As told my a member of the Gideons:
“My family and I eat out quite often and we always look forward to having Ava as our waitress in our favorite restaurant. She is always kind and shows us special attention. Over the course of a year, we had gotten to know her well.
“Ava knew that I was a chaplain at the county jail, and one day I received a telephone call from her. She said that her grandmother had passed away and wanted to know if I would conduct the funeral service. Ava’s family was Catholic, but her grandmother had requested a Protestant service.
“I was happy to do the service, but asked if I could talk with the family beforehand. They invited me to their home, and I met with Ava and other family members. I asked Ava if her grandmother had owned a Bible, and if they still had it. She went to get it and, upon her return, handed me a well-worn Gideon Testament. It was tattered and falling apart; a rubber band held it together. It was obvious that the Testament had had a lot of use.
“I learned that Sarah, Ava’s grandmother, had been a nurse in a convalescent home. One day, many years ago, an Auxiliary member (wife of a Gideon) had given her a Testament. The Testament in my hand was no longer white, but it was still beautiful.
In the back, I read that Sarah had made a confession of faith in Jesus Christ and saw where she had signed her name. She had received the Lord on April 8, 1961.
“I looked at that tattered Testament and my heart was touched. I asked the family if I could use it in the funeral service. They happily agreed.
“The Lord led me to speak on the subject of our inheritance in the Lord. I used the illustration of the Bible I had inherited from my mother. It had been carried by my grandfather a hundred years ago when he preached in a little church in Oklahoma.
“Then I showed the Gideon Testament and told Sarah’s family that it was her inheritance to them. As the family listened, I told them that their grandmother would want them to know God just as she did, and I showed them where she had signed the back of the Testament.
“I asked if any of them would like to pray and accept Jesus as their Savior. Together the entire family knelt with me in the chapel and repeated a prayer of repentance as I led them. Throughout the room, people were crying and confessing their sins to Christ. Before it was over, everyone had confessed that Jesus Christ was Lord and Savior. It was a beautiful experience.
“I just wanted to let you know how the Lord used that little Testament. First He used it to save Sarah. Then after her death, He used it to reach all of her family.”