Go to www.sharihouse.com to read more "Her Story Silhouettes"
Hey there, I'm Shari. One of my favorite things to do is read about or study the lives of ordinary women who have done extraordinary things for the Lord.
Their stories challenge me, encourage me, and teach me. My hope is that these "silhouettes" or glimpses of their lives will do the same for you.
Each silhouette contains a small synopsis of a lady’s service to the Lord, a particular story from her everyday life that resonated with my own, and a short Bible study about a truth that I learned from it. I hope that as you read these posts you might be challenged to find out more about these great ladies, that you might find something that speaks to your heart or helps you in your own ministry, and that ultimately you will be encouraged to remain faithful to your calling.
So grab a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy, and let me tell you about her story.
Silhouette:
The following year
in 1888 Priscilla became acquainted with C.T. Studd, the successful, wealthy English
cricketer who was one of the famous “Cambridge Seven.” She had no plans of
marrying as she was fiercely dedicated to the work the Lord had called her to
do. Charles on the other hand, was quite convinced they were meant for each
other and told her, ‘You have neither the mind of God nor the will of God on
the matter, but I have. And I intend to marry you whether you will or not so
you’d better make up your mind and accept the situation!” Eventually Priscilla
consented to marry him, and on their wedding day she wore a sash that said,
“United for fight for Jesus.”
After they were
married, Priscilla and Charles moved to the inland city of LungangFu to work.
They endured many hardships, but together they faced them with the full belief
that they could reach the people of China for Christ. Some of these hardships
included their bed becoming infested with scorpions, starvation, and having
their neighbors greet them with curses whenever they left the house . . . every
day. . . for five years. Eventually the power of the Gospel began to do a work
in the hearts of the people and the persecution the Studds had borne for five
years began producing Christians who were also willing to bear persecution for
the cause of Christ. Here is a case in point:
Priscilla and Charles were both forced to return home to England shortly after that in 1894 because of poor health. They brought with them their four daughters (Grace, Dorothy, Edith, and Pauline) and left behind two sons who had died in infancy. After a period of time of recuperation, they spent the next two years touring English and American universities recruiting missionaries. They then served in Ootacamund, South India from 1900-1906. Once again, ill health forced them to return home. Priscilla did not know it at the time, but she would never return to serve on the field.
In 1913 Charles’
heart was stirred by the great need in Africa. Because the doctors would not
give their consent, his financial backers stopped their support. He decided to
go anyway but thought it would be better for Priscilla to stay behind with their
daughters much to her great disappointment. She took up the cause for missions
on the home front, though, and headed up an organization called Worldwide
Evangelization Crusade (WEC) that not only raised the funds that kept her
husband on the field, but also raised awareness of the needs for more
missionaries to go to unreached areas all over the world.
Her Story/My Story:
As a wife, mother,
and missionary, Priscilla’s life took many turns, but the one she was least
prepared for was when her husband decided she should stay home with the
children while he pursued missionary work in Africa. Charles saw this
separation from his family as just one more thing he was willing to sacrifice
for the cause of Christ, but Priscilla struggled with feelings of rejection, loneliness,
and loss of her calling. She eventually came to terms with her feelings and
realized, although her life’s plans had changed, there was still a part she
could play in missions. She had decided that if she couldn’t be on the field
anymore and no one was willing to support the work her husband was trying to
do, that she would make it happen. And so, she threw herself wholeheartedly
into raising support for her husband and recruiting new missionaries to join in
the work by heading up the WEC. Priscilla lived the last 16 years of her
married life apart from her husband except for a brief 13-day visit to the
Congo a year before she passed away.
Priscilla’s life
did not turn out at all like she had planned when she left her home as a single
missionary to serve the Lord in China. Life is often like that. It takes twists
and turns, sometimes caused by our actions, and sometimes caused by the actions
of others. The beauty of staying faithful to the Lord, though, even when your
life doesn’t look like the one you planned, is that often the Lord allows you
to see your hopes and dreams come to fruition in the lives of your children and
grandchildren. Priscilla lived long enough to see two of her daughters go to
the mission field with their husbands to continue on with the work that she and
her husband had given their lives to.
Although I was never aware of my grandmother’s
prayers concerning the mission field, she often quoted to me this poem that she
had written:
From
the time I left for Nigeria until her death 12 years later, I only got home to
see her a few times, but never once when we spoke on the phone did she not at
some point say, “Shari, God love you, I pray for you every day, many times a
day.” Every letter she sent me was filled with the same sentiments. My
grandmother was upholding me on the field with her prayers. It is true that my
grandmother never made it to the mission field, but I know it is also true that
I would have never made it on the mission field if it were not for her faithful
prayers. She never did get to be a “Joshua” on the front lines of the battle,
but she was a faithful “Hur” her entire life.
