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Silhouette:
Gladys Aylward was
born on February 24, 1902 in London, England. Not known for being a scholar,
Gladys left school at the age of 14 and entered the work force as a domestic
worker in a wealthy home. She aspired to become an actress, but much to her
disappointment, her dark black hair and black eyes along with her small stature
were not conducive to that job. At the age of 18 she went to an evangelistic
meeting somewhat against her will. She had no time for the “fear” tactics that
often accompanied these types of meetings and left as soon as she could. As she
was leaving someone asked her name and said, “Miss Alyward, I believe God is
wanting you.” It wasn’t enough to make her go back inside, but later on she
returned to speak to the preacher and got saved. From that point on, her focus
in life changed.
At the age of 26,
after reading of the millions in China who had never heard the Gospel, she
applied to the China Inland Mission to be a missionary. She knew the Lord was
calling her to this work, but she struggled to grasp the Chinese language. After
her 3-month probationary course, she received this news: “It is with great
regret that I have to recommend to you that we do not accept Miss Aylward. She
has a call to serve God – she is sincere and courageous – but we cannot take
the responsibility of sending a woman of 26, with such a limited Christian
experience and education to China.” She was very disappointed and was sent
instead to another town to be a housemaid for a retired CIM missionary couple who
had served in China. She learned much from them, and it only strengthened her
resolve to go to China and fulfill her calling. From there she worked in
several ministries including being a “Rescue Sister” who went out to the docks
at night in South Wales talking to the homeless women and girls working the
streets. With her mind always on how to get herself to China, Gladys decided to
return to London where she was able to once again secure a paying job as a parlor
maid. With only a few coins to her name, she cried out to God, “Oh God, here’s
my Bible! Here’s my money! Here’s me! Use me!” At that moment the mistress of
the house came to her room to give her three shillings to reimburse her for her
travel to London. She took that as a sign from God that He would provide the rest.
Gladys wasn’t sure
where in China she was going to go but had heard of an elderly missionary lady named
Jeannie Lawson who was looking for someone to help her in her work. Saving for
the 90£ it would cost her to go by boat was going to take too long, and so
instead she opted to go over land and enter China through Russia. This would be
a long and arduous undertaking and even the officers at the railway station
tried to dissuade her, especially since China and Russia had been in a state of
undeclared war for some time, but she would not be swayed. Each week she took
her earnings and put it towards her ticket. On October 15, 1932 at the age of 30,
Gladys boarded the first of many trains and was finally on her way. She passed
through Holland, Germany, Poland, and finally crossed into Siberia. From this
point her trip took perilous turns including being detained by and subsequently
escaping from Russians soldiers, hitching a ride on a Japanese ship, riding
numerous trains and buses, and finally taking two days to cross three mountain
ranges and ford numerous rivers on the back of a mule. Her trip over thousands
of miles long took her a month, but when she arrived in Yangchen, she felt she
was finally home.
Gladys found Jeannie
Lawson, the 73-year old missionary lady she would be helping, living in an old run-down
inn in a poor part of town. Yangchen was a stopping point for the mule caravans
that traveled the dusty roads peddling their wares of coal, cotton, pots, and
other things. Gladys went immediately to work helping her restore the dilapidated
inn, and they named it The Inn of the Eight Happinesses. The hope was that if they
could get those travelling on the mule trails that passed right in front of
their property to stop in for a bite to eat and a dry place to sleep and lodge
their mules, the missionaries might have an opportunity in the evenings after
dinner to share the stories of Jesus with them.
Besides the work Gladys
and Jeannie did at the inn, the ladies visited villages outside the city each
week and brought the people the Gospel and whatever medical help they could
offer. It didn’t take long for Gladys to adopt the traditional Chinese clothing
and noticed that with her dark hair and eyes and short stature, she fit right
in. Gladys practiced Chinese for hours a day, and by the end of the year, she
was fluent enough to take part in the story-telling after the evening meals. By
this time Jeannie had become very frail, and she passed away leaving Gladys to
carry on the work by herself.
In 1936 Gladys
became a Chinese citizen and was known as an honest, caring person. Once she
was called on to stop a large prison riot and was instrumental in instigating prison
reforms. She was greatly respected in her town and was asked by the government
officials to be a foot-inspector. This job required her to patrol the district
and enforce a decree that had been made outlawing footbinding. It gave her
untold opportunities to share the Gospel and show love and care to the people
as well. Many times she risked her life to help people in need, and the people
began to call her “Ai-weh-deh” or “Virtuous One.” Gladys adopted her first
child, a girl about 5 years old, from a lady using her for begging, and named
her “Ninepence” since that is what she paid to obtain her. A year later
Ninepence brought a young orphan boy to Gladys, offering to share her food with
him. Gladys adopted him, as well, and her family began to grow.
