Daily Devotion

“We were so grateful for this that we hardly, then, thought of our burning house and the spoiling of goods. ... But the Friend who had restrained the mob from touching us the hours we were alone on the river bank, we knew could now say, "Thus far; but no farther."”

Mary Hannah Fulton · "Inasmuch": Extracts from Letters, Journals, Papers, etc. (1915), Chapter II, "Canton" (Kwai Ping riot, May 1886)

Scripture

以赛亚书 55:8-9 耶和华说：“我的意念非同你们的意念； 我的道路非同你们的道路。 天怎样高过地， 照样，我的道路高过你们的道路； 我的意念高过你们的意念。

Reflection

In 1886 the new hospital and home that Mary Fulton and her brother had built at Kwai Ping in Guangxi were burned by a mob, and all their plans came to nothing; she later went on to Canton, where she founded a hospital and a medical college. We too often cling tightly to our plans, and when faced with obstacles and uncertainties, we easily feel anxious and frustrated. However, what we perceive as thwarted plans is often a point of convergence of God's grace. As high as the heavens are above the earth, God's vision is infinitely greater than ours. Learning to loosen our grip and surrender our own will is not a loss, but rather a surrender to God's more perfect shaping and blueprint.