CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FOUR
BOUND BY A LOVE CHAIN
He" thrilled Isobel Miller would have been that day could she have taken a long, long look into the past! She might have traced link after link in the love chain God forged to bind her to Himself.
More than a hundred years before this experience of Isobel's, there was a certain Christian mother in England. One day she had been so concerned for her restless teen-age boy, that she had relieved her anxiety by spending a day of prayer for him. That boy, Hudson Taylor, grew into a stalwart Christian statesman.
By faith he founded the China Inland Mission by whose agency the good news of Christ was spread throughout China.
After his death, the story of Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission was written by his son and daughter-in-law, Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor. They worked twelve long years, and produced a spiritual classic, a two-volume biography. Supporting them while they worked wasan American Christian business man.
The first volume of the story, with some other C.I.M. books, was tucked under the arm of a Mrs. Stott, a retired C.L.M. missionary, when one day she went out in the city of Vancouver,
B.C, pig door bells. She was longing to do something for Christ that day. And she did. She sold the first volume of Hudson Taylor's biography to Mrs. Otis Whipple.
Thoughtfully Julia and Otis Whipple read the inspiring story of The Growth of a Soul.1 The result was that they eventually placed themselves and all their earthly possessions at God's
In July 1922, a few like-minded friends were invited by the Whipples to meet at "The Firs", their dedicated summer camp.
Their purpose was to become better acquainted with Jesus Christ.
_ Ofcourse, no one could then foresee the way the Lake Whatcom 1 First volume of Hudson Taylor's biography, by Dr. and Mrs.
Howard Taylor, C.I.M.
ONE VISION ONLY
Bible and Missionary Conference would grow from that begin- -ning and would stretch out its hands in benediction to multiplied thousands over the world.
Julia Whipple's faith, prayers and her self-denying gift of money, managed to get tbobel to The Firs in July, 1923, to attend the second conference ever to be held there. Mrs. Whipple realized that the girl was quick, impulsive and impressionable, and that she needed Christian fellowship and grounding in God's
Word lest an enemy "'sow tares" in her life.
Isobel was one of the crowd in no time. She loved beautiful things, and there they were under a forest of firs near a large lake.
She loved choice people. There they gathered, none finer. She loved study. There the Book of books was the text. She was beginning to love the Lord Jesus. The whole conference centred in Him.
Isobel remembered, ""Theleading spirit of us young people was.
Edna Whipple Gish, a young missionary, widowed in China by the tragic death of her husband. To Edna, it was given to lead me the next few steps of my way. I had often heard men of God give wonderful messages from the platform, but this was my first encounter with a Spirit-filled lit in its daily commonplace habits. Edna and I slept in the same bed together, washed our faces in the same basin. I could watch her off the platform. It was Edna who taught me daily communion with God and holy bits.
"At the end of the week, when Edna pleaded with us to respond to Jesus' last request, 'Go ye into all ii world and preach the gospel,' I raised my hand with the others. I had told Edna my story, and this offer to be a missionary was just a public expression of my covenant with God. My life was His."
At that time Mrs. Gish could not possibly know how greatly God honoured her selfless persistence in speaking at those meetings, when the wounds of her widowhood were still so sore.
But now, more than thirty years later, she sees that even through Isobel's one life, God's blessing has spread to unnumbered thousands.) ; Isobel continued: "I had offered for the foreign field, but felt no particular call to any one field, When the conference ended,
Mrs, Whipple lent me a book to take home, The Growth of a —
BOUND BY A LOVE CHAIN
Soul. It was that book which brought me further light as to God's plan for me. As I read how Hudson Taylor proved God; how he learned to move man, through God, by prayer alone, I was startled. That was what I was trying to do. And he had founded a missionary society on those principles—the China
Inland Mission! I had gone to its prayer meetings when I was a child, not realizing what the Mission stood for. ... A great longing to belong to that group came over me, that I might be linked with those who took God at His word, and daily proved
Him a living and true God. I felt called to the Mission.
"Light regarding my life work was beginning to dawn, yet how unfit I was for it! I still danced, played cards and loved the theatre. I knew my father's religion frowned on such things, but I wasn't going to give them up just because of his attitude."
But ae some further attempts at compromise, Isobel let these amusements go, one by one. Aptly she likened their attraction to candle light—no longer desired when the dawn brings the brightness of the sun. She felt that worldly society, indifferent or even hostile to Christ, was not for her any longer. She found she could not truly love Christ and the world at the same time.
As she loved Him more she loved the world less; and as she loosened her hold on the world, she drew closer to Him.
It worked both ways.
Even back in her noisy boarding house, her loneliness found more than compensation in Christ's friendship. This became an intense joy-as she determined to meet Him daily for an hour of rayer and Bible study. She selected two o'clock in the morning
= the tryst. At that hour the house was quiet and her mind fresh. An increasing awareness of God's presence was the result.
And no wonder the Father met with His eager young daughter!
Her spiritual life grew tremendously.
When July, 1924 came, she could hardly wait to rush off to the conference at The Firs.