o received a wound in her leg. She looked down to where the cut was,
and to her horror she saw no flesh revealed, but only straw. She
examined it closely, but it seemed to be the same all through; she had
nothing but straw inside, and she turned from the sight that had met
her eyes in horror and despair. She was not able to get away from that
dream, feeling quite sure that it had some special teaching in it for
her, and she turned to the writer to help her understand what it might
mean. Recognizing that the dream was from God, that He was teaching
her through these visions, we lifted our heart to God in prayer. We
were standing beside a stack of straw in Mrs. Lue's yard. Pulling out
one straw, and showing it to her, we said, "Do you see that straw?
Now, how much is it worth? You just touch it and it is broken. There
is no real value in it. Suppose you take a match and set fire to this
whole stack of straw, in a few minutes all would be burned up, nothing
but ashes would remain. As with this straw, so will it be with all the
merit you think you have stored up for the life to come. The Word of
God says that everything which is not built on Christ as the foundation
is wood, hay, and stubble, and shall be burned up. So all your
supposed merit will vanish when the day of reckoning comes. There is
no real, lasting value in it; it will all be burned up, only the ashes
will remain, and you will have nothing with which to appear before God.
But all that is built on Christ Jesus will abide."

This interpretation may not appeal to Western minds, but it made a deep
impression on Mrs. Lue, and we believe it was the message God meant for
her. That night she came again to the meeting. She could stay away no
longer, the time of her deliverance was drawing nigh.

CHAPTER XIV

LIGHT AFTER DARKNESS

Quite a few weeks elapsed before we went to Kucheng again, and during
that interval nothing had been heard of Mrs. Lue. But we had not been
silent before the Throne of Grace. When we reached Kucheng, several
met us at the gate, shouting, "We have good news for you, which will
give you great joy; Mrs. Lue is now your friend indeed, she has broken
her vow, and has been eating meat for the first time to-day!" That was
good news indeed, and there is no need to tell what joy this news
brought; indeed, it would be impossible to do so. How we did praise
God for having answered prayer and given such a glorious deliverance.