Women On The Frontlines: A Call To CourageSample

Bertha Smith: Walking in the Spirit

Olive Bertha Smith was appointed as a missionary to China by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention on July 3, 1917.

Years later, when the Japanese invaded China in the spring of 1937, Bertha faced a dilemma. The American government had urged all Americans to leave the country and declared that it would not be responsible for the safety of any who decided to stay. Bertha debated what to do. Through prayer she became convinced that she should stay. It was God who had placed her in China, not the American government. She could not bear to leave the Chinese people, particularly the Chinese Christians who would be undergoing such hardship.

While war raged in the countryside surrounding Tsining, Bertha labored faithfully and courageously. She opened her home for any who wanted personal help in making decisions to receive Christ. Bertha realized that many of these Chinese would soon be fleeing from the Japanese and she knew that many of them would die. She was deeply concerned that they come to Christ and be firmly established in the faith while there was time.

She regularly visited the local hospital to talk with the wounded soldiers and tell them about Jesus. Bertha made a practice of seeking God’s specific, direct guidance for every move she made. She could not address everyone’s needs, so she depended on God to show her where to go, what to do, and whom to talk to. In this way, walking with God, she was led to the people in whom he was already working.

After Tsining fell to the Japanese, the mission compound where Bertha lived and worked housed many refugees, most of them women. Japanese soldiers were constantly looking for girls and young women for illicit purposes, and more than once Bertha squared off face-to-face with the soldiers, protecting those whom God had placed under her care. She had a holy boldness born from many years of prayer and fellowship with Christ. Bertha was totally surrendered to God and trusted him absolutely, and he protected, provided, and guided her steps.

The secret of Bertha’s courage and effectiveness throughout a century-long life is that she learned how to die to self—to regard herself as being dead to sin but alive to God through Jesus Christ.