Inspiration Biography::Gladys Aylward

Missionary to China

Gladys Aylward. Her drive. Her absolute abandonment to everything. Her willingness to serve.
She gave her life to Christ willing to be used.

1Gladys was born in London, the 24th of February, 1902. Met Christ at 25. It is said that she didn't excel scholastically. She had no money, but she knew that God prepares those who are willing to respond to His call. She was raised in the Anglican church, although wasn't religious in her early years. At age 14, she became a parlor maid. At 18, the call to missions. What blossomed was her desire to work out in the mission field. Gladys worked, determined to follow God. She saved up, and at age 30, her opportunity came. An aging missionary, Mrs. Jeannie Lawson was looking for some young assistant to carry on her work. Gladys was accepted. However, Mrs. Lawson wasn't able to accompany her on her China trip.

Gladys spent hours learning a language so very foreign to her, and became a fluent speaker. Later, she lead children, on foot, over the mountains, and eventually ended up in a coma after they arrived safely. Over the next 29 years, preached the Gospel to many Chinese men and woman

At the end of her life, she wrote, "My heart is full of praise that one so insignificant, uneducated and ordinary in every way could be used to His glory for the blessings of His people in poor persecuted China." She died January 3rd, 1970.

Her story is one of many that displays true love for her King. An ordinary person, such as myself, used by Him in a life changing way. It is her story that motivates me to give it all up: my desire for further education; marriage; motherhood; travel.

Leslie Ludy said, "To find a young woman who is wholly devoted to Christ and separate in spirit from the world is rare indeed." 2

What is the secret of great living, 3Amy Carmichael asks, Entire separation to Christ and devotion to Him.

...those who catch the vision are ready to follow the Lamb

wherever He leads, and as they follow, in this spirit of joyful

 adventure, their path becomes clear before them and they

are given power to fulfil their high calling. They are those

who have the courage to break through conventionalities,

 who care not at all what the world thinks of them,

 because they are entirely taken up with tremendous

reality of Christ.

-Bishop Bardley-

[bold changes mine]

Sources

1. First paragraph--information from John M. Fritzius's written biography.

2. From Leslie Ludy's book, Set-Apart Feminity.

3. This quote was found in Leslie Ludy's book, Set-Apart Femininity.