A sparkle in her eye

For where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also.  The light of thy body is thy eye. If thy eye be single, thy whole body shall be lightsome.  But if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be darksome. If then the light that is in thee, be darkness: the darkness itself how great shall it be!  No man can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one, and love the other: or he will sustain the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matt. 6: 22-24

This passage came to mind when I recently saw a beautiful tribute on Facebook to friends of mine who took a young girl into their home twenty-some years ago.  At that time, the girl was a Sunday School student at our church and came to Vacation Bible School each summer.

I remember clearly the look in her eyes before the couple began to raise her.  She was a weary 12-year-old with a sullen look on her face and eyes clouded in dark despair. At VBS  classes she would sit with her chin resting on her hands and her mind vacant, or so it seemed.

Then one day, a pronounced change came over her.  Her countenance was different.  I saw a sparkle in her eye and I saw her smile.  She had learned from this couple that Jesus loved her.  She now knew that she was a precious daughter of the King because they treated her as their own.  Because of their love for God she chose from then on, through teenaged trials and difficult family circumstances, to also serve the Lord.

Twenty plus years later, this beautiful woman and her new husband serve as Christian missionaries together and are awaiting the birth of their first child.  Because she made the decision to serve only one Master and to remain faithful to Him, no matter what the cost, her life is abundantly blessed and her eyes continue to sparkle.