
Post a Comment