All Good

Don’t get the idea that whole-heartedly serving God gets you all that is sweet and well. Hudson Taylor and his first wife had several children. Three died in childbirth, two died while very small. Then his wife Maria died after just twelve years of marriage. Hudson himself had some severe health issues, and life was not easy. Here is a quote from one of his letters.

Envied by some, despised by many, hated by others,
Often blamed for things I never heard of or had nothing to do with,
An innovator on what have become established rules of missionary practice,
An opponent of mighty systems of heathen error and superstition,
Working without precedent in many respects and with few experienced helpers,
Often sick in body as well as perplexed in mind and embarrassed by circumstances—
Had not the Lord been especially gracious to me,
Had not my mind been sustained by the conviction that the work is His
And that He is with me, . . .
I must have fainted or broken down.
But the battle is the Lord’s, and He will conquer.
We may fail — do fail continually — but He never fails. . . .
(Hudson Taylor)

Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail, yet the unrighteous know no shame. (Zephaniah 3:5b, NIV)

Prayer-Lord, search our hearts and show us where we fail you and remind us that you never fail us. Help us be as unfailing as you are God. Amen.

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