2016 is an Open Door by Rose McCormick Brandon

Jonathan Goforth

Missionaries Jonathan and Rosalind Goforth arrived in China in March 1888. Their assignment to open a new field in the northern section of Honan province was a daunting one. The young couple struggled to learn the language, adjust to the climate and raise a large family in primitive surroundings. They met many discouraging challenges, including the death of a child.

 

One day a letter arrived from Hudson Taylor, then a pioneer with China Inland Missions. He wrote:

We understand North Honan is to be your field; we, as a mission, have tried for ten years to enter that province from the south, and have only just succeeded. It is one of the most anti-foreign provinces in China . . . Brother, if you would enter that province, you must go forward on your knees.

The Goforths took Taylor’s advice. With persistence and prayer, they mastered the language. People began responding to their message of a loving Christ. A female convert filled their need of an assistant Bible teacher for women.



Rosalind Goforth

Years later, Rosalind Goforth wrote a little book that has become one of my favourites, How I Know God Answers Prayer. She wrote of miracles of revival, guidance, healing and comfort. Through the Boxer Rebellion and many other life threatening events, the Goforths proceeded on their knees.

Prayer sends tremors down the enemy’s spine. It puts courage in the weak-kneed and takes the whine and worry out of life. It resurrects the fallen and revives the discouraged.

Only God can give us courage to face impossible situations. Only He can open closed doors.

The new year, 2016, is an open door. Let's go through it on our knees.

See! I have set before you a door wide open which no one is able to shut . .  Rev. 3:8

Prayer: Father, make me alert to the opportunities You provide. Give me courage to walk through the doors You open for me. I dedicate this new year, 2016, to You. At the end of it, I want to be found Faithful to Your Word and to Your purpose for my life.

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  Rose McCormick Brandon is the author of four books,, including Promises of Home - Stories of Canada's British Home Children, and many articles. Visit her website: http://writingfromtheheart, her faith blog, Listening to my Hair Grow and British Home Child blog, Promises of Home.

The World at my Door - McCormick Brandon

Last year, through Marcia Laycock, another writer associated with The Word Guild, I received an email from Marshall Lawrence. A Wycliffe translator for 25 years, he had written a book about his life in Papua, New Guinea. He asked if I would read it and perhaps make some suggestions. I agreed because I didn't want to say no to someone who'd given his life for the noble purpose of translating the New Testament.

I feared opening the email that contained Lawrence's story. If he writes like most pastors and evangelists, this will be a nightmare, I thought. From the beginning the theme of Lawrence's story drew me in. In the first chapter, he nails together a primitive slab door for the cabin he's built for his family.

Scores of people, from tribal friends to globe trotters enter the humble Lawrence home through this door. Each chapter is a story of one who entered. As a reader, I entered. I met the Oksapmin people. Some became life-long friends to the Lawrences, like Guyhem Bek, a “co-worker, superb translator, clear thinker, and learner” who helped translate the New Testament into his language. The book is dedicated to him.

I didn’t meet Marshall and his wife Helen until after I’d read The World at My Door. By then, I felt that I already knew them. Throughout the book, Lawrence's writing smiles with humor. Still, the reader feels his grief when one by one his four boys leave home at an early age for boarding school.

Marshall and Helen, now retired, live in Echo Bay, Ontario, near Sault Ste. Marie,where I lived until last year. One afternoon, the Lawrences came for tea. Marshall said he wasn’t sure if he should publish the book or just tuck it away. Tuck it away? I can’t remember my exact words but I tried to convey how tragic I thought it would be if the book wasn’t published. Others who love stories will want to know the Oksapmin people. Through Lawrence’s book, these gentle souls can knock on their doors.

The World at My Door was published by Guardian Books. And in 2011 it won the Award of Merit from The Word Guild.

Meeting inspirational people like Marshall and Helen Lawrence expands my view of God's work in the world. I’m glad for the day they walked through my door.