God and Feet, Part Three

The last installment in this series is taken from the book Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God by Noel Piper. Again, I urge you to read the entire book to grasp the fullness of the author’s purpose, to show women today from lives of women of the past the importance of following this extraordinary God wherever He leads.

As a child I attended the movies one time to see “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness” which is the story of Gladys Aylward who served as a missionary in China for many years. This film had a profound impact on my life and formed the basis in later years for a sensitivity to missions in that country a long time before such an effort was possible from a political/governmental view. I find it interesting how God has used that for the past 50+ years to shape my desire to pray and give to missions, even though He has never opened the doors to my going.

For a long time, the same thing happened in Gladys’ life. She was poor, uneducated, and without any resources whatsoever to go to China; yet, she felt God had impressed on her heart this was where He desired her to serve Him. Gladys was born in 1902 in a poor section of London, did not like school at all and eventually dropped out to become a parlor maid in wealthy households. Through many of these contacts, God began shaping her life to experience Him in a real and personal way she never dreamed possible. He prepared her carefully for her future but for quite a while she had no idea where her future lay. Once it became clear how He had equipped her spiritually, she began wondering how He would manage the financial aspect. It cost a great deal to travel to China back then and no missionary group would commission her. That didn’t concern her, though, because she knew God had called her and He would provide—somehow. Of that, she was absolutely certain. How was up to Him.

Eventually she was hired as a maid by a famous adventurer who had explored much of China and Tibet. How’s that for God’s purposes being fulfilled? The day after she arrived, she prayed once more about her desire to go to Asia to share the Gospel there and then laid out on the bed all her money at that point, promising God that if He continued to call her, she would go even with this meager provision. A moment later, she got word her new mistress wanted to see her. With great anxiety she entered the room but the kindness of the lady of the house soon dispelled all her fears. She repaid Gladys the money she’d been out to get to their home and within seconds, through no effort of her own, God managed to increase her savings more than a thousand percent! The goal was still a long ways off but this excited young woman took it as a sign that God would, indeed, provide the way for His calling on her life.

And indeed, He did. She eventually went (the story of her journey itself is amazing!) and through great difficulties, tremendous danger, and apparently insurmountable odds over the next twenty years, accomplished acts of service that truly seem more the stuff of Hollywood than the people of God! Hers is a breathtaking story of excitement, frustrations, anxiety, starvation, and hiding from authorities to avoid execution, and even a bittersweet love story. Most importantly, it is a tale of God’s provision far beyond the human ability to see how He has planned for it, and not once but many, many times during her lifetime.

At one point Gladys led more than 100 children on foot over mountains and rough terrain to avoid Japanese soldiers during the war in order to deliver them safely to an orphanage that had agreed to take them, achieving through sheer determination in following God’s leadership what man said could not be done. Another time she was called by the local mandarin to quell a prison riot and soon found herself in grave danger amongst society’s worst in horrific circumstances, yet God used her to bring peace to these men that opened the door to her service among the people for years to come. Soon after arriving she was appointed Foot Inspector and this unique position allowed her to minister God’s Word throughout the region unfettered and with the authority of the government as she freed young girls from the horror of foot binding wherever she went. Our God is, indeed, a mighty Sovereign!

God used the lowly foot to provide an opportunity for Gladys to share Christ in amazing ways among the Chinese people, even as He put feet to her desire to take her Savior to the lowliest of the low in that society. Many footsteps were taken over those dangerous and enemy-filled mountains in her daring rescue of the children, with some leading directly to Heaven through loss of life and others leading eventually to a new home far away from the sounds of war. But always, she managed to follow in His footsteps.

Can we do any less with our humble lives? We may not be called to China or ever experience the horror of war. But God has a plan for my life—and for your life—and if we are willing to go, He will provide the way and the direction, of that we can rest assured. Over the seas, over the mountains, over the rough terrain of any unknown place—these are the steps God shows us and calls us to follow, even right here in our own country. Let Gladys Aylward’s life serve as an example when you take those steps today that lead you closer to what God has planned for your future, either as a Christian or as a writer or as both!