Gladys Aylward, The Adventure of a Lifetime

This year we are using Sonlight’s history curriculum, and I have enjoyed the emphasis they place on reading. We just finished Gladys Aylward, The Adventure of a Lifetime by Janet and Geoff Benge. It is part of a series called “Christian Heroes.” I highly recommend this book for several reasons.

First of all, it was very interesting. Not having read many books about missionaries, I thought it was enlightening as to how one goes about spreading the gospel in a part of the world that has never heard of Jesus or even white people, for that matter. It was fascinating how she went from being considered a devil to winning the admiration and respect of the Chinese people. I am in awe at all that she accomplished in her life and all the dangerous situations she survived. When God is for us, who can be against us?

We learned numerous things about Chinese culture in the early 1900s and some history. It definitely gave me a better understanding of how Communism took over countries and some of the evil tactics they used to bring people into submission.

It should be noted that there were a few things I skipped while reading aloud, because I felt they were not age appropriate for my eight-year-old son: references to prostitution, rape, and a few extremely violent and graphic parts.

I can’t tell you how many times I cried. Too many to remember exactly. And then, in the evening as I told Greg about what we had read that day, I got to cry again! It was an excellent book.