Hannah More was well known in her day in at least three areas – as a writer, an educator, and a social reformer. It is sad that she has been all but forgotten in our day, but she deserves to be remembered as an example of charity, piety, and zeal in accomplishing great things in the service of the Savior.

Early in her life she was well known for her play writing and her involvement with the “who’s who” members of the high society of the late eighteenth century. This included Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, and Horace Walpole. She wrote a popular play, Percy, which was produced by the famous actor, David Garrick in 1777. In later life, she became very active in helping to found Sunday Schools, especially for poor children and she practiced philanthropy. She was the most influential female member of the “Society of Effecting the Abolition of the African Slave Trade” in England.

Hannah was born in Stapleton, near Bristol, in 1745. Her father was a schoolmaster. He saw to it that all five of his daughters were well educated. They would use their education in the service of the Lord; the three oldest founding a famous girls’ boarding school in Bristol. Hannah completed her education there. Her gift for writing would show up early. By age eighteen she had written a play, “A Search for Happiness”, which became widely read.

At 22 Hannah became engaged to a local landowner, William Turner. They were engaged for six years. He got cold feet twice after he and Hannah set the date. Finally after the third proposal, she ended the engagement. Turner tried to compensate her with a sum of £200 each year. She refused to take it, but her sisters accepted it without her knowing. Eventually, she agreed to use it, and this allowed her to give up teaching and concentrate on writing.

When she was a young woman, Hannah enjoyed the high life.  Sometime during the 1780’s she became more zealous for her faith, and eventually decided that the theatre was morally wrong. She began to believe that acting was not an activity that Christians should engage in. She turned to more Christian work. She now included among her friends John Wesley, who encouraged her in her Christian writing, Pastor John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace”, and William Wilberforce, famous for his work in the abolition movement. Wilberforce was a member of the “Clapham Sect”, a group of wealthy evangelical Christians who were fighting to get slavery abolished in England.

Hannah’s Biblical worldview began to come out in all of her writings. She wrote many famous Christian essays on the importance of establishing moral laws in society. The most famous of her tracts, The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, was written around 1795, and went through many editions. It was translated into several languages. In this and other tracts, she was encouraging commoners to be contented with their lot in life. In 1809, she wrote, Coelebs in Search of a Wife, which was an essay on how to choose a good wife. This work went through thirty editions in the United States in ten years. Another important work was, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education, which encouraged education for women.

The Sunday School system was coming into popularity in the late eighteenth century. Hannah and her sisters established schools in the brutal coal district of Mendip Hills, known for very slovenly and dangerous neighborhoods. Within ten years, Hannah and her sisters had founded sixteen schools, helping the poor children learn to read the Bible and to practice Christian morals. The women also taught the children practical skills that would help them through life, such as cooking, growing food, and handling money. Hannah used her God-given writing ability to produce many of the books that were used in these Sunday Schools.

Besides all of this, Hannah joined the anti-slavery movement and encouraged many other women to do likewise. Here again, Hannah used the gift of writing that God gave her to make the atrocities of slavery known to the general public. In 1788, she wrote “Slavery, a Poem”, while William Wilberforce was striving to get Parliament to outlaw the slave trade. Her poem touched the hearts of those who read about how the slaves were treated. It dramatically portrayed the story of the female slaves who were separated from their children. Because of her work, many began to question Britain’s role in the slave trade. Here are two excerpts from that work:
EXTRACT 1

I see, by more than Fancy’s mirrow shewn,
The burning village, and the blazing town:
See the dire victim torn from social life,
The shrieking babe, the agonizing wife!
She, wretch forlorn! is dragg’d by hostile hands,
To distant tyrants sold, in distant lands!
Transmitted miseries, and successive chains,
The sole sad heritage her child obtains!
Ev’n this last wretched boon their foes deny,
To weep together, or together die.
By felon hands, by one relentless stroke,
See the fond links of feeling nature broke!
The fibres twisting round a parent’s heart,
Torn from their grasp, and bleeding as they part.
Hold, murderers, hold! not aggravate distress;
Respect the passions you yourselves possess;

EXTRACT 2

Thy followers only have effac’d the shame
Inscrib’d by SLAVERY on the Christian name.
Shall Britain, where the soul of freedom reigns,
Forge chains for others she herself disdains?
Forbid it, Heaven! O let the nations know
The liberty she loves she will bestow;
Not to herself the glorious gift confin’d,
She spreads the blessing wide as humankind;
And, scorning narrow views of time and place,
Bids all be free in earth’s extended space.
What page of human annals can record
A deed so bright as human rights restor’d?
O may that god-like deed, that shining page,
Redeem OUR fame, and consecrate OUR age!
And see, the cherub Mercy from above,
Descending softly, quits the sphere of love!

Hannah continued to support the cause of abolition for the rest of her life. Even in her retirement years she played a part in the national debates on the slave trade by writing tracts against the practice. In her home in Somerset, she entertained such visitors as Macaulay and Gladstone, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Elizabeth Fry (see her story in a February, 2012 posting on this Blog), and Sarah Siddons. Her influence was spread by many evangelical women who came after her, including well known novelists Mary Martha Sherwood (1775-1851) and Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna. Many hundreds of women carried on her work in Sunday Schools and Tract Societies. She had lived long enough to see her dream come true– the abolition of the slave trade in Britain.

People came from all over the world to visit this bright, sweet old lady in her waning years. Towards the end of her life she suffered poor health. She had to limit these visits to two days a week, but she was always gracious and visitors left having been blessed by this remarkable lady.

She died peacefully, on September 7, 1833, at the age of eighty-eight. Her charity did not stop with her death; she left behind nearly £30,000 (equivalent to $3,000,000 today) from the income from her books, to be distributed to the poor.

Hannah’s life was an expression of a vital Christianity. She put her faith into action, combining faith, hope, and charity to all downtrodden people. She has been called an “Apostle to the Poor” and truly she was. She believed that “Faith without works is dead”, and summed up her theology for life when she wrote, “Action is the life of virtue, and the world is the theatre of action.” I pray that Christian women today would be more active in righting wrongs and fighting for justice for the poor or downtrodden.

 Though born a woman, womanly things I have left behind:
Yarn, the shuttle, threads of the loom, and baskets.
It is the flowery meadow of the Muses I admire,
And the cheerful choral dances of double-crested Parnassus.
Perhaps other women are pleased with other things.
But these are my glory, and these are my joy.

Olympia Morata (1526 – 1555) composed these lines while she was in her early teens. She was a remarkable woman, who lived a brief life, but left behind a heroic story that is still remembered by many today.

Olympia led an unusual life that started out with riches and ease, but later was filled with trials and difficulties. She was brought up in very good circumstances. Her early years were spent at the court of Duke Ercole II and Duchess Renee of France. (I have already posted a story on Renee of France elsewhere on this blog.) In 1528, Duke Ercole, married Renee of France, sister-in-law of the French king, Francis I. Renee brought with her to the Este court her views on religious reform which were influenced by Luther and Calvin.

