Jewell Johnson - Daily Devotions for Women: Inspiration from the Lives of Classic Christian Women

Scripture
Index

To my husband, LeRoy, for his unfailing support in all my
writing endeavors. To Donna Goodrich, Rosemarie Malroy,
Ann Velia, and Sylvia Burke, who gave of their time to read
this text and give wise advice. Thanks, too, to the Fountain
Hills Christian Writers Group for reading my manuscripts at
every meeting and for their insightful suggestions.

As a child I enjoyed reading history books. When I became an adult, I found biographies fascinating. Contemplating Christian women of the past, I saw myself in their experiences. As with mine, the pieces of their lives didnt always fit together. Like me, they became frustrated with child-rearing problems. They had health problems. They faced the deaths of loved ones. At times they struggled to live the Christian lifejust like I did. But they survived!

This is the common bond of the women I write about in Daily Devotions for Women. In fact, these women did more than just survivethey kept trusting God in the face of their struggles and helped others along the way. Their stories are completely human and powerfully inspiring.

Over the course of a year, youll read brief biographical sketches of more than two hundred women. They lived in different times and places and came from many backgrounds. Some of their viewpoints and actions were controversial in their ageand could still be today. But each one offers some lesson for us now.

Listen to their voices on the following pages. Feel their doubts. Cry for them and sympathize with them. Above all, learn from them. With so great a cloud of witnesses looking down on us and cheering us on, we, too, will make it to the finish line!

Our help is in the name of the L ORD ,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
P SALM 124:8 NIV

Your qualifications are too slight, your education limited. The Chinese language would be far too difficult for you to learn, the mission board director told young Gladys Aylward in 1932 when she applied for a missionary appointment to China.

Convinced God had called her, Gladys determined that if the mission board wouldnt send her, she would send herself. Using money she earned as a parlor maid, she paid her own fare to travel overland by rail to China.

Without support, money was scarce as Gladys began her work. But when the Central Government decreed that the binding of womens feet must cease, the mandarin (governor) of the province needed a foot inspector. You are the only woman in the province with big feet, he told Gladys. You must take the job.

Gladys traveled from one remote village to another. During the day she inspected feet, but at night, at first in halting Chinese, she told the people about Jesus. The woman who was told she could not learn the Chinese language ended up mastering six Chinese dialects.

What difficult task are you called to do? Like Gladys Aylward, God may be asking you to learn a skill that seems beyond your ability. The One who made heaven and earth is your Helper. With Him, you will accomplish the impossible.

But Jesus said, Let the children come to me. Dont stop them!
For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.
And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.
M ATTHEW 19:1415 NLT

As a young girl, Lillian Trasher moved with her family to Georgia. There a Christian neighbor told Lillian, who was not a believer, she could know Jesus and be a friend of God. Lillian believed the neighbor and prayed, Lord, I want to be Your little girl. If ever I can do anything for You, let me know and Ill do it.

Later, when God led Lillian, now a young woman, to work in a faith-owned orphanage, she said, Yes. When she heard Gods call to be a missionary, in spite of no financial support, she again answered, Yes. And when God told her to begin an orphanage for Egypts neglected children, Lillian did it without pledged support.

At her death, Lillians orphanage had cared for over eight thousand children, and she had earned the title Mother of the Nile. This all started when one little girl said, God, let me know if I can do anything for You.

As children show an interest in God, His church, or the Bible, bless them, support them, and encourage them. You cannot imagine the marvelous feats God will do through the dedication of even one child.

Nothing can ever separate us from Gods love. Neither death nor life. Our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
R OMANS 8:3839 NLT

Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Toms Cabin, was raised in a religious home. Her father was an outstanding Puritan preacher in New England. As a child she had memorized over twenty-five hymns and long passages from the Bible.

For all her religious heritage, as an adult Harriet began to have conflicts of faith. Her doubts increased when her child died of cholera in 1849. Then her husband, suffering with depression, was taken to a sanitarium, and Harriet was left to make a living for their large family.