By July of 1937
the official Sino-Japanese War was underway, and Gladys’ life became in danger
as the Communist were specifically targeting missionaries. One day the Japanese
bombed Yangchen, and Gladys found herself buried beneath the rubble. She was
rescued and immediately set up an improvised hospital. She would secretly visit
villages under Japanese occupation and report any observations on her travels
to the Chinese officials. The war left many children orphaned and most were
brought to Gladys to care for. She eventually found herself with 100 orphans
and had to beg from everyone to provide food for them. She got word that there
was an orphanage in Sian, a province many miles away in Free China, that would
take the children in if she could get them there. One of her converts was
tasked with the job of taking the orphans to the Yellow River which they would
cross and then reach Sian by train. After five weeks, Gladys had another 100
orphans, ranging in age from 3 to 16, that she was caring for. She was waiting
for the gentleman to return to help her get them to safety when she received word
that he had been captured by the Japanese and was presumed dead. She knew she
had to get the rest of the children to safety, and so she made preparations for
them to travel to the next town over with the Chinese General’s wife. Gladys
herself insisted on staying behind to care for those still left in Yangchen. By
this time the Japanese army had learned of her intelligence work and had put a
price on her head. As she prayed for guidance from the Lord, she opened her
Bible and read the words, “Flee ye; flee ye into the mountains . . .” She took
that as direction from the Lord. The Japanese soldiers arrived that very night
and the next morning she narrowly escaped amid flying bullets, one of which
grazed her.
Gladys caught up
to the children by the next night. She determined she must get them out of the
war zone and to safety if she was to save their lives. They had no food and no
money, but she knew the Lord would take care of them. Every road was controlled
by the Japanese, so they had to make the 100-mile journey through the mountains
and down the Yellow River. Their perilous journey lasted 30 days, but Gladys
brought them to safety before collapsing in delirium from typhoid fever.
It took Gladys several
months to recover from her sickness, but when she was well, she continued to work
with the refugees until the war neared its end. In 1944 she moved to the
village of Tsingsi in northwestern China and worked there for a time and also
spent 4 years in Szechwan in southern China working with missionaries from the
China Inland Mission. From there she moved to Chengtu and was appointed
Biblewoman at the Chinese Theological Seminary. As the Communists’ hold on
China continued to get stronger and the dangers for missionaries grew greater,
she was persuaded to leave for the first time since her arrival 17 years prior.
She arrived in England in the Spring of 1949, and while there, she was used by
the Lord to speak to many large audiences about the plight of the Chinese
Christians and encourage them to have a part in missions.
It pained Gladys
to hear how the Chinese suffered under Communist rule, and she longed to return
to help them. In 1957, when Gladys was in her mid-50’s, she finally felt free to
return to missionary work after her mother passed away. Communist China would not allow her to return,
so she opted to work for a time in Hong Kong with the Chinese refugees until in
1958 when she settled on the island of Formosa, currently known as Taiwan. It
was here she spent her remaining years running mission halls and an orphanage.
She made many trips around the world telling the stories of the need for
missionaries and raising funds for her orphanages and the people she loved so
dearly.
On
January 3, 1970 at the age of 67, Gladys died from a bout of influenza. So
famous was she at this point that memorial services were held around the world
to mourn her death. This little woman, deemed not suitable for missionary work
by man, was used by God to do a great and lasting work for Him. She is truly a
woman of whom it could be said, “She hath done what she could”!
Her Story/My Story:
Gladys and Jeannie worked hard to prepare the inn at Yangchen which was an overnight stop for the mule caravans that transported goods throughout the area. They knew if they could provide food and a place for people to sleep, it would give them the opportunity to share the Gospel. Because the Chinese people had very little experience with foreigners, they distrusted them greatly and thought they were devils. They often threw clods of dirt at Gladys when she was working in the courtyard of the inn or drug her out of the courtyard to witness a beheading. They tried to scare her off, but they couldn’t. Once the inn was ready, Gladys would try to get the muleteers to come into the inn by yelling, “Muyo beatch, muyo goodso, how, how, how, lai, lai, lai.” “We have no bugs, we have no fleas, good, good, good, come, come, come.” When that didn’t work, Gladys would go straight out into the road in front of their inn and grab the reins of the lead mules that were passing by and pull them inside the courtyard. All the other mules would follow, and the muleteers had no other option but to go in as well. Gladys and Jeannie served the men a delicious meal and fed the mules. After dinner, they provided the men with free entertainment – stories they told them from the Bible about a man named Jesus. The ladies knew that the best way to spiritually reach those that the Lord put in their path was to meet them at their point of need. It was slow going, but they started seeing people trust Christ as their Saviour. As the new converts and even those who had not yet trusted Christ traveled along the rest of their journey, at each stop along the trail, they would retell the stories they had heard. Eventually their inn was filled every night as word spread about this great place that would, for a reasonable price, provide a dry bed for you and your mules, free entertainment, and a delicious meal.