These views were not popular with the Duke, her husband. He tolerated Renee’s religion and her advisors and visitors as long as he did not have any conflicts. Later, for political reasons, and to appease the pope, he would send Renee’s friends away, and even imprison her for awhile to win favor with the Roman pontiff.

Olympia’s father, Fulvio Morato, shared Renee’s religious views, and in 1532 was one of those forced to leave Ferrara. For six years his family lived in other northern cities, where he lectured on the teachings of Luther and Calvin.

During this time Fulvio, a widely recognized university professor, was aware of how gifted his daughter was and saw to her education. Olympia was fluent in Latin and Greek by the time she was 12. By age 13, she had already developed into a scholar in her own right, lecturing on Cicero and studying philosophy. She was well known for her poetry, which included her own metrical adaptations of the Psalms.

In 1539, when the Duke was more tolerant again, Fulvio was invited back to court. Word of his daughter’s brilliant scholarship reached the Duke and the Duchess, and Olympia was invited to tutor their eldest daughter, Anna D’Este. For seven years she lived the exciting life of a courtier, tutoring Anne, writing, and doing all the things expected of a brilliant scholar. She was, she said later, “exalted to the skies.” You can see her joy in her life in the poem printed above. We should be careful not to take these words out of the context of her cultural circumstances. Olympia was not objecting to any perceived inequality between the sexes. She was a young woman who loved her father and was pleased to work hard at the gifts that God gave her. She was thankful to God because He “gave me a mind and a talent to be so aflame for my studies that no one can divert me from them.” Like true scholars, it was her chief joy in life.

Later, she would rise to the occasion, and do the work normally expected of women when it was needed. In 1547, her father became ill and she went home to nurse him. He died the following year, and Olympia returned to court. But she found that Anne D’Este had married Francis de Guise and moved to France. Olympia’s services were no longer needed.

Also at this time, the Duke had decided to persecute those of the Reformed religion to please the pope, and most of Renee’s advisors and friends were banished from court. Olympia returned home. Fortunately, her father had saved some money and her family, though poor, was not in dire circumstances.

Though she never thought she would marry, she changed her mind when Andreas Grunthler, a German protestant who came to Ferrara to study medicine, proposed marriage. Olympia had met him before when he came to visit her father. She did not realize how interested Andreas was in her. She was pleased to accept his offer and they were married in 1549. Shortly after this, they made the decision to move in order to avoid the Roman inquisition. Many followers of the reformed religion tried to stay in their home towns and hope for change. At this time in history, the pope was very strong and had many allies and large armies. Thousands of reformers were killed or forced to flee. Andreas and Olympia decided to leave rather than take a chance and moved to Schweinfurt, Germany. They took her young brother, Emilio, with them.

Andreas accepted a position as a medical doctor for the Imperial Spanish troops who were stationed nearby. In 1553-54, he and Olympia were caught in the middle of war. They were trapped in the siege of Schweinfurt, in Franconia for nine months. There was killing outside and inside the walls. Anyone trying to leave was shot. But to stay within the city meant facing death when the plague came. It killed half the population and nearly claimed Andreas’ life as well.

Eventually, the city was seized and burned to the ground. Olympia, Andreas, and Emilio left with less than the clothes on their backs. Some of the soldiers who were sacking the city offered to let them go and not kill them in exchange for their clothing. They made a miraculous escape, nearly losing Andreas in the process.

Most of Olympia’s writings were lost in the fire. But some of her friends gathered up all they could find and in 1558 one of them, Celio Curio, published the first edition of her work, along with letters to her from others and some of her poems; other items were found and added in later editions.

In time, Andreas, Olympia, and Emilio went to Heidelberg (1554) where Andreas was to be a professor of medicine. Olympia tutored students in Greek and Latin. Olympia was very ill after they fled from Schweinfurt and within two years, she was dead. Within two years after that Andreas and her brother died, all from the ravages of the siege, famine, and plague. All three are buried in the Chapel of St. Peter at Heidelberg.

Though she lived a short life, Olympia’s reputation as a brilliant scholar was wide spread. She had been brought up with royalty, nobility, and scholars. But Olympia was a devout Christian and thanked God for all that He gave her, even when He brought trials into her life. Olympia had more than most, but she never complained. She encountered suffering martyrs and survived a bout with the black plague. She lost many of her works. But she saw God’s testing as His way of helping her to grow. She said, “The prize of life comes not from learning, but from conflict and trial.”

Olympia was grateful for her testing. We pray that we won’t ever have to undergo the dangers and near-misses with death that she did. But we shouldn’t pray for God to spare us from all challenges and trials. It is God’s means of maturing us.

Even when she knew that her body was growing weak and she would die soon, Olympia still found happiness in Christ. At the age of only twenty-eight, she wrote one last poem:

I long to fade away, so great is my confidence in Christ,
And to be with Him in whom my life thrives.

I sought Him whom my soul did love
With tears I sought Him earnestly;
He bowed His ear down from above.
In vain I did not seek or cry.

My hungry soul He filled with good,
He in His bottle put my tears;
My smarting wounds washed in His blood,
And banished thence my doubts and fears.

What to my Savior shall I give
Who freely hath done this for me?
I’ll serve Him here whilst I shall live,
And love Him to eternity.

Anne Bradstreet lived in a time when women received little education and were supposed to stay at home attending to husband and family, but she met the challenge of living a Godly life, submitting to the religious culture of her time, while following her heart. During these really tough times in early Puritan America, life was full of hardships and danger. But Anne was a strong woman, and was willing to give up much including sleep or what little leisure time she had to fulfill her desire to write poetry.

Anne Bradstreet was born to Thomas and Dorothy Dudley in 1612. Both of her parents were in upper class society and were very wealthy. Thomas Dudley was the steward to the Earl of Lincoln. Anne was a brilliant child and her father delighted in educating her. When she was seven years old, tutors were hired to teach her dancing, music, and many other subjects. She had unlimited access to the great library at the estate of the Earl. She became exposed to the writings of many famous authors. Besides English, she was tutored in history and literature in Greek. Latin, French, and Hebrew.

In 1628, at the age of sixteen, Anne married Simon Bradstreet, the son of a Puritan minister and her father’s assistant. The following year, her father and husband decided that they wanted to join others who would leave for America so that they could worship God as they believed. They wanted to protect Puritan values and establish their own society in a new land. The Bradstreet’s were not happy about leaving most of their wealth behind, but they were willing to trade that for more religious freedom.

On March 29, 1630, Anne and her family immigrated to the New World. They spent three months on the ship, the “Arbella”, reaching Salem, Massachusetts on June 12, 1630. Ten other ships reached the port soon after that. It was an arduous journey and several people died on the way.

When Anne stepped on shore of the new land, she found sickness, lack of food, and primitive living conditions. Many died from the cold and starvation. Some would turn around and go back to England. Anne did not get bitter or discouraged. She did not give in, but instead tried to make the best of her new life. She struggled to raise her eight children and take care of her home, often without her husband’s help. He was influential in government and was absent on business many times. Instead of fretting and complaining, Anne turned to the comfort of her writing.

