Excerpt from Autobiography of Mrs. Laura Dickey and Choice Miscellaneous Selections

Husband (well pleased at my freedom from care), arranged that we should board at my father's. And so the happy hours flew by, until the loss of my husband enveloped me in such a cloud of darkness and despair, that, nearly bereft of reason, I was considered incapable of giving necessary attention to my two babies (the eldest not being two years old). In looking back to those dark days life for many months seemed only a blank; but God is good, making youth elastic, and time a restorer. Again I married, and shortly afterward we moved to Canada, where Mr. Balch, my husband's father, lived. I will not dwell on this time of my life, only to say I there began to learn what life really was in its labors and responsibilities. I had never before known the real value of money, in fact I had almost everything to learn, but the many, and sometimes bitter, lessons were as nothing when compared to the terrible home-sickness I experienced at the separation from home and friends, and to attempt a description of my feelings at that time would prove fruitless, except in one definite, ever-present thought, which amounted to a longing for that religion of which I had heard so many speak, but of which I had no personal knowledge. My prayer was, Father in heaven, what must I do to be saved? I believe in Christ as my Savior, and I pray that Thou wilt give me the evidence of sins forgiven. But, though I prayed most fervently, I never could feel the assurance of acceptance, so I thought I had only to wait, and in His own good time He would send the same evidence to my waiting spirit that others had spoken of receiving. Thus I waited and prayed, and my prayers were not in vain, for He spared me until, led by His providence, I heard and understood the truth as taught in His Holy Word, that the evidence of sins forgiven was in His promise, and not in our feelings. In other words, we know that when we come to Him in His own appointed way He will accept of us and forgive all our sins, because He has promised to do so; and when we do what He requires of us, we know He will fulfill His promise in our behalf. Our Savior gave Peter the keys of the kingdom, and one of those keys Peter used on the day of Pentecost, when, speaking as the Spirit gave him utterance, he named the conditions which should open the door of Christ's kingdom to the Jewish people. When he had preached Christ to them they believed, for we read.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.