Inspiring Women in Missions

This week I want to share about 5 women whose lives are an encouragement and a challenge to all of us in our faith. Today we'll begin with Gladys Aylward.

Inspiring Women in Missions

This week's devotions are written by my friend Jessica Hermann, former director of our college ministry at Great Hills Baptist Church.

- Pastor Danny

I love reading biographies and autobiographies of faithful Christians. I find reading the stories of their lives to be so encouraging and fascinating. Of these, missionary biographies are some of my absolute favorites. A few years ago, my best friend and I planned a "Women in Missions" night for the young women at our church where we highlighted the lives of women from missions history who inspired us. We learned about their lives and how they point us to the Lord, and then we prayed for the people groups and countries where these ladies served.

This week, I want to share a bit about five of these women. The lives of these women are an encouragement and a challenge to all of us–men and women alike. All of these women are of course flawed. My aim is not to idolize these women nor to make it appear that they were perfect nor to reduce their lives to one small devotional, but rather to highlight some ways that their imperfect yet surrendered lives point us to the God they served. Today, I'll introduce you to Gladys Aylward.

Aylward was born just north of London in 1902 and became a Christian in her mid-twenties at a revival meeting. She got involved in a Young Life group and learned how to share the Gospel. She then heard about the need for missionaries in China and applied with a missions agency to go. She was an unlikely candidate without proper schooling, though, and after some time, she was released from the agency's training program because she was struggling with the classroom work.

Photo credit: Ibekolu & Shizhao, via Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)

Still determined, she ended up raising her own money and headed for China. After a long and dangerous journey across Europe and Asia all alone, she came alongside a veteran missionary. After so much work to get there, Gladys was relegated to caring for mules at an inn this missionary ran. Yet, here at the inn, Gladys learned Chinese through interactions with guests, something the agency back home said she would never be able to learn. God was preparing her through this season. She gained a good rapport with local leaders and was asked to be a "foot inspector"–someone who went around to be sure the women were no longer binding their feet after the practice was outlawed. I don't know about you, but if I traveled all across the world just to end up inspecting feet, I might be discouraged. But Gladys rejoiced at this, and as she traveled from home to home to inspect feet, she would share the Gospel in every home she visited! I am so encouraged by how she took an "unspiritual assignment" like inspecting feet for the local leader and turned it into a Kingdom assignment. Hearts devoted to God are always looking for opportunities to turn a mundane or seemingly random task into a Gospel-sharing opportunity. Over time, Gladys began to care for orphans and eventually cared for over 100 children. When war with China and Japan broke out, she embarked on a long and dangerous trek through the mountains to get the children to safety. It's quite a story of faith, and I encourage you to learn more about her. Her story is told in the book The Small Woman, by Alan Burgess, and there is even a movie about her life called The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

What stands out to me from her story is how she was deemed "unfit" for missionary service on multiple accounts, yet the Lord used her greatly. She was thought to be too old to go as a missionary. She was basically told she wasn't "smart enough" to be a missionary and was told she could never learn the Chinese language. Yet, she did. The 4-foot 10-inch tall woman was even called upon once to break up a prison fight. How's that for God using you in ways beyond your expectations?

Have you let the opinions of others or even yourself hold you back from walking in what God has called you to? The opinion and calling of the Lord is greater than what any person may say. Have faith that when God calls someone to do something, He equips them for the work. All throughout Scriptures, we see God using the unlikely for great works of His doing. Why would we think that this doesn't extend to today? I encourage you to boldly follow God wherever He leads you, regardless of whether or not you think you are equipped for it. Trust God to equip and sustain you. He equips and sustains us for the tasks He lays out for us.