The Agony And The Ecstasy

The Agony And The Ecstasy

There can be a cost to following Jesus.

IN 1803 in New Hampshire, Ralph and Abiah Hall welcomed their first child into the world. From an early age Sarah Hall showed a keen interest in foreign missions. At the age of thirteen she wrote a poem on the death of Roger Judson, the infant son of Adoniram and Ann Judson, pioneer missionaries to Burma. Little did she know that one day she would take the place of her childhood heroine, Ann Judson.

In 1825 Sarah married Rev. George Boardman, and they left immediately to work with Adoniram and Ann Judson in the jungles of Burma. They went to work among the tribal Karen people.

Their early years in Burma were busy and blessed. In addition to having a fruitful ministry among the Karens, the Boardmans were blessed with three children in rapid succession. Then just as quickly, sorrows descended upon the Boardman home. They first lost their oldest daughter, Sarah, at the age of two and a few months later, their youngest son, at eight months of age.

The great blow came in 1831. Everyday life was increasingly stressful for the Boardmans because of an uprising of Burmese workers against their masters in the city of Tavoy, and George’s health began to decline rapidly. Accompanied by Sarah, he went into the jungle to baptize recent Karen converts. Boardman was so weak that he had to be carried on a litter, yet to his great joy he watched as thirty-eight new believers were baptized in a river.

Realizing that he was dying, Boardman spoke to his beloved Karen people: “I am about to die and shall soon be inconceivably happy in heaven. When I am gone, remember what I have taught you; and O, be careful to persevere unto the end, that when you die, we may meet one another in the presence of God, never to part.” The next day God called him home.

Sarah’s good friend Adoniram Judson, who had lost his own wife, Ann, five years earlier, wrote to her, “As to your beloved, you know that all his tears are wiped away, and that the diadem that encircles his brow outshines the sun. Little Sarah and the others have again found their father, not the frail, sinful mortal that they left on earth, but an immortal saint, a magnificent, majestic king. What more can you desire for him? While, therefore, your tears flow, let a due proportion be tears of joy.”

Drawn together by their shared losses and their mutual desire to win the Karen people to Jesus, Adoniram Judson and Sarah Boardman fell in love. Three years after George’s death they were married. They had eight children, two of whom died in infancy. After the birth of her last child, Sarah’s health began to deteriorate. Determining that only a total change of climate could save her life, Adoniram and Sarah sailed for America with their three oldest children in April of 1845. Their three youngest were left in the loving care of their fellow missionaries in Burma.

While their ship was in port on the English island of St. Helena off the coast of Africa, the end drew near. Early in the morning of September 1, 1845, Adoniram asked Sarah, “Do you still love the Savior?”

“Oh yes,” she said. “I ever love the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Then Adoniram asked, “Do you still love me?” She answered with a kiss, and an hour later she was gone. She was buried the same day on the island of St. Helena.

After reaching America, Adoniram learned that little Charlie, one of his children left behind in Burma, had died twenty-six days before his mother and was there to welcome her into heaven.

Reflection

When we ponder the life of someone like Sarah Boardman Judson, our own problems seem to pale into insignificance. The cost of serving Christ may be great, but God promises to give us grace sufficient for any circumstance in which He places us.

Although he died on the cross in weakness, he now lives by the mighty power of God. We, too, are weak, but we live in him and have God’s power.

2 Corinthians 13:4