Florence Nightingale and the Voice She Heard at Sixteen

On February 7, 1837, a sixteen-year-old girl sitting beneath the cedars at Embley Park in Hampshire, England, heard something she could not explain. Florence Nightingale later wrote in her private notes that God had spoken to her, calling her to His service. She recorded the date precisely — she never forgot it. But like young Samuel in the temple, Florence did not immediately understand what the voice meant.…