Fear Did Not Define Her

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time.

Remember how in the last episode we learned about Betsey Stockton? She went from being a slave to teaching the son of a king! Well, today’s episode is about Maria Fearing, who also started out as a slave and ended up somewhere totally different! 

Now, just because Maria’s last name has the word “fear” in it doesn’t mean that word describes her. In fact, today you’ll learn Staci’s special nickname for this amazing woman.

We’re so grateful for this partnership with The Good Book Company. This whole series is adapted from their book series Do Great Things for God. Check it with your mom at TheGoodBook.com.

Now, let’s dive into episode 4 of “Incredible Influencers.” This one is called “Fear Did NOT Define Her!”

Dannah and Staci are hanging out at a butterfly garden. Here’s Staci.

Staci Rudolph: Dannah, have you ever been here before?

Dannah Gresh: No, I can’t say that I have. This garden is beautiful! I love the lavender lupine, those pink petaled coneflower blooms, and all the amazing redbud trees! They must just look magnificent when they’re in bloom. And, I am most stunned by all the butterflies. There are so many butterflies here!

Staci: Woah, you sure know a lot about flowers, Dannah! And the reason you’re seeing so many butterflies is because this is a butterfly garden! 

Dannah: Ah. 

Staci: Some gardeners took this section of the park and planted flowers that butterflies love.

Dannah: It sure is working! So, why did you choose to meet here at this butterfly garden this week?

Staci: Well, as you know, today I’m reading the story of Maria Fearing from the Do Great Things for God series by The Good Book Company.

Dannah: Right, did she love butterflies?

Staci: Well, sort of. Let me read the story to you, and you’ll see.

Dannah: Ooo, look, there’s a bench just waiting for us right by that patch of day lilies.

Staci: Perfect!

Alrighty, to begin with, Maria Fearing was born in the year 1838, and she lived until 1937. That means she lived to be the age of ninety-nine!

Dannah: That is incredible. So, she lived during a time without airplanes, too, huh?

Staci: Yep. And just like Betsey Stockton, she had to go on a long boat ride to get where she wanted to serve God. Actually, there are a couple ways that Maria Fearing was like Betsey Stockton. This book is called Maria Fearing: The Girl Who Dreamed of Distant Lands by K.A. Ellis and illustrated by Isabel Muñoz.

Little Maria dreamed of another world. She heard the grown-ups speak of a far-off land where there were many people like her, but she had never seen this place, nor did she know how to get there. She only knew that it was an entire ocean away and that it was a continent called Africa. So far away!

Maria heard that Africa was a place of extraordinary people like kings and queens, and everyday people like hunters and gatherers, weavers and traders, and, of course, mommies and daddies. 

The people of this faraway place did their best to protect their children. But others had come and taken their children over the seas, and sold them in faraway places whose names were strange to their ears: places like Alabama, where Maria lived.

As years passed, the mommies and daddies thought often about their missing children. 

Would they ever see them again?

Dannah: Staci, I just have to stop you because that’s such a sad thing! My heart is breaking. Those poor parents . . . and those poor kids. 

Staci: I know. It is really hard to think about this kind of thing. It makes me really sad to think that kids like Maria were forced to work as slaves, just like Betsey Stockton. But wait until you see where God leads Maria.

In their secret late-night forest church near her Alabama plantation, Maria and her friends heard about the God who created the heavens and the earth, the stars, the sun, and the seas, and all that’s on and in them. She heard stories about God’s people of all colors who adorned His world.

When this great, grand God called His special ones “Mine,” she knew that she, too, was His special one, for He had captured her heart and filled it with hope.

One night, as the fireflies danced, little Maria wondered if God could take her to the far-off land called Africa. She knew that even though it was forbidden to leave the plantation where she was enslaved, nothing was too difficult for her God. 

If he would make her free, she could see many far-off places with her own eyes. Oh, how she longed to be free!

Dannah: It sounded like faith grew strong in Maria’s heart, even when she was a little girl! 

Staci: I thought the same thing. When she heard God’s Word, she believed it—simple as that! You’re gonna see how she needed that faith later on.

Years later, when Maria was a grown woman, a man galloped up the road on a fast and majestic horse. The dust of freedom fairly flew from its hooves. 

The horseman told Maria and all her people great news—she and all her people were no longer slaves! 

Dannah, can you even imagine how that must have felt? To suddenly be free?

Dannah: Amazing! I can’t imagine it. But I wonder how weird that was . . . to suddenly be free? Like, what did people do? Where did they go?

Staci: Well, I’ll tell ya what Maria did and where she went.

Maria left that Alabama plantation with her feet itching to travel. She already knew her choice: 

“I will go to Africa!”

But where in Africa? Such an enormous place—more than three times the size of the United States! And how would she get there? It was a whole ocean away! Getting there would have to be a God-made plan.

