Category: Biography
A Most Unlikely Wedding
He was a most unlikely groom in a most unlikely wedding. For years Richard had waxed eloquent on his conviction that a pastor who was doing his job correctly would have no time for a family. He followed his own advice and was a confirmed bachelor...
A Pair of Warm Socks: God’s Provision for John Stam
Is there anything too small for the Lord? We often surmise (rightly so) that there is nothing too big for him, but fail to see God working in the smaller ways. Looking back at overwhelming trials, we speak about how God so obviously brought us through,...
A Story That Does Not End Well: Marianne Hearne
Marianne Hearne experienced her first real crisis of faith when she was just five or six years old. She attended a good church with her family and learned to love God through the teaching of her parents, church and extended family. So it was natural that...
Adoniram Judson: Free Thinker Set Free
The early 19th century American missionary Adoniram Judson (1788-1850) made a lasting impression on Burma, now Myanmar. His toil as a church planter, Bible translator, and sufferer for Christ is legendary. As a young man, however, he was radically opposed to the Savior he later preached....
By Faith Alone: The Conversion of Martin Luther
It was the moment he had been waiting for. His father was in the audience watching, as were his fellow monks. It was time for Martin to offer his first mass, and he was overwhelmed with the solemnity of the event. He led the congregation, saying,...
David and John Brainerd: Missionaries to Native Americans
David Brainerd died well. “Now that I am dying,” he said, “I declare that I would not for all the world have spent my life otherwise.”1 His brother John was convinced. He carried on David’s work until his own death 34 years later. David and John...
God who Reigns over Rain
They were locked in a tiny, bug-infested jail in inland China. The heat inside was suffocating, and the doors and windows were sealed tight by the guards. Outside their prison, crowds of people called for their death, rioting until late into night. At daybreak, it began again....
The Reluctant Mother: Amy Carmichael
We can’t always identify life-changing moments as they occur. When a little Indian girl named Preena crawled into Amy Carmichael’s lap and called her “Amma” (or “mother” in Tamil) for the first time, neither of them could have known that this simple act would change both...
Mingling Groans of Pain and Songs of Hope – Charles Haddon Spurgeon on Depression
It’s a good thing he wasn’t born in the 20th century. Many believing brothers and sisters would label his tendency to melancholy sinful, or evidence of a lack of self-discipline, or even the result of shallow faith. A psychologist would probably send him away with a...
John Bunyan: Blessing God for Affliction
“Like the tearing of my flesh from my bones.” That’s how John Bunyan described parting with his family after their brief visits with him in prison. Each time they walked away, John was reminded of the great difficulty his incarceration imposed on them, especially on his...
