You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

Revelation  2:3  -  NIV

Despite the toll of lives, most mission boards of the early 1800s had no problem filling the ranks.  At a camp meeting in New York, Dr. Nathan Bangs, the secretary of a Methodist mission, was handed a note that read,  "A sister ... is willing to give her life as a female teacher if she wanted."


Ann Wilkins was wanted!  She volunteered in spite of knowing upon his arrival in West Africa in 1833, the first Methodist missionary had died of African fever.  Two couples and a single woman were appointed to fill the ranks.  One couple died within three months.  Broken in health, the other couple returned home.  The single missionary endured more than twenty attacks of fever before she also left the field.


Ann, a young widow, described as a "born teacher," sailed for Liberia in 1837.  She established a boarding school for girls and started a school for orphans that eventually became Millsburg Female Academy, the first American Methodist school for girls overseas.  Twice Ann returned to the United States for health reasons.  Despite attacks of malaria, she risked her life and stayed at her post for nineteen years.


The keys to surviving precarious situations are persistence and faith.  And Ann Wilkins had plenty of both!  Dire situations may also be part of your life, but as you persist, God will use these trials for His glory and the good of many.


Taken from  "Daily Devotions for Women"
                      by  Jewell Johnson
                      Day 109