had tried every means to find out
God's will for me, and no light had come.

But in a day of great trouble, when my precious mother's very life
seemed to hang in the balance, I shut myself up with God's Word, praying
definitely for him to guide me to some passage by which I might know his
will for my life. My Bible opening at the fifteenth chapter of John's
Gospel, the sixteenth verse seemed to come as a message to me: "Ye have
not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should
go and bring forth fruit." Going to my dear mother and telling her of
the message God had given me, she said: "I dare not fight against God."

From that time the last hindrance from going to China was removed.
Surely the wonderful way God has kept his child for more than thirty
years in China is proof that this "call" was not a mistaken one. "In all
thy ways acknowledge him, and he will make plain thy paths" (Prov. 3: 6,
marg.).

During the summer of 1887 a book written by Dr. Hudson Taylor came into
my hands. In "China's Spiritual Needs and Claims" the writer told many
instances of God's gracious provision in answer to prayer. The incidents
related impressed me deeply. A little later, a few weeks before my
marriage, when I found I was short fifty dollars of what I would need to
be married free of debt, I resolved not to let others know of my need,
but to just trust God to send it to me. The thought came--if you cannot
trust God for this, when Hudson Taylor could trust for so much more, are
you worthy to be a missionary?

It was my first experience of trusting quite alone for money. I was
sorely tempted to give others just a hint of my need. But I was kept
back from doing so; and though I had a week or more of severe testing,
peace of mind and the assurance that God would supply my need, came at
length. The answer, however, did not come till the very last night
before the wedding.

That evening a number of my fellow-workers from the East End Mission
called, and presented me with a beautifully illuminated address and a
purse. After these friends had left I returned to my home circle
assembled in the back parlor, and showed them the address and the purse
unopened! Not for a moment did I think there was anything in the purse
till my brother said: "You foolish girl, why don't you open it?" I
opened the purse, and found it contained a check for fifty dollars!

This incident has ever remained peculiarly precious; for it seeme