Miss Happiness

Miss Happiness

God’s will includes the past, present, and future.

IN 1854 Hudson Taylor went as a missionary to China, where he married Maria Dyer. They were forced to return home to England in 1860 because of illness. When inland China was officially opened to foreigners, Taylor, finding no mission board to back him, founded the interdenominational China Inland Mission (CIM) in 1865, now the Overseas Missionary Fellowship.

Burdened for inland China, Hudson prayed for twenty-four missionaries, two for each of the unreached provinces of China. By 1866 he had his twenty-four, and he and his family sailed for China with the first fifteen of them. One of the new missionaries was twenty-two-year-old Jane Faulding, who went by the name of “Jennie.” She was a Baptist and the daughter of a well-to-do London couple who were friends of the Taylors. On the leisurely voyage, Jennie found that she had much in common with Maria Taylor, and the two women became best friends.

With their arrival, the Taylors and their fifteen new recruits increased the number of Protestant missionaries in China by approximately one quarter.

At that time there were only fourteen single European women in all of China, all in Hong Kong or treaty ports. Taylor decided to make the port city of Hangchow his headquarters and from there send out his missionaries two by two into the inland provinces. The international community in China thought it unwise for Taylor to send single women into the interior, but Taylor found it to be an effective strategy. Jennie, however, chose to remain in Hangchow.

Before they had been there a week, many Chinese were dropping in to meet them, and soon, more than two hundred were attending their Sunday services. One woman was openly interested in the gospel, and Jennie, who was learning Chinese quickly, visited her daily.

The Chinese character sounding most similar to her last name, Faulding, is Fuh, which means “happiness.” Soon Jennie became known as Miss Happiness, an apt description for the young, bright-faced girl. Jennie as well as the other CIM missionaries followed Hudson’s example of wearing Chinese clothing, finding that it often opened up opportunities to meet the Chinese. “Miss Happiness” was continually being invited into the homes of Chinese women.

Tragedy struck the following year when Maria Taylor died of cholera soon after giving birth to her eighth child, Noel, who lived only a week. After Maria’s death Hudson Taylor visited the CIM headquarters at Hangchow, spending a time of healing with Jennie and the other missionaries.

In 1872 Jennie was scheduled to go home to England for a furlough. She made reservations that fell through at the last moment, and she ended up booked on the same steamer to England as Hudson Taylor. On the boat their friendship developed into something more, and while in England they were married in her parents’ London home.

Jennie had all along been the most effective women’s worker in the mission. Now as Hudson’s wife, she became a mentor to the other women CIM missionaries. Partners in marriage and ministry, Hudson and Jennie joyously labored together in their beloved China.

In 1902 Hudson Taylor resigned as director of the China Inland Mission, and as Jennie’s health deteriorated, they went to live in Switzerland. Her strength continued to decline, and on July 30, 1904, she was having extreme difficulty breathing. Towards morning, she whispered to Hudson, “Ask him to take me quickly.”

Never had a husband a more difficult prayer to pray, but for her sake he cried out to God to free her spirit. Five minutes later Jennie’s breathing became quiet, and in a short time there was peace. Her last words were “His grace is sufficient” and then “He will not fail.”

Reflection

Jennie Faulding Taylor always rejoiced in the will of God. After her death Hudson frequently reminisced that Jennie never thought anything could be better than God’s will. Do you rejoice in God’s will, or are you afraid of what it might hold for you? God’s will is perfect, and anything else we might choose for ourselves will be second best.

I want your will, not mine.

Mark 14:36