A Christian brave is what
I want to be.
More like Jesus, Who
walked the shores of Galilee.
I want to be a soldier of
the cross,
To help some soul to find
their way that’s lost.
I want to live my life in
such a way.
That a stumbling block
for others, I’ll never be.
A Christian more like
Jesus, is what I want to be.
I remember the day
in October 1993, when I told my grandma that I was going to go to the mission
field. There were tears, but not the kind I was expecting . . . the kind that
most grandmas might have when their granddaughter tells them that they are committing
to live a life on the other side of the world. Instead, they were tears of joy at
answered prayer and fulfillment of a life-long dream.
Bible Study: "Hur" Story
We first find Hur
mentioned in the Bible in Exodus 17:8-13 where the Israelites were fighting in
the Battle of Rephidim. As per Moses’ direction, Joshua and his chosen men went
out to fight the Amalekites while Moses went up to the top of the hill
overlooking the battlefield for the purpose of holding up the rod of God. The
Bible tells us that Aaron and Hur went up with him. When they saw that Moses
was getting tired, they found a rock for him to sit on. Then they noticed that
when Moses’ arms lowered under the weight of the rod, the Israelites began to
lose the battle. Aaron and Hur stood on either side of Moses for the duration
of the battle and steadied his arms until the evening came and the Israelites
were victorious.
Moses, Aaron, and
Joshua are familiar characters that play important roles in Israel’s history
and the Bible has much to say about their lives. Hur on the other hand seems to
come on the scene quietly with no backstory of his life given, although Jewish
tradition says he was Miriam’s son. He wasn’t Israel’s great leader . . . that
was Moses. He wasn’t Israel’s great speaker . . . that was Aaron. He wasn’t Israel’s
great general . . . that was Joshua. He wasn’t one of Israel’s great warriors
fighting the battle on the field either. He was, however, one of Israel’s faithful
men who served the Lord as he could. He was the one who met the physical needs
of Moses when he was tired. He was the one who used his strength to help Aaron keep
Moses’ hands lifted in the air during the battle. He was the one who kept a watchful,
and no doubt prayerful, eye on Joshua and the warriors as they labored in the
fight . . . and in so doing, he did his part and helped the Israelites win a
great victory.
The only other
time Hur is mentioned in the Bible apart from a few genealogies is in Exodus
24:14 where God has called Moses up to Mount Sinai to speak with him. Hur must
have been a man of some wisdom and leadership because Moses leaves him, along
with Aaron, in charge of all the Israelites while he is gone, and he instructs
the elders to bring to them any matters that need attention. It is interesting
to note that as the days progressed, and Moses tarried on the mount, Hur is not
named with Aaron when the golden calf was fashioned to be worshipped. Jewish
tradition says that he is was not present because he was killed by the people
while trying to prevent them from carrying out this wickedness.
We know nothing
more of Hur’s story, but in Exodus 31 and subsequent chapters we find that
Bezaleel, Hur’s grandson, was called and equipped by God for the great honor of
building the Tabernacle and all its intricate parts including the Ark of the
Covenant. It is easy to conclude that, although the Bible doesn’t give us a
large narrative of Hur’s life, he most likely was a man who led his family
spiritually by example and helped raise up future generations for the Lord and
His work.
Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Know
therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth
covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a
thousand generations;”
Your faithfulness to the roles and tasks, whether great or small, that God gives you in your life makes an indelible mark on those that come after you for generations to come. Sometimes your greatest contribution to the Lord's work comes not by being a "Moses" or an "Aaron" or a "Joshua". . . but by being a "Hur."
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Copyright 2019 www.sharihouse.com
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*Disclaimer:
*Disclaimer:
I have chosen to highlight the life of these ladies because of what they have accomplished for the Lord not because I agree with their doctrinal beliefs. As with all study of man, our focus should be on the character traits they bestowed in their lives that allowed the Lord to use them, how the Lord used them, the methods of ministry they incorporated that allowed them to be effective, etc. We do not study man to get our doctrine. Our doctrinal beliefs should only come from the Bible. To that end you may find you don’t agree with the doctrine of a particular person that I write about, but I believe there is still much wisdom we can gain from studying their lives.
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