Appointment in Jerusalem: A True Story of Faith, Love, and the Miraculous Power of Prayer Book

Gripping and awe-inspiring read that I did not want to end!

Here is the true account of Lydia Christensen Prince, a Danish schoolteacher (and eventually the wife of famous Bible teacher Derek Prince) whom God awoke from a comfortable material existence into a dazzling revelation of Himself that forever wrecked her idea of normal. Even as her spirit became sensible to Christ as a knowable, awesome Person, Lydia wanted to find her true life's work -- something that "no one else could do." Leaving her career, her family, her colleagues and friends, and a salary and pension in Denmark, Lydia set out for Jerusalem, without income or missionary society or any formal backing, nor even knowing what she would be doing once she arrived.

While I'd heard Lydia's testimony before (Mother in Israel), there are details provided here that captivated me and caused me to worship even as I read. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Denmark, Lydia's bravery and obedience as she respectfully but firmly faced possible job loss in light of her viable faith, and her journey and adventures in Jerusalem blew me away. I found myself praising God aloud as Lydia recounted how those who had persecuted her the most back home later got saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, and became her sponsors!

There is something about her indomitable spirit that I just loved. Knowing she was about the same age as I am now when she embarked on this incredible mission was wild.

Neither bed bugs, lack of money, danger, nor even war could intimidate Lydia into leaving Jerusalem. But I could not bear to have the book end. I wanted to hear about Tikvah growing up, about the other girls Lydia took into her care, about her Jewish and Arab neighbors, and about her mother. To know that shortly after this story ended came The Great Depression, then World War 2, and finally the birth of Israel in 1948 was wild. Such a kinship I felt with Lydia, a sister whom I'll meet someday, I can't describe.

This is the second true account I've read recently of a European woman who left career and comfort to live halfway around the world in an impoverished and unfriendly culture in which she knew neither language nor custom, all for one primary purpose: to care for abandoned baby girls.

It cut me to the quick the inestimable value our heavenly Father places on children, and especially little girls who in most cultures are the very least of the least of these. That He would put such a strong call on these women to care for "throwaways" blows me away. Indeed "God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised things of the world and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are" (1 Cor. 1:27b-28). Who is like Him?