Book #9: An Open Door by Maud Kells
An Open Door: A True Story of Courage in Congo by Maud Kells
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I hadn't heard of missionary Maud Kells before I read her autobiography, which starts with an account of a horrific attack in which she was shot while doing mission service out in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The book then flashes back to her childhood, and how she decided, through opening her Bible, that God was calling her to be a missionary, and of her service in Africa, working in a hospital and helping to spread the Word of God. Throughout her time there, there was also a large amount of political unrest, and so the book has many stories of her having to be evacuated for her own safety.
I found this very encouraging, with her confidence about God's protection of her throughout her service, despite the fact that she seemed to be constantly having accidents and getting ill (she seemed to compare herself to Job at one point), and how God is in control is in control of every situation, and how He uses everything, however bad, to further the Gospel; there was a touching account of how she ended up staying at home in Ireland for longer than planned, and ended up converting her father to Christianity shortly before he died. There was also an account of how one of the other Christians spread the Gospel in prison after being falsely arrested, much like the apostle Paul of Tarsus.
This was an easy book to get into because of the straightforward narrative style, so I was able to get through it relatively quickly; definitely a recommended book.
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