There were many who criticized her for this, since writing was not considered a seemly thing for women to do. Women were often considered intellectual inferiors and because of this some believed that Anne stole her ideas for her poems from men. Because she was a woman, her poetry was often judged by a different standard.

It seems that her brother-in-law, John Woodbridge, believed in her work however. He took some of her early poems, without her permission, back to England and had them published there. Entitled, “The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, OR Severall Poems, By a Gentle Woman in Those Parts”, it was a milestone in English and American literature. It contained the first verses by an American that could stand alongside England’s poetry. It was the first volume of enduring English-language poetry produced by a woman. The poems in the book were lengthy, poetic treatments of learned subjects, such as the epochs of history and the seasons. They were scholarly in nature and written in a style that would be expected more from a poet in a European court than from woman in the backward colonies. The book was well received in England and America. A century later, John Newton, the famous hymn writer who penned “Amazing Grace”, praised Anne Bradstreet’s works.

Later on in her life, Anne turned from this formal style of writing to include more of her emotions. She wrote of such things as her love for her husband and children and the Lord. She would write of momentous events in her life, such as the birth of her children, or the happiness she felt when her busy husband would return home. She also wrote about the times that there were hardships. One of her most famous poems was written after their house burned. She turned her focus on God and His bounteous goodness and love for her.

Anne seemed to be a very unusual woman for her time, but she took herself very seriously as an intellectual and as a poet. She continued to read widely and study the works of other famous poets. She gradually developed her own unique style that was original for its time.

In spite of the complexities of Anne’s character, she was still a devout Puritan. Her love for God shows in her poetry. Yet at times she was frustrated by the prevailing male hierarchical attitude of the day. She knew that any woman who tried to use her wit, charm, or intelligence in the community found herself ridiculed, banished, or executed by the Colony’s powerful group of male leaders. Her friend, Anne Hutchinson was also an intelligent, educated, and deeply religious person. Anne Hutchinson held prayer meetings in her home. The things that she was teaching would not be considered heretical today, but she was condemned as a heretic by the male leaders and banished from her home. Later Anne Hutchinson would be killed in an Indian attack in New York. No wonder Anne Bradstreet did not want her poems published! She looked at what happened to her friend and decided to remain silent, only showing her poetry to family and close friends.

She was not above writing about her frustration and anger against the criticism of women however, and it shows in the following excerpt from her work, “The Prologue”:

I am obnoxious to each carping tongue
Who says my hand a needle better fits;
A poet’s pen all scorn I should thus wrong,
For such despite they cast on female wits.
If what I do prove well, it won’t advance;
They’ll say it’s stol’n, or else it was by chance.

Anne worked hard all of her life. She was frequently ill and anticipated death often, especially in childbirth. In spite of all of this, she lived to be sixty years old. Never one to give in to pessimism, she always put her faith and trust in Christ. Shortly before her death by consumption in 1672, she wrote an account of her spiritual pilgrimage for her children that contained the following words:

Upon this rock Christ Jesus will I build by faith, and if I perish, I perish. But I know all the powers of Hell shall never prevail against it, I know whom I have trusted, and whom I have believed and that he is able to keep what I have committed to his charge.

Anne Bradstreet’s story is one of faith and courage. She lived in obedience to the tenets of her time, but she did not let the criticism of others stop her from using the gifts God gave her. She is a model of the Christian woman who must walk the fine line between standing up for what is right without being offensive to those around her. I pray that God would give all of us the wisdom and courage to serve Him in the way He has called us.

She did all of this on top of being an active and devoted mother of eleven children, Bible teacher for the children in her neighborhood, and a sometime minister in her local Quaker congregation.

There is so much to admire about this woman, but in this essay I would like to focus on her work in the prisons. How was she able to accomplish so much?

Elizabeth had been born the third child out of twelve in a Quaker (Society of Friends) family, in 1780. Her parents, John and Catherine Gurney, believed that girls as well as boys should receive a thorough education including all of the major academic subjects. Catherine herself taught the children these as well as the Bible and she sang the Psalms with them. She spent a lot of time visiting the poor and sick in her neighborhood and Elizabeth would often go with her when she made her rounds. Catherine died after giving birth to her twelfth child and Elizabeth was deeply grieved. She helped raise her younger siblings.

Elizabeth’s upbringing prepared her for what came later in her life. As a young girl, however, she was somewhat rebellious and often made excuses to get out of church services. She was not very serious about religion, but one night on February 4,1798, a Quaker speaker, William Savery, touched her heart. This vain girl who had attended  the meeting in purple boots with scarlet laces later said, “I think my feelings that night…were the most exalted I remember…suddenly my mind felt clothed with light, as with a garment and I felt silenced before God; I cried with the heavenly feeling of humility and repentance.” She said that she began to really believe that there was a God. After this, she became less interested in frivolous amusements and tried to live in a more serious manner. She adopted the ways of the plain Friends and even started a Sunday School in her home. She followed in her mother’s footsteps feeding the poor, providing clothes, and reading the Scriptures to them.

About a year later she met Joseph Fry, a banker, and they married in 1799. They would eventually have eleven children. She met the demands of motherhood combined with her work with the poor in her neighborhood, though she often wondered if God had more for her.

Then in 1813, a visiting Quaker minister from America, Stephen Grellet, came to ask for her help. He had been visiting in the prisons and was horrified at what he saw, especially in Newgate prison. Hundreds of women and their children were crowded into just two cells in the prison. They were sleeping on the floor without nightclothes or bedding in many cases.

When Grellet told Elizabeth about the way the women were treated in Newgate, she decided that she must visit the prison. The next day, she and her sister-in-law went to Newgate prison. The turnkeys (guards) warned them that the women were wild and savage, and they would be in physical danger. However, they went in anyway. On that and further visits, they brought warm clothing and clean straw for the sick to lie on. Elizabeth prayed for the prisoners and began reading the Bible to them.

It is important to remember that the prisons then were very different than the prisons now, especially in the United States. If you have read “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens, you got a pretty good picture of the conditions for the poor in England in the early nineteenth century. It seems unreal to us now, but debtors could be thrown into prison and were allowed to take their wives and children with them. The entire system in England was corrupt at that time. It was not unheard of for a person to be acquitted, but unable to get out because they could not pay the jailer’s fees, which were often no more than a bribe. There was a death penalty for theft. Prisoners were often transported out of the country to America or Australia.  The convict ships were appalling.

At Newgate, where Elizabeth visited, some of the women had been found guilty of various crimes, but others were still waiting to be tried. They did not have warm clothing. The women had to cook, wash and sleep in the same cell. Afterwards Elizabeth wrote that the “swearing, gaming, fighting, singing and dancing were too bad to be described”. Elizabeth began to visit the women prisoners on a regular basis. She actually spent the night several times in some of the prisons and invited the wealthy nobility to come and stay and see for themselves the conditions prisoners lived in.

In 1817, Elizabeth organized a group of women into the Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. This group organized a school, and provided materials so the prisoners could sew, knit and make goods for sale. They took turns visiting the prison and reading the Bible to the prisoners. Her kindness helped her gain the friendship of the prisoners and they began to try to improve their conditions for themselves.

