Go forth without fear.”
Back in the fourteenth century when Catherine of Siena heard these words directly from God, she answered. She stepped onto a path rarely traveled by women in her time, and she embraced her God-given role as a powerful and influential political envoy.
But take note: this command was not unique to Saint Catherine alone.
Every one of the fifty women featured in this book heard God’s command, “Go forth without fear,” and every one listened, obeyed, and answered yes. They may not have understood the words exactly as Catherine of Siena did, they may not have received them in such a clearly articulated vision, but they heard the command. And each and every one of these fifty women stepped forth and answered his call.
The stories of these women tell us that circumstances don’t matter nearly as much as obedience itself, because God calls his daughters to answer right where they are.
For some, that meant stepping out of the comfortable, the familiar, and the routine into the unexpected, the frightening, the foreign, and the unknown.
Catherine Booth feared preaching more than anything else, yet when she heard the call to rise and walk from the pew to the pulpit, she answered.
Ida Scudder never intended to follow in her parents’ footsteps as a missionary, yet when she heard God call her to serve as a doctor in India, she answered.
Mary McLeod Bethune felt unqualified to serve in President Roosevelt’s administration, yet when God called her as a voice for African American people, she answered.
Dorothy Sayers considered religious writing a departure from her “proper job,” yet when God called her to write theological plays and essays, she answered.
For others, God’s call demanded that they answer and act exactly where they were.
Katharina Luther impacted and influenced Martin Luther’s ministry in more ways than we’ll ever know simply by working tirelessly behind the scenes as a wife, mother, and businesswoman.
Susanna Wesley ministered within her own home, nurturing and shaping her children, including two sons who made a lasting mark on Christian history.
Thérèse of Lisieux chose not grand, dramatic gestures but small, ordinary acts of devotion steeped deeply in love.
Corrie ten Boom never anticipated her ministry would be born amid the horrors of a concentration camp, yet that was exactly where God called her and her sister to share God’s hope.
Obedience is the common thread that weaves these fifty women together across nine centuries, dozens of countries, and myriad callings as writers, speakers, abolitionists, educators, social workers, missionaries, activists, survivors, mothers, and wives. God called, and these fifty women boldly answered.
Friends, the call doesn’t stop with these fifty women. God asks us to answer him as well.
God calls us to go forth without fear—into the unknown, into the unfamiliar. He calls us to go forth without fear, right where we are, with exactly what we have. God doesn’t require perfect skills—we see from the women in this book that he uses even our deficits. God doesn’t demand flawless character—we see from the women in this book that he uses us in spite of our weaknesses and our flaws. God doesn’t expect immovable, unwavering faith—we see from the women in this book that he uses us even in the midst of doubt and despair.
Look hard at the women who have walked before us. None is perfect. None is flawless. All are human. But God used them to change the world. God placed them in situations unique to their gifts, talents, and temperaments—in prisons, classrooms, brothels, homes, churches, mission fields—and asked them to go forth without fear and in trust. And they answered yes.
So these are the two questions I leave with you at the close of this book.
Where is God calling you to go forth without fear?
And will you answer yes?