A Heart for the Lost from the Beginning

From the very beginning of her Christian life, Audrey Reid has carried a deep burden for those who do not know the Lord. Looking back, she laughs at her early attempts—full of zeal, but perhaps not yet seasoned with wisdom. Still, those simple, childlike efforts were not forgotten by God.

She shares this remarkable story from her childhood:

Zeal Without Wisdom

“Over the many years since I first trusted the Lord I had had time to learn a lot about how to share the gospel. I look back with amusement at my early efforts, as a child with more zeal than wisdom. Soon after I became a Christian in 1945 I began to feel a great responsibility for the lost souls around me.

I started to witness to school friends in Belfast, trying to persuade them to ‘get saved’ so as to go to Heaven when they would die.

A Prayer Beside the Sandbox

When I was about nine or ten years old, I was walking home one day with my friend, Maureen. I urged her to ask Jesus to save her and not to delay. She said she was convinced and that when she would get home that day she would ask the Lord to save her.

With all earnestness, I told her she could not wait that long. What if before she got home a car or a bus were to knock her down? I said that she needed to pray to the Lord right there on the street.

Poor Maureen was clearly embarrassed, but I insisted. ‘Look,’ I said, ‘here is a big sandbox.’ It was there to supply sand to spread on the icy roads in winter. I told Maureen we could be a little protected if we went and knelt beside the sandbox, close to the wall.

Again she protested that it would look strange—but I assured her that her salvation was more important than what any passer-by might think. So there we knelt together beside the sandbox and Maureen prayed to receive Christ as Saviour. I was really happy, though Maureen still seemed a little unsure!

Doubts About Early Efforts

During my childhood I energetically tried to witness to quite a number of different people, always pressuring them to decide right then. I did not know that it was the work of the Holy Spirit to convict and convince people.

Later in my late teens, while at the university, I realised that my early efforts at evangelising were not at all wise. I became convinced that none of those early ‘conversions’ were real and were just childish fantasies.

I doubted that any child could actually point a person to Christ.

God’s Unexpected Confirmation

Then God did something quite unusual and dramatic. Aged eleven I had left Belfast where I had been living since the age of seven with my maternal grandmother and Aunt Lily and had gone back to my home area in County Tyrone to attend secondary school. I completely lost touch with the friends I had formerly in the school in Belfast.

I had an aunt, a sister of my dad’s, called Maisie, who was a schoolteacher and a really fine Christian. On one occasion a student was sent to do practice training under her guidance. They quickly discovered that they were both believers.

My aunt asked the student how she had become a Christian and the student replied, ‘I had the most unusual conversion that you can imagine. I was saved beside a sandbox on the Antrim Road here in Belfast.’

She went on to tell the story and, as you will have guessed, it was indeed the friend Maureen of my childhood! Maureen told my aunt the name of the friend who had led her to Christ and said that I had moved away soon after and she had lost track of me.

My aunt was able to tell her that this friend she was talking about was in fact not only known to her—she was her niece!

I believe the Lord guided in this encounter to restore my faith in the possibility of a child leading others to salvation. I just prayed then that the Lord would provide follow-up to those who were genuinely saved, as He had done in the case of Maureen.”

Lessons for Us Today

Audrey’s story is a beautiful reminder that no effort made for Christ is wasted. Even the faltering, childlike words of a nine-year-old can be used by God to change a life forever. The Lord is faithful to take what we offer, however small, and weave it into His eternal purposes.

At the same time, this testimony also highlights the importance of training. Zeal is a wonderful gift, but when it is coupled with wisdom, clarity, and a biblical understanding of how to present the Gospel, it can bear even greater fruit.

That is why we provide training in evangelism to children. It equips us not only to share Christ with boldness but also to guide new believers toward growth and discipleship.

May we, like Audrey, be willing to serve with both childlike faith and a readiness to keep learning, trusting God to use every effort for His glory.

-Audrey Reid, retired worker, CEF of Spain

image from freepik.com