Trials - Ann Judson

1789–1826

“If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.” These words were written by pioneer missionary Adoniram Judson, but they also fit the testimony of his wife, Ann.

Two weeks after Ann married Adoniram, the newlyweds set sail for India. But this was no honeymoon; it was a missionary journey.

When it came to trials, Ann Judson had her share. Shortly after arriving in India, they were forced to leave. They relocated to Burma, but that meant learning a whole new language, one that was especially difficult. On the way to their new mission field, Ann suffered a miscarriage. The Judsons lost another child a few years later. Health problems sent Ann back to the United States for a short time, and when she returned to join her husband, their trials escalated.

Adoniram was taken as a prisoner and suspected of being a spy when the British went to war with Burma. His year and a half of imprisonment was brutal and took its toll on Ann’s health.

Ann lost children, saw her husband imprisoned and tortured, and dealt with her own health problems, but she did not question God’s love. In fact, she attributed these trials to God’s grace.

Talk about a positive outlook! Despite her sufferings, which certainly accumulated over the years, she saw God’s “infinite love and mercy” ordering her steps. It’s often during times of severe trial, once we’ve exhausted all other options, that we turn our attention fully on God. As C. S. Lewis said, pain is God’s “megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” During trials, when we turn to God fully, we open ourselves up to hearing him loud and clear and seeing who he is. And when we come through on the other end, our relationship with him can be deeper.

When problems begin, do you think you can look at them through this perspective—that God’s infinite love and mercy will see you through? It might help you turn to him sooner, rather than later.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.

Romans 5:3-4