READ: ROMANS 10:14-15; EPHESIANS 2:10; 2 TIMOTHY 4:2

In the year 1838, near Gainesville, Alabama, a girl named Maria Fearing was born into slavery. While she was still a kid, she heard her white master talking about the children in Africa who had never heard the gospel. This fact stuck in Maria’s mind for the rest of her life, and impacting the lives of children for God’s glory became her calling.

After the American Civil War, Maria became a free woman. Though she was already an adult and past the age most people would go to school, Maria learned to read and write. She then became a teacher. For many years she invested in the lives of young people with her teaching, but when she turned 56, she sensed God was calling her to take her ministry to a new place.

Never one to let age stop her, Maria set sail for Africa with a group of other missionaries. For the next twenty years, she fought for the freedom of those around her. Maria set up a home as a safe place for orphan girls and girls who were previously trapped in physical slavery, and she translated and taught the Bible so they could be free from spiritual slavery to sin. Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, He offers us freedom from slavery to sin and death. And once we’ve received that freedom, His Holy Spirit lives in us, spurring us on to see others set free too. This is the same Holy Spirit that empowered Maria to do the good works He called her to do.

All throughout her life, Maria was an unlikely candidate for having a big impact. She grew up as a slave, she was a woman in a time where women had very few rights, and she didn’t learn to read or write until her thirties—but God called and empowered her for His service anyway. Whether it was teaching school in Alabama or translating the Bible for freed slaves in the Congo, Maria Fearing was always ready for a new adventure with Christ. • Careena Campbell

• What has Jesus set you free from? Consider taking some time to praise Him for that freedom!

• Throughout her life, Maria learned new skills such as reading, writing, and translating, and God used these skills in her life to serve others. How might her story inspire us to learn new things?

• Maria eventually went to the mission field, but she started with ministering and using her skills in her hometown. Consider spending some time in prayer, asking God how He might be calling you to share His love with others in your community, church, neighborhood, or family.

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36 (NIV)