Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Laura's Children: The Hidden Story of a Chinese Orphanage, a review


Laura's Children is the story of American Laura Richards who moved to China after WW1 to become a missionary with Presbyterian missions.  Which alone would require a great deal of courage.

But through a series of events, God eventually leads Laura to leave the Presbyterian Mission Board and go out on her own to start an orphanage for Chinese children.  This is the story of that orphanage as told by Laura, her friends, and family.

The reader is taken inside what it is like to be a Christian in China over numerous decades and with various rulers.  It is at times hard to read, especially as an American Christian who may complain at times about our liberties being taken away.  It is still quite easy to be an outspoken person of faith in this country where numerous Christian radio stations can be tuned in on my radio and many more Christian TV networks are shown over Direct TV and Cable.

Which is why I think all of us need to read about what Christians in other countries must endure from time to time.  And this is one intriguing story of one woman who runs an orphanage living on faith and... well, grit.

One thing I liked about this story, she is not made out to be a perfect person.  She didn't always understand the Chinese culture, coming from the Midwestern part of America.  She did not always  make the right decisions.  Just like you and me. 

But through it all, she endured until the day she realized she had to return to America to protect her children.  By this time, she was close to sixty years old and we are also told a little of her life when she returned to this country. 

This is a true story about real people.  But it reads as if it were too amazing to be true.  Which is how God works most of the time.  He takes the weak and through them does pretty amazing things.

If you like missionary stories, you will love this book.  It should be in every Church library!  I don't accept many offers to read a book to review by individuals but I'm glad I said "yes" to this one when a friend of the author asked if I would review it.  I hope you do, too.

For further information at Amazon, go here.*
You can also order it directly from the website... here.

This book was given to me for the purpose of review but the opinions are my own.

*All links to Amazon are Associate links.

4 comments:

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

That book sounds really good. It is important to read about the lives of believers in other countries. We have it very easy here.

Deanna

Terra said...

That book sounds excellent, and like you said, it puts our own lives in perspective. We can go to church without being arrested, etc. while in many countries attending church can get you killed. She sounds like a brave lady.

Scrappy quilter said...

This looks like a wonderful read. Will have to try to find it at the library.

Vee said...

Sounds like a book I want to learn more about. Thanks for the review.