The Missionary No Board Would Send

In 1930, a London parlor maid named Gladys Aylward applied to the China Inland Mission. The board rejected her. At twenty-eight, they said, she was too old to learn Mandarin, too uneducated for formal ministry, too small and plain to survive the interior provinces. The builders examined this stone and set it aside.

Gladys refused to accept their verdict. She scrubbed floors, saved every shilling, and bought a one-way ticket on the Trans-Siberian Railway — a harrowing journey through war zones that nearly killed her. She arrived in Yangcheng, China, with almost nothing. Within years, she had opened an inn for mule drivers where she told Bible stories each evening, earned the trust of the local mandarin, and was appointed the region's official foot inspector, giving her access to every home in the district.

When Japan invaded in 1938, Gladys led over one hundred orphaned children on a twelve-day trek across mountains to safety, singing hymns the entire way. The woman no mission board would commission became one of the most remarkable missionaries of the twentieth century.

The Almighty has a long history of choosing what others discard. Psalm 118 declares it plainly: "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." What the gatekeepers push aside, God places at the center. Give thanks to the LORD, for His steadfast love endures forever.