Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman by Gladys Aylward
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Book Reviews of Gladys Aylward: The Little Woman
Book Review: God Working through a Humble Faithful Person
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is in my opinion the best one of the biographies of Gladys Aylward. I've read the others, but they were seen through another author and seemed more like adventure stories. This autobiography, however, puts you in Gladys' shoes so you can see and feel her prayerful reliance on God. You'll see God work through this humble parlourmaid, calling her to China and her obedience through the most harrowing circumstances. Gladys did what God told her to do and trusted in God to provide the means, even when it did not seem obvious and the hardships were many.Every time Gladys got into a dangerous predicament, God would move His Hand and send deliverance, a woman speaking English in Siberia, a Japanese sea captain taking her prisoner, or a Nationalist patrol boat that just happened upon a prayer meeting held at the banks of the Hwang Ho where 100 children asked God to part the river for them to cross.
God worked through Gladys to change the lives of slaves, murderers, children, Mandarin officials, bandit generals, lepers, students and many many ordinary villagers, throughout the remote mountainous area Gladys was called to. And He furnished the way, whether it was as a foot-inspector, or in a prison riot, or while warplanes droned overhead in caves and tents, even to a Tibetan Lamaist monastery and finally to an Irish asylum. Everywhere God called Gladys, He used her to touch and transform thousands of ordinary lives. Gladys arrived in China penniless, and she left China almost 20 years later penniless. Every step of the way she trusted God for His provision and His leading. This is truly a story that will inspire you and teach you what great things God can do through a humble person who trusts and obeys Him.
Book Review: Humbling and Inspiring
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is about true Christianity. If you are tired of hearing about doctrine and interpretation, if you are weary of discussions about social issues that divide and polarize people, if you are suspicious of the Christianity you see around you, if you find religion reprehensible, read this book. You will see a picture of true Christianity. This is a story that is not so much about Gladys Aylward as it is about God working through a willing and humble servant. This book is not about a great woman; this book is about a small, powerless and vulnerable human who was strengthened and loved by a great God. As she could not keep God's love, mercy, power and grace all to herself, she proceeded to share it with everyone and anyone around her, whatever the cost.
Repeatedly she risked her life to share God's love with those around her. The story is remarkable and miraculous because Gladys Aylward was so willing to get out of the way and let God work through her. She submitted her life, body and soul completely to her maker and let Him use her in any way he needed. This is a beautiful picture of servitude and an inspiration to those of us who try to live as Christians today in an opulent, spoiled and dark society. We cannot help but be humbled by this beautiful servant of God who repeatedly came near death in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those around her.
Book Review: A little woman doing big things for God
Summary: 5 Stars
Gladys Aylward was a housemaid in England when she felt God calling her to China. The mission she applied to turned her down because of lack of education, fearing that she'd never be able to learn the language. The belief in her call, however, caused her to persevere, raise the money, and head out to China by train by herself, with only a letter of recommendation to an elderly missionary in a secluded station in north China.Not only did she learn the language, but she became the local foot-inspecter, preventing parents from binding the feet of their daughters, and used the opportunity to share the gospel in many of the surrounding villages.
She also began taking care of orphans and children that had been sold. During WW2, she led a hundred children on a few days march to the safety of another city. This episode was the highlight of the movie made about her, "Inn of the Sixth Happiness" (which is pretty much the fictitious telling of her amazing life).
The book doesn't go into any detail of her life after she left mainland China and began work in Taiwan and Hong Kong among the refugees and orphans, but it's an exciting, quick-moving story, that one could easily read in a day or two.
Book Review: Wonderful example of what God can accomplish through a surrendered life
Summary: 5 Stars
Gladys Aylward is a wonderful example of how God uses the weak vessels, when they offer themselves to Him, to bring great glory to Himself and to accomplish much. Gladys Aylward was a housemaid, poorly educated, in Britain in the early 1900s. She felt called to China, but was refused by a mission board, because of her lack of education, they thought she'd be unable to learn the language. After God clearly spoke to her, she obeyed him and went on her own. And he provided and sustained her through her years in China.
I read this book aloud to my 8-year-old and 6-year old, and they were able to understand and enjoy it. Though I don't agree with every decision Ms. Aylward made (which I discussed with my children), she had a wonderful willingness to lay down her desires, her plans, for God's. A little is learned about the Communist takeover of China, as well as the abolition of foot-binding in China, and little bits about Chinese culture woven in here and there. I wish there had been more about their culture, and how it impacted the reception of the Gospel, but it's a small complaint. I would highly recommend this book to Christian readers.
Book Review: An amazing story
Summary: 5 Stars
Somehow, in our time, the adjective 'unique' has come to be misused and heavily overused. Properly it means hardly more than "only" or "the only one (of of its kind)." There is nothing like this story and surely nobody like Gladys Aylward.
In several pages is told the story of a warlord who converted, was then held prisoner by his own men, escaped, found his way back to Aylward's inn, and knew that "I belong to Jesus" fully explained his life. I cannot adequately summarize this particular story; you have to read the version in the book, which itself obviously condenses a long story.