On the night before a convict ship was supposed to leave for the Colonies, there would often be a riot. The women resisted being thrown on the ships because it was well known that women would be sick and even die on the voyage. When they got to Australia, they would have nothing and would most often turn to prostitution just to be able to live.

Elizabeth set out to change this situation. For more than 25 years, she visited every convict ship leaving for Australia, and promoted reform of the convict ship system. She saw to it that the women had cloth and sewing materials to make clothing for their own use or to sell when they disembarked so they would not be entirely destitute.

There is much more that could be said about Elizabeth Fry. She was so well known and respected in her own time that her work even received support from Queen Victoria. The Queen took a close interest in her work and the two women met several times. Victoria gave her money to help with her charitable work. In her journal, Victoria wrote that she considered Elizabeth Fry a “very superior person”.

Elizabeth continued her work in prison reform, nurses training, and societies for the poor until her death. She died on October 12,1845 after a short illness.

At this point, we might wonder, “How in today’s society with so much bureaucracy can we help women in prison?” Things have really changed. You can’t just go in to a prison today like Elizabeth could in her day, though you would be a lot safer.

I would like to say that though the obstacles are different, the challenge is the same. Jesus told the disciples in the Gospel of Matthew that those who would follow Him should visit people in prison. We are to care for the poor, the sick, and the prisoners. (see Matthew 25:41-46).

If Elizabeth Fry, devout wife, churchgoer, mother of eleven, and founder of many organizations, could do it in the early 1800’s, with no car, welfare subsidies, protection from guards, or political backing, then we surely ought to be able to accomplish some good.

I also admit that she was not distracted by television, social clubs, modern beliefs on individualism, emphases on our “personal space”, or political correctness. We have our own challenges.

Our advantages include modern technology, protection in the prisons, a lot of free time compared to generations ago, and many organizations that are already helping.
One such is “Prison Fellowship”. There are many good prison outreaches, but PF is a good place to start. They not only have programs for visiting men and women in prison, but many programs for helping on the outside.

Whether you have several hours a month to give or several minutes, there are many ways to help. One that is fun as well as rewarding is the “Angel Tree” program, where gifts are collected for the children of inmates to be given to them at Christmas time. Thank heavens the families of prisoners are no longer thrown in jail with them. Yet they suffer, especially the children.

I urge you to consider the amazing life of Elizabeth Fry. I hope her energy and zeal make you feel guilty enough to at least pray for those in prison. Her life story of compassion has been an inspiration to many.
 

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
(I Corinthians 10:31)

This past week I have been profoundly disappointed in a woman whom I have admired for many years. Paula Deen is practically an American icon. While hopefully no one eats the way she cooks every night of the week, I have appreciated the zest with which she prepares meals for her guests. I love her attitude of enjoying the food that God has blessed us with. For feasting is truly a gift from God. We eat like the kings and queens of old in this country. I never apologize for using two sticks of butter in my desserts. My guests may have private thoughts about how healthy the food is, but I have never had anyone turn it down. It is a wonderful thing to have friends, and hospitality is a grace.

I try to care for the body that God has given me, so we eat in moderation in our home. We eat our 5 to 6 servings of fruits and veggies and all the rest of it. But when we’re celebrating, I prepare good tasting meals, rejoicing in the fat of the land that is a blessing from God. Paula’s recipes reflect the joy in cooking a treat for your guests.

I don’t hold with those sourpusses who take all the joy out of life by insisting that you never eat sugar, butter, warm bread out of the oven, or a juicy steak. This food is a gift from God and should be used when celebrating.

Now that I’ve said all that, it makes me sad to have to criticize a woman who also enjoys those blessings from God. Recently Paula Deen admitted to having been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about three years ago. Some are saying that she just waited until she could cash in on the big money that is being raked in by the drug companies.

I hope not. I hope she was just embarrassed and is trying to make the best of things. Whatever her motivation, I wish she would not be supporting the drug companies. I wish she would use her status as a star to promote a healthy alternative.

What frightens me is that the message she may be conveying to her fans is, “Eat however you want, and if you get diabetes, just pop a pill. Everything will be all right!”

Well, Paula, everything will not be all right. Please look at the side effects of the drug you are promoting, Victoza, and notice that people may die from taking it.

I wish Paula would still write her wonderful recipes, while promoting moderation. She has an opportunity to be a real heroine to those who enjoy eating, but need some guidance in using food in their everyday life.

Instead of promoting a dangerous drug, Paula could use her immense popularity to talk to folks about eating a healthy diet, so they don’t get sick like she did. Everyone could then really celebrate with rich, wonderful food on all special occasions such as birthdays, Christmas and all holidays, and all other celebrations, weddings, announcements, and the Lord’s Day. In our home, we eat healthy on all regular days and then honor the Lord on His Day (Sunday) each week with a big dinner. It is one of the ways that we thank God for His bounteous provisions.

And so, I am writing this letter to her. I plan on mailing her a copy. I hope that my readers who also appreciate the blessings from God, but are concerned about health will take note of the dangers in the drug that Paula is endorsing.

Dear Paula,

I have loved watching your show for many years now. I love reading your newsletter. I own a half dozen of your cookbooks.

Your life story is one of determination, hard work, caring, compassion and downright fun. Others would criticize you for the amount of butter and sugar in your recipes, but I know that these things are what make foods really special. I do not cook that way every day; I use your recipes when I want to make sure that the meal I serve my guests is a real treat.

Like many others, I was inspired by your story of overcoming obstacles to raise your boys and form successful businesses. You are an encouragement to women who face difficult things in their lives. The message you gave us was to never quit.

Then when you became successful, you gave back. You have made it known that you were grateful for your blessings and have seen to it that others benefit from those blessings, by your involvement in the Bethesda Home for Boys, America’s Second Harvest, and providing millions of meals for America’s hungry.

I love the way you interact with your public. You are not a snob who holds herself aloof. Your interaction with thousands of people when you tour the country reminds me of what is best in America. With your down-home demeanor and your dazzling smile, you inspired trust in your fans.

That is why I am so disappointed in the way you have handled your bout with diabetes. I wish you would have been forthright about it and told everyone about your diagnosis immediately. It would not look like a cover up now.

There are many reasons for Type 2 diabetes. Eating too much rich food is only part of the cause. You could have investigated this illness. You could have discovered more natural ways to deal with Diabetes. There are many other experts who could have told you just how bad Victoza is. There are many doctors who can show you a healthy way to live with your Type 2 diabetes.

As a leader that many people trust, you could have become a spokesperson for “Moderation” and living a healthy lifestyle including exercise and natural supplements.

Instead you turned to a drug company who is marketing a questionable drug. There are many sites that you could have gone to that would have given you information on just how dangerous the drug you are endorsing is. I wish you would have done that. Now, you will lose the trust of many folks.

Please consider the facts about the drug:

1.  The FDA approved Victoza in 2010, but it did so amid strong evidence of a link to thyroid cancer, based on tests done in 2009.