Maria made and sold dresses to the women in town. She saved every penny, and she prayed.

And one day, she met a young missionary preacher and his wife who were journeying to a place in Africa called Congo. 

They invited Maria to join them and tell people there of God’s great love. Maria said, “Yes!” and set sail with them across the ocean on an enormous boat! The journey took a long time, but at last, Maria reached Africa’s shores. God had opened every impossible door.

Staci: Now, Dannah, these days it’s not just called “Congo” anymore. It’s called the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dannah: Oh, right. So, was Congo a safe place for girls like Maria?

Staci: Well, sort of. God did keep Maria safe, but it sure wasn’t easy to be a missionary there! I’ll keep reading.

But sadness awaited Maria. Congo was ruled by a cruel king named Leopold II. He commanded his men to sell little orphan boys and girls into slavery, just like Maria had been sold as a little girl.

God didn’t like King Leopold’s cruelty . . . and now Maria knew why God had brought her to Congo. 

Maria often stood up to these powerful men with their angry faces and their huge, sharp knives. She traded scissors, salt, and strings of fine beads to set the children free. Then the children came to live with her in her home.

Dannah, this is where I got the idea that we should change her name from Maria FEARing to Maria FIERCE-ing. ‘Cause she was FIERCE when it came to protecting those kids!

Dannah: I totally agree, Staci!

Whenever the angry men pounded on their door, Maria and the children huddled together while she reminded them of God’s promises in a whisper.

“Be calm now, children. Let’s remember what God says in His Word to anyone who trusts in him:

I will protect him because he knows my name.
When he calls out to me,
I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble.
I will rescue him and give him honor.
I will satisfy him with a long life
and show him my salvation.’” (Psalm 91:14–16)

Maria spent many years gathering children into her home until she was an old woman. Free and safe with her, for many years children fluttered in and out of her African home like busy little butterflies.

Dannah: Ah, I get it! That’s why we’re in a butterfly garden today! Because all of Maria’s children she rescued and cared for were like little butterflies in her home.

Staci: See? I told ya you’d understand why we’re here. 

She taught the children to live with dignity—dressmaking, farming, cooking, woodworking, reading, doing math, loving God first, and then their neighbors as themselves. 

With her other missionary friends, Maria helped put the Bible into the language of these little ones for the first time. It took many years of hard work, but finally, the children could read about God with their whole God-made African being!

Dannah: So, she didn’t just rescue the children, she taught them things so they could make money and live better lives, and she helped translate the Bible into their language. That’s pretty incredible, Staci!

Staci: I know, right? Let’s keep reading. 

Maria loved the children in the way that Jesus loves people, as her very own. 

And the children loved Maria, so they gave her a special name: Mama wa Mputu.

Can you guess what this special name meant? In the children’s language, it meant, “Mother from Far Away.” This name meant the world to Maria. 

It proved that, all along, God had meant to bring her across an entire ocean just to offer many, many children a peaceful, loving, hope-filled home—a home with Jesus in this life and a home with Him forever in glory.

Staci: The end! Pretty cool story, huh? 

Dannah: Yes.

Staci: Did you catch how God used her experience as a slave to help her understand the kids she rescued? 

Dannah: I sure did! You know what that story makes me want to do, Staci?

Staci: What?

Dannah: Let’s go for a prayer walk through this butterfly garden. We can walk around and pray for children all over the world while we see the butterflies flying around us. What do you think?

Staci: Definitely! Let’s do it! Hey, who are you reading about next week?

Dannah: Her name is Helen Roseveare, and I’m going to have you meet me on the steps of that big ol’ college campus right over there for her story.

Staci: Ooo, I’m so curious! Alright, let’s walk and pray, Dannah.

Dannah: Sounds good.

Claire: Did you like Staci’s idea of swapping out the word “fear” in Maria’s last name for “fierce”? It sure seems more appropriate for this strong woman who FIERCEly protected children. I love how she was completely convinced God would take care of her and the children who called her “Mother from Far Away.”

If you’re looking for a creative way to grow more “fierce” like Maria Fearing, the True Girl Subscription Box might be just the thing for you. We ship boxes to thousands of girls every sixty days. They’re filled with mom-daughter discipleship tools and daily devos at True Girl. At MyTrueGirl.com, your mom can see all the details about the boxes and how they’re designed to help you both grow closer to each other while you grow closer to God.

And hey, Mom, if you enjoyed learning about Maria Fearing, Revive Our Hearts has two booklets that includes the stories of twenty women like her. (Un)remarkable and (Un)remarkable, Vol 2 contain mini biographies on twenty Women Who Impacted Their World for Christ. Visit ReviveOurHearts.com to order your physical or digital copy of our collection of great biographies of Christian women. That’s ReviveOurHearts.com.

Next week, episode 5 of this series is about a doctor who didn’t let anything stop her from obeying God and serving Him. I hope you’ll join us.

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!

 

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