A true story adapted from Bible Chain of Truth

Eliza Makes Her Wrongs Right

Eliza was a girl who was reared by parents who loved the Lord. They lived for Him and taught their children to do the same. They taught them how to be saved by faith in Jesus who died on the cross for their sins, and if they confessed their sins to Him and asked Him to forgive them, He would do that. They taught them how God wanted them to live according to the Bible, to tell the truth about anything that happened and not to take anything that did not belong to them. Eliza prayed every day in family worship. She loved the Lord but she didn’t live very close to Him at times.

One day after erasing the school blackboard, she was tempted to do something wrong. Everyone had gone, and as Eliza was walking down the aisle she passed Margaret’s desk. On the desk was a matchbox holding a little china doll. Margaret had brought it to school at different times and Eliza thought it was the cutest little doll she had ever seen. Her parents didn’t think they could afford a doll, so she sometimes wrapped up a stick, a bottle, or something soft when she wanted to play with one.

As Eliza stopped and looked at the doll, something whispered to her, “Why don’t you take it home with you? No one will ever know.” Eliza had never stolen anything in her life and she felt shaky about it, but she looked around and no one was in sight. Quickly she put the doll into her pocket and walked out of the room. Eliza hurried home, being afraid someone might have seen her. At home she took it out of her pocket and looked at it. Her sister wanted to see it, and, of course, Mother’s eagle eye saw it.

“Where did that doll come from?” she asked.

Eliza thought quickly and said, “Old Tennessee gave it to me.” Old Tennessee was a colored man who often came by the house in his wagon and let them look over the junk that he had collected.

Eliza’s mother turned back to her work, but the stolen doll didn’t look so pretty anymore. She shoved it in her

dresser drawer, but somehow it could not be forgotten. Something inside Eliza made her feel remorse and guilt. She didn’t feel like praying that evening, and went to bed early because nothing seemed interesting. But could not go to sleep or stop thinking about the doll. If wishing could have put that doll back on Margaret’s desk, it would have been there.

Sorrow filled her heart because now she was a thief. Over and over she thought about going back to school the next day. What if someone had seen her take the doll? What if she was caught? At these thoughts she trembled, and before the night was over many tears had been shed, but she could not decide what to do. Eliza was afraid to take the doll back because they would call her a thief. The only thing to do was just to go to school and take a chance that no one would know who took the doll.

Eliza was a very unhappy girl the next morning as she went to school, afraid to go to her room. But no one said a word about the doll and it didn’t seem that anyone missed it. Eliza was glad, but she wished that the doll were back in Margaret’s possession. Every time she thought of it a guilty feeling would sweep over her.

“Why don’t you break the doll and throw it away? Then you won’t feel bad any more,” a thought said. So Eliza took the doll out into the alley, got a rock, and smashed it into small pieces and scattered it around. Still she could not forget that she had stolen, and lied to her family, and disobeyed God. Her prayers did not seem to mean very much anymore and she was a miserable little girl.

Time passed, and at times the stolen doll would not come to her mind, and at other times it would trouble her greatly. Eliza knew she had sinned; that it stood between her and God, and she would have to make it right and confess to Margaret that she had taken the doll. Poor Eliza was sure Margaret would tell everyone in school and they would call her a thief.

One time, after school was out in the spring, a minister came to hold a meeting at the chapel where Eliza went to services with her parents. He preached on hell, and said that if people who disobeyed God didn’t clear up their lives and ask God to forgive them, they would go to that place of eternal punishment where fire and brimstone were never quenched. Eliza trembled as she listened. That was a place to be shunned! But after thinking about it all, it seemed too hard for her to make her wrongs right.

Eliza’s mind was not left in peace. One night after services were over and she went to bed, sleep did not come to bring relief to her troubled mind. So great was her misery that she rolled and tumbled, cried and cried. She wanted to get saved and be ready for heaven, but the thought of being called a thief at school when she made her confession was to her unbearable. It seemed a load like the mattress was on top of her instead of her being on the mattress. It was terrible! Finally she cried to the Lord, “I’ll get saved and make it right!”

She decided that as soon as she heard the alarm go off in her parents’ bedroom the next morning she would go and ask her father to pray for her to get saved. That decision brought some relief to her troubled soul, but it seemed like hours before the alarm went off. When she ran into their bedroom, she told her father that she wanted to get saved and he was happy to pray for her. Eliza prayed, too, asking God to forgive her and save her from her sins, which He did. She knew she would not see Margaret until school started in the fall, but she promised the Lord she would make it right with her when she could. Eliza arose from her knees a happy girl, the load lifted from her soul. Oh, how she loved God for forgiving her and saving her soul!

Summer passed. The time had been spent in much prayer and doing things to please the Lord, but Eliza did not forget her promise to God. She had not told one soul about what she had done—none knew but God. One day after school started she was sitting behind Margaret in study hall, so she reached out to tap her. When she turned, Eliza said, “Do you remember that little china doll you had last year in school? I want you to forgive me for taking it home with me. Tell me how much it cost and I’ll pay you for it.”

“Oh, I wondered what had happened to that doll,” Margaret answered. “You don’t have to pay me anything for it. I didn’t care very much for it, anyway.”

“I’m sorry I took it,” Eliza said.

“Just forget it; that’s all right.” And how happy Eliza was to have it off her mind and soul! She felt so light and happy. She thought about how much she had suffered over that little doll only to hear Margaret say it didn’t mean very much to her. But Eliza knew that she had disobeyed God by stealing, and that God had made her feel guilty over it. God loved her and wanted her to go to heaven so He dealt with her until she made it right.

But there was still the lie to make right with her family. How could she do it? She felt so bad to think that she had been a thief and it hurt her to let them know about it. She thought it through and decided that it would be easier to tell all of them at once what she had done and ask their forgiveness. Eliza was only twelve years old, but God made her know that to get everything clear between herself and God she must clear it up with others, too.

When the family all gathered for worship, she tried to speak, but broke down and started to cry. Her father asked her what was the trouble, and she got quieted enough to tell him, then ask forgiveness. Eliza told them she had stolen the doll and had lied when she told them Old Tennessee had given it to her. Her father said that they forgave her, and Eliza was very happy to have confessed it. Now it was all clear, for she had made everything right between herself and God and others, also.