2.  Last June, in a report by MedPage Today, the FDA “issued a warning about the risks of thyroid cancer and pancreatitis associated with the diabetes drug liraglutide (Victoza).” Novo Nordisk, the drug maker, was directed by the FDA to send out a “Dear healthcare professional” letter after determining that some primary care providers were not completely aware of the serious risks. The FDA also told Novo Nordisk to include a “black box” warning on the label. Black boxes are the agency’s strongest warning, used when grave side effects, possible even fatal ones, are at issue. They were supposed to inform the users that the drug “causes thyroid C-cell tumors at clinically relevant exposures in rodents.” Further testing showed that these results could show up in humans too.

Today, Novo Nordisk lists all of the side effects on its web page for Victoza, right under the new slogan “Diabetes in a new light” next to your photo, Paula. Paula, how can you do this?

3.  Here’s the real kicker: What do you gain by taking this dangerous drug? Some medical authorities question whether the drug actually works. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that lowering a patient’s blood sugar affects the Type 2 diabetes at all. University of North Carolina professor of medicine, Nortin Hadler, penned a blunt article in 2008 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology declaring them essentially useless, because, he claims, lowering patient’s blood-sugar levels does not deliver any tangible benefits. And in his book on aging, Hadler minced no words. The drugs should be “taken off the market until one can be shown to benefit some group of patients, any group of patients.” He continued: “That’s obvious—why hasn’t it happened? One answer is that there is such a cloud of smoke and so many mirrors that few see clearly to join me in this outcry. Another answer is greed. In an interview, Hadler said that all the drugs designed to do what Victoza does have “significant side effects” and “have never been shown in years of study to provide any benefit.”

Paula, the drug does not cure the disease. It is dangerous. Please stop endorsing it.
Your fan,
Mary Walker

The message here is: you cannot overindulge and get away with it. If you do anything to excess, you must pay for it. It appeals to our sin nature to think that we can be gluttons and then just pop a pill to cure the effects. It won’t happen. Enjoying good health takes work and discipline. Then on those days when you get out the Paula Deen cookbook and make gooey chocolate stuff, you can really enjoy it guilt free!!!

At our last posting we looked at all the good news for the pro-life cause that happened last year, especially the legislation that has been passed to protect unborn babies. I deliberately left out anything negative, because I did not want to mar the wonderful, enthusiastic, and optimistic news with ugly pictures.

This week, I’d like to talk about some of those ugly pictures, because in an indirect way, they are still good news for the right to life. Last year, the lines were being drawn more distinctly in the sand for all to see. Many Christians have been sitting on the fence for various reasons. I hope they will get off now.

I think one of the worst reasons to avoid our responsibility for trying to bring justice to those who are oppressed is that we don’t like to be called “intolerant”. The enemy has used that tactic against Christians for a long time to good effect, and it’s time to turn the tables.

Intolerance cannot be avoided. If we are Christians who want to live according to the Word of God, then we must be intolerant towards murder, (this includes the unborn, no matter how the enemy wants to define abortion), theft, adultery, false witness, and anything else against the wise commandments given to us by our gracious heavenly Father.

Those who are sinners and think nothing of breaking God’s law are intolerant of Christians. They are guilty of the sin they accuse us of. They hate God and His restraints on society and they hate us because we don’t love or tolerate sin as they do.

Our Lord Jesus told us that we cannot serve two masters. We must choose one. It is very important now for Christians to get off the fence. It is important for us to love God and His Word above all else. This means we must hate sin and regard it as an offense against God and as injustice to other human beings.

Many are sitting on the fence perhaps because they don’t really know how bad things are. They do not understand that those who hate God have committed heinous atrocities against the unborn. The following articles that I am including this week will show how the pro-death people have been showing their true colors. These articles show the ugliness of the pro-abortion crowd; that is why I chose to do a separate Blog posting for them. What they are doing is so evil as to not leave any doubt in any Christian’s mind about what their real agenda is.

What you tolerate says a lot about you. It shows what your loyalties are and where you place your affections. The lines that are being drawn are black and white. Read the following stories and you will see that there are no more excuses for trying to straddle the fence.

From October 26, 2011:

Workers at “House of Horrors” abortion clinic plead guilty to murder

This story is important because it is probably the first time an abortion worker has been found guilty of murder for killing a baby. The “House of Horrors” abortionist, Kermit Gosnell, was in the news last year for the grisly way he operated his clinic. He had also been charged with eight counts of murder, though he and his workers killed hundreds of newborn babies by severing their spinal cords rather than killing them in the womb.

The two workers, Sherry West and Adrienne Moton pled guilty for killing one baby and for helping to drug an abortion client to death during a botched abortion. Neither woman had any medical training or licensing.

Operation Rescue President, Troy Newman commented, “As disturbing as this case is, we know that what went on at Gosnell’s abortion mill is little different than what goes on at late-term abortion mills around the country. We look forward to a full airing of the evidence in a court of law so Americans can come face to face with the atrocity of abortion.

Maybe if we finally have a public airing of the truth about what goes on inside abortion clinics, American will stop tolerating the barbaric, unnecessary, and outdated practice. This case serves as a warning to abortionists who break the law. Sooner or later you will get caught.”

I don’t like talking about such grisly happenings, but I hope these kinds of stories will help people get off of the fence and do more for the cause of the unborn.

Also from a “LifeSiteNews” article on October 26, 2011:

Video shows abortion workers laughing after botched abortion, says pro-life group

If this story does not make you hopping mad, I don’t know what else to do.

–“ A video released recently by Pro-Life Wisconsin, shows abortion clinic workers laughing as an ambulance pulls up outside the facility to fetch a woman injured from a botched abortion.

According to the pro-life organization, this is “at least” the third time this year that an ambulance has shown up at the abortion facility after a botched abortion.

“Those who lobby for abortion’s legality claim that if abortion were made illegal, women would have to resort to dirty, back-alley abortions,”  Pro-Life Wisconsin wrote on their website. “But the reverse has actually happened — as was sadly illustrated with Kermit Gosnell’s ‘House of Horrors’ abortuary in Philadelphia, the dirty, back-alley abortions are legal and no one is watching.”

“Abortion facilities in Milwaukee are not subject to health inspections,” the group continued. “Some days the smell of death — blood and flesh — can be smelled wafting out of AMS when the staff open the doors.”

Later, the pro-life activist who was taking the video said to one of the abortion workers, “So, this is what you do after you put a woman in the hospital.” The worker responded, “You’re lucky it isn’t you in the hospital.”

Last year a number of pro-death activists were forced to face the truth. They could no longer deny what everyone else was seeing. The following article, from “LifeSiteNews”, shows how one honest pro-abortion woman admitted that the pro-life people were not exaggerating when they showed pictures of what an aborted child looked like.

“Abortion doula” founder admits: ‘those pictures pro-life activists flash are real’

The dictionary defines a “doula” as “a woman who assists women during labor and after childbirth.” But there is a new group of men and women calling themselves “doulas” who are challenging that definition in radical ways.

Volunteers with “The Doula Project,” located in New York City, not only help women who give birth to their child, but also accompany them as their unborn child is killed by abortion.

