To the Golden Shore is the biography of Adoniram Judson, one of the first missionaries from the United States. Though he originally sets sail to India, he winds up spending his life in Burma, only coming back to the States once.Unlike today, there wasn't a well-organized sending organization to put him through the process. Judson and his wife were pretty much on their own when making decisions on how to carry out their ministry. It would have been impossible to wait for a letter to get all the way to the US and an answer back before taking action. They must have felt quite alone. Besides that, they originally were unable to find a place to minister. The British government and the East India Trading Company who were in power were hostile to them as Americans, and the one place in that part of the world that wasn't controlled by the British, Burma, was controlled by a native despot that was hostile to all foreigners and other religions.
What I enjoyed the most about this book is the tale of his first wife, Nancy (several years after her death, he remarried, and then remarried again after the death of his second wife). There were several times when it was not possible for Adoniram to be with her and she was by herself, alone in a foreign land. She did translating work of her own as well, and though none of her children survived past infancy (one was stillborn, and the other two, Roger and Maria, died of tropical diseases at 1-year and 2-years respectively), she taught and raised several children as her own.
This is a long book, but I learned a lot. It has encouraged me that God is truly faithful, no matter what we go through!
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Sounds really good!
ReplyDeleteI am here via Callapidder Days list of reviews for the Spring Reading Thing. I read ths book years ago and was so touched. Missionary biographies are among my favorite books -- God has instructed me so much through them. This is one I want to read again some time.
ReplyDeleteI just noticed that my profile wasn't showing up. My main blog is Stray Thoughts.
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