Yesterday was Hudson Taylor’s bday: May 21, 1832.
Hudson Taylor once said, ”It is hardest to do nothing for the Lord.” This quote reminds me that God doesn’t want to put some of us on the shelf or set some Christians aside while only using others. He has a plan and purpose for all of us!
In memory of Hudson Taylor
May 22, 2007 by jmulf
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Hudson Taylor was a hero of mine when I was a teenager. The classic biography of his life is a great read for the whole family. On the back of our wedding program, my husband and I printed these words by H. Taylor—he had been married six weeks when he penned them: Oh, to be married to the one you do love, and love most tenderly—and devotedly … that is bliss beyond the power of words to express or imagination conceive. There is no disappointment there. And every day as it shows more of the mind of your Beloved, when you have such a treasure as mine, makes you only more proud, more happy, more humbly thankful to the Giver of all good for this best of earthly gifts.
I have to give credit to my wonderful sister-in-law for bringing to my attention Hudson Taylor’s b-day. She is a missionary and has suddenly become bed-ridden with illness. An otherwise constantly busy person in her family, church, and community, she has found comfort in the words of Hudson Taylor. She writes,
“I finished the second volume of Hudson Taylor. He does seem larger than life. A super Christian. Such a man of prayer. Puts us all to shame. But we should remember that we are serving the same God and he answers prayer the same way today as he did back then. Mr. Taylor knew a lot about sickness and the sadness of being laid aside. When he was old and frail, he had to live in Switzerland in the mountain climate to help his health. A friend who visited said, “To see a man who had been so active compelled to live a retired life, unable to pray more than fifteen minutes at a time, and yet remaining bright and even joyous, greatly impressed me. I remember his saying, ‘If God can afford to lay me aside from active service, surely I should not object.’” But he always kept up his ministry of prayer and prayed fervently for his workers back in China.
And from his own experience, Mr. Taylor said: “The hardest part of a missionary career is to maintain regular, prayerful Bible study. Satan will always find you something to do when you ought to be occupied about that—if it is only arranging a window-blind!” He would usually wake up before everyone and do his Bible reading and prayer, so it was said of him that the rising sun always found him praying. Sometimes he would go back to sleep after his early morning reading”.
Dana, what a wonderful hero to have as a teenager! I don’t know anyone else who was that mature in their teen years, including myself! I had never even heard the name until I got to college!