In a recent article about the Doula Project, it was admitted what many pro-abortion activists have furiously disputed for years – that graphic photos of aborted babies used by many pro-life activists are legitimate.

“That is what a fetus looks like when its head is crushed,” admits Mary Mahoney in a devastating remark in a new article about abortion “doulas.”

Mahoney’s statement strikes a deathblow against the claims of pro-abortion activists that graphic images of abortions are faked, or simply photos of stillborn babies.

“The quickest way to change a pro-choicer’s mind is to let them see the procedure,” says Kelly Brunacini of Feminists Choosing Life of New York.

I agree. And, the quickest way for some of our fence sitters to get moving and join the fight against this horrible crime is to let them see the pictures, too.

Is it any wonder that pro-lifers compare abortion to the holocaust?

Finally, here is one more article. There were many to choose from, but this one shows how callous the pro-abortion people can be. And why should we be surprised? Why should anyone who thinks it’s ok to kill a helpless baby worry about the law?

Austin, Texas, December 1, 2011:

Abortion clinics, waste disposal fined $83,000 for tossing aborted babies in open dumpsters

Two Texas abortion clinics and the disposal company Stericycle have been slapped with fines in excess of $83,000 for illegal dumping of aborted baby remains in open dumpsters. The babies were picked up each week by the disposal company and eventually dumped at a landfill. Since the aborted babies were considered “pathological waste” by Texas law, they should have been taken to a special landfill.

Investigations have been ongoing at other Texas abortion clinics.

“Time and again we have seen that abortionists have the attitude that they are above the law. Abortion clinics need to be inspected and violations strictly enforced for the sake of the public’s welfare,” said Troy Newman, Operation Rescue President.

It is bad enough that abortionists think they are above the law, but it is really callous how they treat little human beings.

I hope these stories have spurred you on to do something for the babies. Even if you would give up one trip to the coffee place for your specialty coffee each month and send that money to your local pro-life group, it would make a difference.

And, please check out LifeSiteNews.com. There is a wealth of information there. Lately, it has been encouraging. The tide seems to be turning thanks in part to technology. The pro-death people can no longer hide the truth.

May we have a very successful year defeating the forces of darkness and promoting light and life!!

More and more young people are getting involved in the fight for the unborn. This is a shift from a generation earlier when the average age for women in the Pro-Life movement was around fifty. This is really exciting and I believe it signals the eventual victory over those who are killing children in America.

Consider the story of a brave young woman in Tucson, Arizona.
Renise Rodriguez is a 21-year-old student majoring in religious studies at the University of Arizona. She worked as a Girl Experience Associate for the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona. She had gone to her office on her off-duty hours to prepare some materials for a meeting. Her supervisor ordered her to turn her T-shirt inside out because it read, “Pray to End Abortion.”

“I started to get emotional because of the way I was treated so I left without preparing for the meeting and told my co-worker that she would have to get the stuff together,” Miss Rodriguez told a reporter in an interview. “As I was driving out, I called a friend crying and told her the story. I was so shocked at the way I was treated. After contemplating it for the rest of that day, I decided to write my letter of resignation.”

This kind of courage and conviction gives me hope that we can win the battle against those who would destroy life. Every single courageous woman who will stand up and say “no” to injustice makes a difference. Renise made a sacrifice to help to end abortion; she is to be admired and emulated.

There is more exciting news on other fronts. In the political arena, many efforts on behalf of the unborn have paid off. Consider the good news from a report put out by the Guttmacher Institute that shows that 83 pro-life laws were passed in 2011, more than twice as many as the previous record set in 2005 of 34. In 2010 there were 23 pro-life laws enacted. Some people attribute this to the gains made by Republicans in Southern and Midwestern states whose legislatures were historically controlled by Democrats.

There were eight states that enacted laws preventing abortion coverage by new insurance companies that were to take effect because of Obamacare.

The “Live Action Films” video series played a part in nine states that cut funding to Planned Parenthood. Technology developments prompted five states to ban the use of telemedicine for the provision of abortion medication. We can rejoice over these victories.

Here is some other good news from a political organization, Susan B. Anthony List. This group is working hard to defund the abortion giant – Planned Parenthood. (I prefer to call it “Planned Un-parenthood”).

From a letter published by the Director of Policy and Programs, SBA List, Billy Valentine: “In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker and Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch went after America’s largest abortion provider, redirecting $120,000 in taxpayer funds away from Planned Parenthood. The funding, as part of Wisconsin’s Well Woman Program, will now go to the Winnebago County Department of Health. In announcing the move, Gov. Walker commented:

“There are many clinics that are not as controversial as Planned Parenthood, and our goal was to make sure low-income women had access to those sorts of screenings from other providers around the state that don’t carry the good counsel homescontroversy you get with Planned Parenthood.”

The SBA List was proud to work with Wisconsin Right to Life this past summer in supporting Governor Walker’s budget, which stripped Planned Parenthood of $1 million, and our activists are flooding the Governor’s inbox with messages of gratitude for his latest efforts. Marjorie also was proud to host Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch on a panel at Ralph Reed’s Faith and Freedom Conference where she talked about the importance of getting taxpayers out of the abortion business.”

State by state, pro-lifers can keep chipping away at the injustice against children.

It is wonderful that there are so many new young people joining the fight. It is great that we have a strong political organization with some clout that can get good legislation passed. We are thankful for all of the Right to Life workers who tirelessly witness to young women on their college campuses. Thank God for the volunteers who stand across the street from the abortion clinics hoping to save even one young woman from making the biggest mistake of her life.

But there is one piece missing in all of this good news. It is one thing to convince a woman that she should spare the life of her child; it is another to actually give her the support she may need to be able to get through this difficult time in her life.

Some young girls find love and support in their families. Others do not. It is all too common for girls to face antagonism or even rejection from their families. For those who know that life comes from God, abortion is NOT a choice. How sad then, when their parents, who should be happy about becoming grandparents, try to give them another choice, “Have an abortion, or get out of the house.”

For those girls who have to go it alone, there are now more places where they can get help. One such place is Good Counsel Homes. The founder, Christopher Bell, wants to enable women to have their babies in an environment of love, support, and community.

“So many women only hear: you have a choice, and that choice is abortion,” said Bell. “The real choice is: do we have enough love – as a community, as a society, as a nation?” The aim of Good Counsel Homes is to help women choose life.

Bell believes that the biggest need for these courageous women in crisis is a family. “What we do at Good Counsel is provide a table, we provide a house, we provide a family for those who don’t have one,” he said.

Good Counsel also operates a 24/7 national hotline to help moms find a place to stay. Several of the homes are in the New York metropolitan area and there are also two in New Jersey. Bell has also helped independent groups open homes that are similar to Good Counsel Homes in eight other states.

Besides the basic care for expectant and new moms, life skills are taught, including nutrition, parenting, computers, finances and job hunting. After a mom leaves the home, Good Counsel stays in contact with her for as long as a year after giving birth.

I praise and thank the Lord for the gains in the last few years for the pro-life movement. I believe that if courageous women will continue to work wherever they can, no matter how small their efforts, we will turn the tide.

May the Lord bless our efforts in 2012!!

