Gladys Aylward

     Too old.  A housemaid.  Poor. Not smart enough.  Unqualified. Gladys Aylward was all of these things in the world’s eyes; but not in God’s. She failed missionary training school, the place where she was old by their standards.  A housemaid who made the journey to China with her own money.  Later, she was appointed a foot inspector by the Mandarin.  The two became good friends and the mandarin excepted Christ.  Her job was to make sure that the order that feet were to be unbound, was obeyed.  This job gave her money to run the Inn of Eight Happinesses and she also was allowed to witness.  Gladys also after adopting a bunch of children, brought them to an orphanage.  With God’s help, Gladys did this by bringing nearly 100 children mostly by foot and train over mountains only to find she could not go into Sian.  They traveled 3 more days to Fufeng and put the children in the orphanages.  She was found very ill and was put in a hospital run by Baptist missionaries.  Later on in her life, she was sent back home to England.  But Gladys wanted to be in China, to preach!  She returned and spent the rest of her life in China.  Gladys was wonderful, but without God, she couldn’t have done it.   God can use the weak to fulfill His will.  In our weakness, others can see God’s strength.♥