This past week I was reading Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secrets. Hudson Taylor was the founder of China Inland Mission, leading the way in missions. He brought 25,000 people to Jesus Christ. He was what some would consider a spiritual giant.

I learned something new as I read the book this time. Or, perhaps my current circumstances made the passage stand out. Hudson Taylor and his wife had to return from the mission field to spend several years set aside in a poor area with health issues. They were isolated and living in a very poor situation. They called these years the “hidden years.” It was in this time that God did an amazing work in their lives which brings us to today’s Wit & Wisdom.

“For the hidden years had done their work. An instrument was ready for God to use, and the prevailing prayers going up from that little house in East London were to receive a speedy and unexpected answer.” from Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, Moody Classics.

The book goes on to tell how God used that time of intense suffering as a time to bring Hudson to prayer and to God. He answered God’s call and was willing to do the work to which God called him.

This quote stood out to me as the last many years have been spent in isolation. Am I wasting this time or will I use it to draw closer to God, to pray prevailing prayers? Will I trust that God is doing something amazing in or through this time? This truly made me think. It reminded me that God is in control and prevailing through the circumstances.