“When I am afraid, I will put my trust in Thee.  In God, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?”
Psalm 56:3,4

This is my 100^th Blog posting!! I thank the Lord that He has given me the opportunity to tell the wonderful stories of courageous women who have lived and served Him down through the ages.

Courage comes in many forms. Many of our stories are about women who have shown incredible physical bravery. Think of what it must have been like for the following women:

“…Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and seized a hammer in her hand, and went secretly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went through into the ground….So he died.” (Judges 4:21)

Jael was able to be so courageous because she feared God rather than man. There was a line that she would not cross. Her life was in danger, but she chose to do what was right. The Scriptures tell us that she was blessed for what she did. Deborah made a song of that great victory over God’s enemies and proclaimed, “Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite.’ (Judges 5:24).

Another uncompromising woman was Rahab. She was putting her own life in danger in order to disobey her king and follow God, but she was willing to follow the voice of her convictions. She preferred to follow God’s will and word rather then follow the dictates of her culture. She was willing to risk her own safety for that of the spies. By faith she renounced all for God. You can read all of her story in the book of Joshua, chapter 2.

Many other historical women demonstrated that they would rather die than go against their convictions. You can read their stories on this Blog – Anne Askew, Esther Ann Kim, Lady Jane Gray, Perpetua and Felicity, the Solway Martyrs, and Sophie Scholl all went to their deaths rather than give in to the evils of the culture around them.

Some women, though not facing death, have had to bravely rise above their circumstances and put others before themselves. This type of unselfishness requires real spiritual courage. Consider these stories of women who followed God:

Hannah (see I Samuel, chapters 1 & 2) was living on a different spiritual plain than most women. She had put God first in her life. She truly desired to serve Him and was obedient to her calling as a wife. She rose above her situation and proved that she could handle whatever God would send her way. She was never disrespectful to her husband nor did she ever seek vengeance on the other wife. We must admire the courage of Hannah. An immature or less pious woman would have likely turned into a nag. Sympathetic people would find it hard to blame Hannah if she turned on Peninnah (the “other woman”) and made her life as miserable as she could. How many women would find fault with her if she had retorted angrily to her husband Elkanah’s less than thoughtful or considerate remarks about her childlessness. But she never did. She only turned to God.

This kind of courage is different than the physical courage required to face down an enemy knowing your life may be required of you. It also takes a lot of courage to live day by day with opposition from any source. When everyone else seems to be successful in their wrongdoing, it takes real courage of conviction and firm faith to trust in God and wait on Him.

Some women have been courageous enough to stand against social custom in order to defend what is right. One of the best examples of this was Argula von Grumbach. She lived in the early sixteenth century. She had the privilege and the blessing of God to be able to read Martin Luther’s writings and convert to Protestantism. She read and studied the Bible and was well able to defend its teachings, even against the University Professors in Ingolstadt. She did not let the fact that she was a woman stop her from writing to the authorities in defense of a wrongly accused young man.

Bavarian authorities had forbidden reception of Lutheran ideas at the time, and the city of Ingolstadt enforced that mandate. In 1523, Arsacius Seehofer, a young teacher and former student at the University of Ingolstadt, was arrested for Protestant views and forced to recant. The incident would have occurred quietly, but Argula, outraged over it, wrote what was to become her most successful writing, a letter to the faculty of the university objecting to Seehofer’s arrest and exile. The letter urged the university to follow Scripture, not Roman traditions. It also said she had decided to speak out even though she was a woman because no one else would.

In our day, many women still feel that they are treated unfairly simply because they are female. Imagine what it must have been like for Argula in the early sixteenth century!! No women writers in our country are treated the way that she was. Theologians wanted her punished, and her husband lost his position at Dietfurt over the controversy. Argula was also called by many offensive epithets by her critics, especially through the sermons of Professor Hauer who called her things like “shameless whore” and a “female desperado.”

But this persecution did not stop this dauntless woman. Argula wrote poems in response to the slander of her character, such as when a poem apparently written by someone from Ingoldstadt which attacked her and accused her of being a neglectful wife and mother.
An other, more honest man, wrote of her that she “knows more of the divine Word than all of the red hats (canon lawyers and cardinals) ever saw or could conceive of” and compared her to other heroic women in the Bible.

There are women in our day who are also courageously taking a stand for righteousness. A praiseworthy woman, who just recently passed away, was Mildred Jefferson. Mildred was a black woman who had to fight for right on many fronts. She was the first black woman to graduate from Harvard medical school. Pro-life people will remember her though as a champion for the unborn. She was an activist, though a gentle one, winning the respect of all who knew her.

These women are just a sampling of the many women who have shown physical, moral, and spiritual courage. I started this Blog with the intention of telling their stories so that woman in our day could take courage in spite of the evil of our times. We do not live in a society that honors God. We live in a God-hating, death-loving, selfish society. In contrast to this, women of courage love the Lord, life, and others before themselves.

My prayer is that these stories are an encouragement to women, and that we will all be able to stand firm in the face of many dangers to ourselves, to serve God in whatever calling He has given us. May we even be able to change our own corners of the world for the better.
To God alone be the glory.
And keep looking for more stories!!!

As we look forward to another new year, what can we expect? Will this be the year that the whole world is converted to Christ? The Lord has promised us that it will happen and we can pray that the Lord Jesus will come soon.

We look around and see many things are still wrong in the world and anticipate the day when Christ will come bringing in the fullness of His redemption.

The day will come when all of the false gods of the unbelievers will be exposed for what they are. Those who worship money and power will be cast aside. All of the wicked rulers who think that they can coerce peoples to follow them will be thrown down. The false god of Islam, Allah, will be shown to be just that – a phony figment of Mohammad’s imagination. The world will be a better, more just place when those who oppress women and children as the Muslims do are on the decrease and Christianity is on the increase.

We look forward to the day when all of the kings of the earth will bow before THE Prince of Peace, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. All nations will acknowledge the blessed Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Many people are pessimistic about the future. They think that things will get worse and worse and the whole world will go to pieces. Perhaps they imagine the whole world will be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. We know that the world and everything in it will be burned up one day (see 2Pet. 3:10). But we do not know when that will happen. Our focus now should be on doing the job that God gave us to do while we look forward to the new heavens and the new earth.

Let us not be discouraged by the long period of God’s delay. We need to take heart and work and struggle to defeat the injustices in this world. That is the job that God has given the church. Everywhere that we help orphans, feed the hungry, visit the poor, and stop injustice against the helpless, we are advancing the kingdom of God. We as women can do much to help the helpless and show mercy to those who are disadvantaged. We can do all of this in the strength of the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Lo, I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20).

While we work to advance God’s kingdom, Jesus has promised to be with us. He is as much with us in our day as He ever was, even in the days when He walked among His disciples.

In His presence, we take courage and He helps us to have the love and compassion that we need to serve others. Knowing that He is with us, we can be assured that we will have every grace that we need, every strength for the work that we can pour our whole hearts and minds into.

Do not be discouraged; bring yourself, with the power of the Holy Spirit, more into conformity with Christ. We will never be able to love as He does with perfect love, but we can strive toward that as a goal.

