Reflection:

In 1938, a 22-year-old NSW native, Deaconess Mary Andrews, boarded a ship bound for Japanese-occupied China, following a call from God to be a missionary there. During her 13 years of missionary service, she brought the good news of Jesus to hundreds of Chinese people who were desperately searching for hope in lives marked by poverty, war, and loss.

The story of her two terms on the mission field is one of miraculous rescue and answered prayer. Over and over, Mary tells of escaping Japanese forces, starvation, theft, life threatening illness, and even death, which she attributes to the prayers of the saints.

In her letters, she wrote of God’s protection as though she expected nothing less of him. While on home assignment she told every group she addressed that she was able to confidently face the dangers in China because she believed, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.”

Mary is recorded as challenging her Christians brothers and sisters:

“The measure of what you can do for the world will be simply what you let God do with yourself.”

Only armed with the knowledge that the Most High God is my “refuge” and “fortress”, can I dare to ask God to help me take up Mary’s challenge?

What would it look like for you to trust God to do with your life what he pleases?

Prayer:

Lighten our darkness, we pray O Lord, and by your great mercy defend us from all the perils and dangers of this day; for you are our refuge and strength. Amen