A Light in the Window

Recently I've been reading a book called Women Who Have Worked and Won; it's a collection of 4 women's biographies that have served the Lord throughout their lives and have impacted several through their ministry. I just finished Emma Booth-Tucker's bio and was insanely challenged in my love and tenderness towards people.

A little background on Emma...Emma Booth-Tucker was the daughter of William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army. She ran the training school for women in the Salvation Army, starting when she was just 19 years old. She was the wife of Frederick Booth-Tucker and mother of 6 children. She traveled the world caring for the sick and the poor. She devoted her life to gospel and making it known. There were several stories that were beautiful pictures of the tenderness and compassion of Jesus towards the lost, sick and hurting that left me wanting and desiring more in my life as far as my heart towards the lost and suffering.

One of the parts of her story just left me sitting there in awe of how tender she was to the spirit. She was 15 years old, on her way to a meeting when she saw a man leaning against a wall. She felt the Spirit leading her to invite this man to come with her. That night, the man was saved. She found out he was a "prodigal boy" that had run away from home several years before. He shared with her the long list of things he laid at Jesus feet that night. There were tears and a new happiness and joy in him. Emma asked him if he wanted her to go home with him. The impression that his mother's face laid on her heart would never be forgotten. This tiny woman wrapped her arms around her son and said, "With every blessing I have asked at my breakfast I have prayed for you; and every time I have been out in the open air I have looked for you! Indeed, all my life, Ben, has been a sort of hunt after you." Emma journaled about this experience and said,

"As I left them there, weeping and praising God together, and went home, I looked up through the darkness of that night into Christ's face, and said, 'Lord, let that be so with me; whatever I have and am, let that be my experience, known in Heaven, and known amongst all who shall know me down here, that my whole life may be a 'sort of hunt' after those Thou didst die to redeem-whether eating or drinking, single or married, or whatever comes to me- that I may be able to say equally, when I recognize the prodigals whom Thou shalt help even me to bring home, my whole existence has been a 'sort of hunt' after them, and that my supreme joy was in their salvation."

Wow! What a testimony of a God-centered life! I was amazed at this 15 yr old and the heart she had for the lost. Since reading this, through meeting some new friends that are missionaries in Asia, and just from reading and my time with Jesus, I have been constantly reminded of the gospel and our desperate need to hear and speak it over and over again. I journaled yesterday about how I really don’t ever want to be in a place where I need to be reminded the think on the Gospel, but rather in a place that is consistently grateful for, meditating on, and telling others about it. I realize this has been/will be a challenge, but I really do desire that everything I do, say and think be an overflow of thankfulness to Jesus and the salvation He gave me. I hope I can be like Emma and have a heart that’s deepest joy is when I see the lost come home and be rescued like I’ve been rescued.

Near the end of her life, Emma was on a speaking tour. One of the local papers was writing about her coming to their area and said this, 

“A light in the window! There are many human lights- men and women who by the warm light of love are calling wanderers home. Mrs. Booth-Tucker is such a one. A woman whose work of rescue has the approval of both God and man…May her life be blessed, even as she is blessing the lives of many, and may she long remain a light in the window!”

“A light in the window.” I thought about this phrase for a while. Oh that I would be a light in the window of my Father’s house that calls the wanderers and the weary home! That I would be spending time with Jesus-praying, worshipping, reading...in turn leading my light to be even warmer, more inviting! That I would be walking with Jesus in a way that would call people to Him, even from a distance. 


I remember when I was working at a camp a few years ago. I saw a counselor that I hadn't met yet, or even seen before for that matter, walking across the field and immediately thought in my head, "She loves Jesus." There was something in her countenance, the way she walked that displayed a character marked by the change the gospel brings. The next summer, I got to know her and found my thought was correct. She walked with Jesus so deeply that even from a distance, across a soccer field, I could see her; a light brightly shining.


Since then I've prayed that that would be me. That people would know I follow and know Jesus even before they hear me speak, through my countenance. I'm praying that I will be a "light in the window."