Remember, He promises to be with us. More than that, He delights to be with us. What a wonderful, amazing thing that our God desires to be with us! This is our motivation to begin the New Year with more love to Him and to others.

“And the Lord shall guide you continually” (Isaiah 58:11).

God has not left us alone here on earth. Jesus promised that He would never leave us or forsake us. We can count on Him. No matter what happens to us in the future, Jesus will be guiding us. We are having hard times in this early part of the twenty-first century. Unemployment is high. Taxes are high. Government intrusion and downright coercion is at an all time high. How can we cope with all of this? We must follow Jesus as closely as possible. We must always be in prayer. We must put ourselves in His presence and feel our union with Him. If we have to change our position in life, or move, He will be with us. If our circumstances change so much that we begin to feel helpless, we can cast all our cares on Him. The government thinks it can run our lives, but God is truly the real Ruler of the universe.

It seems often that we are alone, or in a tiny minority, of those who worship God faithfully. We are derided for believing in God. But even if all others around us were to forsake the Lord, we must stay firm. We can do this because we know that He Who is in us is greater than all the evils of the world (see 1John 4:4). Look at the verse at the beginning of this section again – “The Lord shall guide you continually.” This is a promise. Walk with God, and you will not go astray. You have His infallible wisdom to guide you, His mighty power to strengthen you, His unchanging love to comfort you, and His eternal power to defend you.

This is His promise. He will be with us no matter what. We do not know what the New Year will bring. We can pray with other saints all through the ages, “Even so, Lord Jesus come.” If He tarries still, we pray for justice in this world. As women of faith and courage, we can renew our strength and work even harder this year to bring the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ to all those that God calls us to serve.
Blessed New Year to all!!

Christianity offers the most freedom to all humans in the world. This has been true all throughout history. There have been times when women have not been given the credit that is due to them by the Church, but by and large, Christianity has brought freedom for all peoples no matter what nationality or gender.

Consider the beliefs about women of some of the other world religions:

Muslim: “Men shall have the pre-eminence. The ground of the pre-eminence of man over woman is here said to be man’s natural superiority over woman. Women are an inferior class of human beings. … Men are the lords of the women, and women become the virtual slaves of the men. The holy, happy estate of Eve in Eden can never be even approximately secured for her daughters under Islam.”

Ancient Jewish Prayer of Men: “BLESSED ART THOU, O LORD OUR G-D, KING OF THE UNIVERSE, WHO HAST NOT MADE ME A WOMAN.”

Hindu: “that women of high and low caste, as a class, were bad, very bad, worse than demons, as unholy as untruth, and that they could not get Moksha as men. The only hope of their getting this much-desired liberation from Karma and its results … was the worship of their husbands. The husband is said to be the women’s god; there is no other god for her. … Women have no minds. They are lower than pigs.”

Of the examples of the dim view of women in many cultures, the Hindu view is the most blatant. One cannot imagine how any woman could succeed or be happy in that culture. But, that is reckoning without a providential Father God Who raises up people in His own good time to help bring the good news of salvation to many. One woman who was clearly led of God was Pandita Ramabai.

During the nineteenth century in India, many men believed that women were not able to be educated. There was one man, however, who thought differently – Ananta Shatri Dongree, a wealthy Hindu guru. He did not believe that women were just animals. He proved it by educating his wife and his daughter, Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922).

As a child, Ramabai was educated in the Hindu scriptures and by the time she was twenty years old, she had memorized 18,000 verses of the Puranas, the Hindu holy book. She could speak many Indian dialects, as well as English. Her tremendous knowledge impressed the local Hindu scholars. They gave her the name “Pandita,” which means “learned.” They asked her to teach the high-caste Hindu women. She studied the Hindu scriptures in preparation for her class. She discovered that the Hindu scriptures contradicted themselves in almost every area except one – the negative view of women. Ramabai read one thing that they all agreed on, “Women were worse than demons.” She did not believe this, because her father had not raised her to believe this.

Pandita then began to move for reform. She desired to dismantle the Hindu caste system. She mainly wanted to raise the status of women in Indian society. Her efforts became even more intensive when she became a widow with a small daughter.

Among already low-ranking women in India, widows ranked the lowest. Many were burned alive on their husband’s funeral pyres. Those who were allowed to live were forced to become slaves. These women were sent to temples to become temple prostitutes and make money for the Hindu priests. As soon as the women were no longer pleasing to the priests, they were turned out on to the streets to be beggars. Most would die of starvation. Ramabai saw all of this firsthand and founded an organization to reform this terrible treatment of women.

Around this time in her life, Ramabai came into contact with a Baptist missionary and began her journey toward Christianity. For a time she joined a cult which blended Hindu beliefs with Christianity. Then in 1883 she traveled to England and made friends with a woman who was a member of the Anglican community.

Ramabai embraced Christ fully while in England and was baptized. She was joyous, but many back home in India were outraged. They did not want the most famous woman reformer in their country to be a Christian. They wanted her to continue to embrace their culture.

Ramabai did not see any conflict with her culture and Christianity. She did not want to be a part of the Church of England. She just considered herself simply a Christian. She resisted the efforts of the sisters of the Anglican Church to make her conform to western ways. She remained independent in her Christian life. She explained to the English women that she would like to keep the customs of her forefathers as far as she could, as long as the customs were not hurtful. She was able in this way to reach many more women in India for Christ.

With this spirit of independence Ramabai developed her educational system for women and girls. She gave lectures and preached in Hindu temples. She started a school for girls, called Mukti, which means “salvation”. She taught the young girls and women life skills that they could use to support themselves. She did not try to force them to become Christians, but many desired to follow Christ because of her example.

She was an early believer in “life-style evangelism”. Once during a famine, Ramabai fed thousands of people who would have otherwise starved to death.

In the early 1900’s there were revivals in many places in the English speaking world. When Ramabai heard about them, she prayed that revival would happen among her girls. At her school, Mukti, five hundred and fifty women met daily and prayed for God’s blessings. On June 29, 1905, God blessed them by sending an outpouring of His Holy Spirit. During the next few days a thousand girls professed faith in Christ.

During this time of success, the Indian officials were still upset with her for evangelizing. She refused to give in. Though she did not actively seek to convert the girls as other mission schools did, she maintained her faithful Christian life, which was the best way to present the Gospel at that time in that culture. She did not want to present a “western” Gospel, but one that was focused on Christ and Christ alone. Her faith and practices were compatible with her culture rather than just on institutional dogma.

And her beliefs were shown in her deep zeal for revival. She prayed that God would send 100,000 Christians to India to go out and spread the Gospel.

Soon after this, she was asked to care for 25,000 orphans. She believed that God had answered her prayer and began to train them as little followers of Christ.

Pandita Ramabai’s work lives on today. She is known by some as the greatest woman of the nineteenth century living in India. Many have praised her achievements. God can bless any people at any time, even with a woman leader. We can rejoice at how God led her from a devout Hindu home to an earnest faith in Jesus Christ. Thousands are grateful for her testimony, tireless work, and the success she had in raising the status of women in a dark land.