Gladys and Jeannie worked hard to prepare the inn at Yangchen which was an overnight stop for the mule caravans that transported goods throughout the area. They knew if they could provide food and a place for people to sleep, it would give them the opportunity to share the Gospel. Because the Chinese people had very little experience with foreigners, they distrusted them greatly and thought they were devils. They often threw clods of dirt at Gladys when she was working in the courtyard of the inn or drug her out of the courtyard to witness a beheading. They tried to scare her off, but they couldn’t. Once the inn was ready, Gladys would try to get the muleteers to come into the inn by yelling, “Muyo beatch, muyo goodso, how, how, how, lai, lai, lai.” “We have no bugs, we have no fleas, good, good, good, come, come, come.” When that didn’t work, Gladys would go straight out into the road in front of their inn and grab the reins of the lead mules that were passing by and pull them inside the courtyard. All the other mules would follow, and the muleteers had no other option but to go in as well. Gladys and Jeannie served the men a delicious meal and fed the mules. After dinner, they provided the men with free entertainment – stories they told them from the Bible about a man named Jesus. The ladies knew that the best way to spiritually reach those that the Lord put in their path was to meet them at their point of need. It was slow going, but they started seeing people trust Christ as their Saviour. As the new converts and even those who had not yet trusted Christ traveled along the rest of their journey, at each stop along the trail, they would retell the stories they had heard. Eventually their inn was filled every night as word spread about this great place that would, for a reasonable price, provide a dry bed for you and your mules, free entertainment, and a delicious meal.
Bible Study: Whatcha' Need?
I love how the Lord uses things that we can relate to in order to drive home a truth to us. We see in the Bible the Lord use the love shared between spouses to relate to us the love between Christ and the church. There are examples of shepherd and sheep that teach us how much we need to depend on God. Hosea uses the analogy of sowing and reaping and breaking up the fallow ground to show us our need to stir up our heart to seek the Lord, and Matthew likens us to a light to show us the importance of being a strong witness for the Lord to the world. Now most of us can relate at least a little to each of these things even if we’ve never been married, or raised sheep, or planted a field, but there is one thing that every single person can relate to no matter what your situation is . . . food. God uses food many times in the Bible to emphasize a truth He wants us to really understand. Here are some examples:
I love how the Lord uses things that we can relate to in order to drive home a truth to us. We see in the Bible the Lord use the love shared between spouses to relate to us the love between Christ and the church. There are examples of shepherd and sheep that teach us how much we need to depend on God. Hosea uses the analogy of sowing and reaping and breaking up the fallow ground to show us our need to stir up our heart to seek the Lord, and Matthew likens us to a light to show us the importance of being a strong witness for the Lord to the world. Now most of us can relate at least a little to each of these things even if we’ve never been married, or raised sheep, or planted a field, but there is one thing that every single person can relate to no matter what your situation is . . . food. God uses food many times in the Bible to emphasize a truth He wants us to really understand. Here are some examples:
John 6:35 – “And Jesus said
unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never
hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
Psalm 119:103 – “How sweet are
thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
Matthew 4:4 – “. . . Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God.”
Matthew 5:13 – “Ye are the salt
of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be
salted? . . .”
Proverbs 16:24 – “Pleasant
words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.”
1 Corinthians 5:6 – “Your
glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump?”
1 Peter 2:2 – “As newborn
babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.”
Proverbs 15:17 – “Better is a
dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred
therewith.”
The point is that God in His
infinite wisdom uses everyday things to help us understand deep spiritual
truths. In this He gives us the example of meeting people at the point of their
need in a way that they can relate to. Gladys’ ultimate desire was to see the
lost saved, but she knew she had to go about it in a practical way. She had to
meet the people at their point of need and wait for the Lord to open the door
of opportunity to share spiritual things with them. I have counseled with many
women who are frustrated because they don’t feel like they have many
opportunities to get out and witness on a regular basis whether that is due to
work, family, or health restrictions. My counsel is always the same. Meet
people at the point of their need, and you will find that many opportunities to
witness will come.
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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