Jean Lush - Women and Stress: Practical Ways to Manage Tension

My good friend Rachael and I had invited missionary Jill Torrey-Renich to speak at our three-day evangelistic rally in Australia. Jill and her husband had been involved in great revival ministries in Ireland and England; she had also been a missionary in China. A descendant of the great R. A. Torrey, Jill had spiritual genes, and we knew she would have a tremendous impact on our women. I never anticipated a personal prophetic warning.

I remember Jills words as if they were spoken yesterday: It will be a long time before I see you two again, and I have a prophetic message for you. In all my traveling years I have never seen anything like this group. You girls have a very effective ministry, and the devil is bound to strike. I have strong feelings that he will aim his darts at your relationship. If he breaks your unity as leaders, he can destroy the group.

At the time her warning seemed ridiculous. I almost burst out laughing. After all, Rachael and I had had our babies together. We were soul mates who shared everythingour joys, our sorrows, even our vacations.

Australians dont go for that kind of talk, I said to Jill. Maybe on your missionary journeys youre used to thinking about that devil stuff, but Australians dont mess with it. When problems come, we see ourselves as the cause, take the conflicts in stride, and plunge ahead.

After the weekend crusade, I traveled back to my family in the beautiful hills outside the city of Adelaide. Three acres of gardens and walnut orchards set among giant eucalyptus trees kept me very busy, as did my three grade-school children. When I wasnt supervising the kids, there were chickens, several pets, and our huge black-and-white cow to keep me on the run.

I thanked God for our womens fellowship group. It was a great outlet from the pressures of life. That year there was a great polio epidemic in the city. Over two thousand people, mostly children, died of the disease. We carefully kept our children at home to avoid exposure. For months they didnt have the pleasure of playing with children from other families. My husband, Lyall, was frequently absent because of his occupation and ministry. This left me with an incredible burden to bear on my own.

World War II also affected us. Japanese submarines were in the bay, and Australia was on a wartime footing. Cars and telephones were scarce; civilians were allowed one telephone per block of homes, and families were restricted to three gallons of gasoline a month. This made traveling to the city from our home in the hills next to impossible. We had to save our gasoline strictly for emergency purposes.

Two to three months after Jill Torrey spoke at our crusade, a neighbor from several blocks away came running to my house with an urgent telephone message from Rachael. Much to my surprise, she said Rachael was on her way up the mountain to talk to me. I couldnt imagine what would prompt her to waste so much gas.

When I heard her car pull up to the house, I dashed out to see what was the matter. Storming toward the front door, she blurted out, Jean, I must talk to you alone. My news isnt pleasant, but you simply must know what everyone is saying about Lyall!