A Story on Audacious Faith
Oops! It's my first time writing a blog post here and I'm both excited, anxious and...well, I guess I'll just go with the flow **laughs**
Today, I'm writing on Audacious Faith. The word audacious talks about having audacity; it is being bold and willing to take great risks. Now, relate it to the word "Faith" which is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen according to Hebrews 11:1.
It is faith that chooses to stand out, rather than be conformed to normal processes. It is faith that refuses to obey the normal status quo but creates its own story. Queen Esther is a biblical example of someone who portrayed audacious faith and her actions are still being remembered today as the Jews still celebrate the Purim festival yearly to mark their victory.
Audacious Faith is radical faith
My story today isn't about a biblical character. It is about a Scottish missionary who walked the earth in the 19th century. Her name was Mary Slessor.
Mary Slessor was born in Aberdeen in 1848 to her parents, Mary and Robert. Her father, who was a shoe-maker, became addicted to alcohol making Mary more or less the breadwinner of the family. While going to school, she worked as a half-time mill girl and at the age of 14, she became a skilled jute worker but Mary had bigger dreams for her future.
After the death of David Livingstone, a pioneer Christian missionary in 1973, there was a nationwide call for missionaries and Mary decided to answer the call.
At age 28, she was assigned to Calabar in southern Nigeria. She learnt the local language and adapted to eating the local food so that she could save and send a large portion of her wages back home to support her mother and sister. Though her Scottish accent was hard to hide, Mary tried to blend in by cutting her bright red hair short and discarding her Victorian clothes.
She took interest in women and children's rights and well being which were at risk in Calabar. At that time, when twins were born it was thought that one of them belonged to the devil and since it wasn't known which of them was, both of them were left in the bush to die and the mother banished from the community.
Mary took it upon herself to rescue and protect these women and children. She did this at the expense of her life because she was going against the laws of the land. Worse still, she was a foreigner. Although it was discouraged by the mission society to adopt any of the abandoned children, Mary ignored the rules. She sent out missioners to find and care for abandoned twins and adopted every child she found. She even took a baby girl as her own daughter, calling her Janie and taking her along to Scotland.
In her lifetime, Mary saved hundreds of twins, helped heal the sick and put an end to the practice of making suspects drink poison to determine if they were guilty or not. Because she always placed the needs of others before hers, she was often faced with ill health and battled malaria and other tropical diseases. Mary died at the age of 66 in 1915 but was able to change a lot in her lifetime. More than 100 years after her death, her legacy still lives on and she is still being remembered for her good works and audacious achievements.
The point from this story is that in order to stand for what we believe, we sometimes need to take extra bold steps and risks so that we can see things come to manifestation. Mary chose to challenge the narrative the society had set by and in doing so she influenced those she served and brought about a permanent change.
Be determined, be focused, have faith, make moves, be bold and achieve!
Stay winning!
