The Inn of the Sixth Happiness

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Have you ever been invited to something that you didn't really feel like attending?  I'm sure, we all have at one time.  Well that happened to me the other day.  My church was holding a women's event and it just didn't appeal to me so I didn't sign up.  Then, the Sunday before the event, the Pastor's wife, who was the event coordinator, gifted me with a ticket.  It was very sweet of her, so I felt I should go....although I still didn't really want to.  I've been feeling so scattered lately and honestly this just felt like one more thing on my to-do list and instead of looking forward to it I was dreading it.  

I'm just being real honest here.

I've read lately about guarding your time by not doing things out of obligation.  I felt obligated, but I really didn't have a good reason to say no, so I went, an hour late, but I went.  

And I'm so glad I did.

Not only did I get to view 3 great dvd teachings that spoke directly to situations in my life, but I got to see a wonderful movie.  That's what I want to share with you. 

  

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness, a 1958 movie starring Ingrid Bergman, is based on the life and missionary work of Englishwoman Gladys Aylward.  She was a Christian who felt God calling her to go to China to share the gospel and serve the people.  She could not shake the call once she received it.  Although she was rejected for service as a missionary through the China Inland Mission Center in London, told she was not qualified, she decided that would not stop her or the call on her life and made her own way there. 

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She had all the challenges of not knowing the language or the culture, other than what she had read in books.  She came simply as a woman who loved God and loved people and wanted to serve these people who were in her heart.

The movie is so inspiring to see what God can do with one little woman who laid down her life for the call and will of God.  It's beautiful to see how God works in her life to touch so many, even the country's leadership.  It's is a story of heroic endurance and unconditional love that takes place in the 1930s when China was under attack by Japan.  It is a Hollywood production and, from what I've read, some creative license has been taken with her love life, but otherwise you'll really get to know this inspiring and courageous woman.   


I drove home that night wrecked by the movie and the awe of what God can do with one woman who wanted His will more than anything.  I realized that what started out as a night of "obligation" turned out to be an opportunity in disguise.  I had been blessed.  And I thought that maybe, for some of us who are stuck, God uses a sense of obligation to get us to where He wants us to be to receive something He wants us to have.
He sees us and He knows just what we need.