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| Photo by Mary Vee - Pisa, Italy |
She was told she wasn't qualified.
God had asked her to do a job. A work for Him.
She went to school for training and failed.
She went to the man in charge of the board and begged to be given a chance. He said no. "I'm sorry. You are only qualified to be a maid." He pulled out a card that listed a job opportunity for a maid.
She left the office.
Who was she? Not going to tell you...not yet.
First, think of a time you've driven to a place. On the way, construction closes the road. Did you turn around and go back home?
Probably not.
Now think back through your life at the times God has asked you to do something and everything possible got in the way.
Maybe it was to bring food for a church meeting. You looked in your kitchen cupboard and didn't find enough of any ingredient to make a dish. You checked your bank account and saw there wasn't enough money to go to the store. You decide to stay home.
During the time you would have been at the church meeting, a friend calls. Someone whom you haven't spoken with in a long time. The friend says she called because she just needed to talk, and she thought of you.
The friend spills a heart wrenching story. One that drives you to listen. Cry with her. Pray with her. Between sobs she thanks you. She'd called several other friends and no one was home. Your words, (you didn't say many), meant so much to her. She wanted to know if she could come to your church.
As you lay your head on your pillow your remembered the conversation and thought...I was upset about not having groceries. I was upset I couldn't make a dish to bring to the church meeting. I thought I'd let my friends down. I thought I had failed. A tear fell and you sobbed like your friend had earlier. "Oh Jesus," you say. "I am so sorry. You had something so much bigger for me than I had planned. Thank you for helping me to do Your will."
The woman mentioned in the first part of today's post ended up becoming a maid. Yeah. Sad. I know. It was the only work she could find. She went to the home advertising for a maid and was given a tiny room in the attic. She cleaned and polished the big home every day. One day she was assigned to clean the library. There she found a collection of books on China.
She read through them at a slow pace, one she could understand the information. The more she read the more she understood. Her enthusiasm to learn more about the Chinese culture grew. By the time she finished the last book she knew more than she could have learned in the training school.
Years past. She went to China on her own. Did the work God asked her to do. She became a great friend to the Chinese people. One they trusted and listened to.
War broke out. The Japanese had invaded. Hundreds of children were orphaned and trapped behind enemy lines. For many days she risked her life to guide the children across the dangerous countryside until they reached safety. Not one child was lost.
The place she guided them to was the mission belonging to the board who had said she was not qualified to do the work, learn Chinese, or survive in China. The man who rejected her request years before wept as he saw how God had worked in her life to do God's work.
The lady was Gladys Aylward. During her life, hundreds of brick walls popped up attempting to block the work God asked her to do.
Brick walls can't stop God.
Do you feel like a brick wall is preventing you from doing things for God? Maybe illness, handicap, schedule, job, etc? God would only ask you if the job were possible. Deep inside you hear His voice.
When God said, "Who shall I send?" Isaiah the prophet said "Here am I. Send me."
This post has been brought to you by the one word: SendMe
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