the windows and cracks with paper and rags. My little girl said to me: 'Mommy, what are
you doing?' and I answered: There's a little draught in here.' Then I turned on the gas
heater we had in the bedroom-and didn't light it. As I lay down on the bed with my
daughter beside me, she said: 'Mommy, this is funny-we just got up a little while ago!'
But I said: 'Never mind, we'll take a little nap.'
Then I closed my eyes, listening to the gas escape from the heater. I shall never forget
the smell of that gas. ...
"Suddenly I thought I heard music. I listened. I had forgotten to turn the radio off in the
kitchen. It didn't matter now. But the music kept on, and presently I heard someone
singing an old hymn:
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and grief's to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
"As I listened to that hymn, I realised that I had made a tragic mistake. I had tried to fight
all my terrible battles alone. I had not taken everything to God in prayer. ... I jumped up,
turned off the gas, opened the door, and raised the windows.
"I wept and prayed all the rest of that day. Only I didn't pray for help-instead I poured out
my soul in thanksgiving to God for the blessings He had given me: five splendid
children- all of them healthy and fine, strong in body and mind. I promised God that
never again would I prove so ungrateful. And I have kept that promise.
"Even after we lost our home, and had to move into a little country schoolhouse that we
rented for five dollars a month, I thanked God for that schoolhouse; I thanked Him for
the fact that I at least had a roof to keep us warm and dry. I thanked God honestly that
things were not worse-and I believe that He heard me. For in time things improved-oh,
not overnight; but as the depression lightened, we made a little more money. I got a job
as a hat-check girl in a large country club, and sold stockings as a side line. To help put
himself through college, one of my sons got a job on a farm, milked thirteen cows
morning and night. Today my children are grown up and married; I have three fine
grandchildren. And, as I look back on that terrible day when I turned on the gas, I thank
God over and over that I 'woke up' in time. What joys I would have missed if I had
carried out that act! How many wonderful years I would have forfeited for ever!
Whenever I hear now of someone who wants to end his life, I feel like crying out: 'Don't
do it! Don't!' The blackest moments we live through can only last a little time-and then
comes the future. ..."
On the average, someone commits suicide in the United States every thirty-five minutes.
On the average, someone goes insane every hundred and twenty seconds. Most of
these suicides-and probably many of the tragedies of insanity- could have been
prevented if these people had only had the solace and peace that are found in religion
and prayer.
One of the most distinguished psychiatrists living, Dr. Carl Jung, says in his book
Modern Man in Search of a Soul (*):