An Impossible Choice
In 1938, Japanese forces invaded China's Shanxi province. Gladys Aylward, a British parlor maid turned missionary, faced an impossible choice.
She had become the mother figure to over 100 orphaned children. The Japanese were approaching. Staying meant certain death.
So Gladys decided to walk.
27 Days Over the Mountains
For 27 days, she led 100 children—the youngest just four years old—across mountain passes, through enemy territory, with almost no food and no map. They slept in the open. They foraged for grain. They evaded Japanese patrols.
"I prayed without stopping," Gladys recalled. "Every step was covered in prayer."
When they finally reached safety in Sian, Gladys collapsed. She had typhus, pneumonia, and malnutrition. Doctors said she shouldn't have survived.
But she did. And all 100 children survived.
I Just Kept Walking
"How did you do it?" people asked her.
"I didn't," Gladys answered. "God did. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other."
The "Small Woman"—as she was known due to her tiny stature—proved that God's protection doesn't require strength. It requires trust.
