Daily Manna from Heaven

by Dr. Harold Sala

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” (Philippians 3:12).

Both Time and Reader’s Digest carried stories featuring the remarkable life of this woman. Ingrid Bergman played her part in a movie that was called “The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.” They called her “The Little Woman” since she barely stood five feet tall, but dynamite comes in small packages.

And as Napoleon, who was even less than five feet tall, conquered the armies of Europe, this little woman first captured the hearts of thousands of Chinese, then she gained the respect and admiration of the free world for her heroic feats.

Her name, Gladys Alyward, the daughter of a London-area postman, who dropped out of school at the age of 14 to become a housemaid. If ever a person’s life demonstrated the fact that God uses some very unlikely candidates for success to accomplish great things, it was this woman. But, of course, Gladys didn’t know that God couldn’t use her. Gladys didn’t know a lot of things, which worked to her advantage.

She didn’t know that flunking out of the missionary training school would keep her from eventually having a rich knowledge of God’s Word. She didn’t know that a housemaid could not become a missionary. She didn’t know that it was virtually impossible for her to travel by train through Europe, then Russia and Siberia–in the dead of winter–to China. She didn’t know that a woman could not impact the lives of people who hated foreigners and felt themselves vastly superior to them.

And—as perhaps the greatest challenge which became the crowning achievement of her life—she didn’t know that she could not take ninety-four children across the rugged mountains of Northern China through two provinces to escape certain slaughter at the hands of the Japanese soldiers who were rampaging and murdering everyone in their way as World War II was winding down.

What a woman! Now that I’ve given you a thumbnail sketch of her life, let me fill in some of the blanks. If you are addicted to biographies as I am, you might wish to make a note of Janett and Geoff Benge’s book entitled Gladys Alyward, published by YWAM, or Youth With A Mission. It tells the story clearly without embellishing the facts.

Long before the days when women asserted themselves and demanded equal footing with their male counterparts, Gladys as a youth felt that God had called her to go to China as a missionary. All of the circumstances mitigated against her succeeding.

True, she was from a humble family without connections. It was also true that perhaps she wasn’t the brightest scholar who ever studied. But what her professors and others failed to recognize was her fierce determination and her unswerving obedience to what God had called her to do.

On the journey which eventually did take her to China, Gladys met a Dutch couple returning from a convention in Britain who promised to pray for her at 9:00 PM for the rest of their lives. Leaving her at their home in the Netherlands, they thrust an English pound note into her hands. Wondering what good a British note would ever do her, Gladys didn’t know that that piece of money would literally save her life when Russian soldiers were attempting to kidnap her and impress her into slavery in the Gulag.

When Gladys first arrived in China, they called her “foreign devil,” but eventually they called her Ai-weh-deh meaning “virtuous one.” Gladys would have agreed with Mary Slessor, who a generation before had said that one plus God equals a majority. If ever a woman made a difference and did what men were never courageous enough to do, it was Gladys Alyward—a simple but determined person who didn’t know that God could not do what He had promised.

Thank God that He still demonstrates that with His calling comes the power and the provision to accomplish His purpose. It’s still true today.

*Permission to reprint the above article is hereby granted by Guidelines, inc.*

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