Mary was the daughter of a missionary couple in India. She was born in India and lived there until she was six years old. When it was time for her to start school, her parents sent her back to America to live with her grandmother. Mary's grandmother was very kind to her and often told her Bible stories and did many things to make her happy.

As Mary learned to read and write, she would send letters back to her parents in India. They sent many letters to her, too, which she loved to receive. At first, her grandmother would have to read them to her. But it wasn't long before she could read them herself.

One day when she was almost seven, she received a letter from her father. In it he included some money and a note which said, "You will soon be having your seventh birthday, Mary. I have enclosed some money for you to buy yourself a new Bible as your birthday present."

"That's just what I wanted!" exclaimed Mary happily.

A few days later, on her birthday, Mary and her grandmother went to a bookstore. They looked at all the different kinds of Bibles. There were big ones and little ones, some had gold edges on the pages, and some had leather covers which cost more. It was hard to make a decision. After looking at them for almost fifteen minutes, Mary told the saleslady how much money she had and asked if it would buy two Bibles.

"Yes, it could," replied the saleslady, "but not the nice ones you're looking at."

Mary's grandmother heard this and asked, "Mary, why do you want two Bibles?"

"Because I want one for myself and one to send to a girl in India who is my age, so that she may learn about Jesus, too," answered Mary.

So Mary bought two Bibles. They didn't have gold-edged pages or soft, leather covers. But the saleslady told Mary, "The inside is just the same!"

As soon as Mary got home, she printed her name in one of them. Her grandmother helped her carefully wrap the second Bible to be sent with a letter to her parents. She thanked them for her Bible and asked them to please give the second Bible to a seven-year-old girl in India.

Mary read her Bible every day and learned more and more of the love of Jesus. Her favorite verse was, "We love Him, because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19) She read in a letter from her father that the second Bible had been given to a seven-year-old girl, just as Mary had asked. Each day Mary prayed for her unknown friend in India, that she also might learn to know all about the love of Jesus and how He had died on the cross for her, too.

Many years later, after Mary finished going to school, she went back to India to be with her father and mother and to help them in their missionary work. Not long after she arrived, she met a young Indian girl and learned that she was a happy Christian.

"How did you learn about the Lord Jesus?" Mary asked her one day.

"When I was seven years old, I was given this Bible," answered the girl. "I read it and learned how the Lord Jesus loved me and died for me."

Mary had found her unknown friend! This was the seven-year-old girl who had received Mary's second Bible and for whom Mary had been praying all these years.

Do you have a Bible? If you will read it, you will learn about God's love and how He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus, to die for your sins. If you already know Him as your Saviour, why not do what Mary did -- pass on God's Word to others, so that they can learn of God's love and be saved.

"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." Matthew 24:35.

Copied with permission from Messages of God's Love published by Bible Truth Publishers, Addison, IL  60101.

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