God’s Grace was Sufficient: Lucy Thurston, Pioneer Missionary to Hawaii, Book 1 (by Mary Thurston Hedstrom)
Do you want to read a missionary biography or memoir, but don’t know where to start? I recommend you start with God’s Grace was Sufficient. This story is an account of Lucy and Asa Thurston’s adventures as missionaries to Hawaii in the early 1800s.
The author used Lucy’s journals and books by other missionaries as source material. (The appendix section of this book includes selections from these documents.)Though this book relied upon original texts for its information, it is written like a novel, making it easy to follow, and accessible to the modern reader. The writing style makes this a great introductory book to the rich wealth of missionary biography, auto-biography, and memoir available to the Christian reader today.
You will feel connected with both Lucy and her husband, Asa, and root for them as they introduce the native Hawaii people to Jehovah, the God of the Bible. The challenges they faced adapting to a culture so very different from their own will illustrate for the reader the daunting task of cross-cultural ministry.
The Thurston’s encounters with the darkness of a culture that routinely buried their new-born children, lived without concept of fidelity and family, and practiced pagan worship (including human sacrifice) demonstrate for the reader how the gospel of Jesus shines a light in the darkness.
Due to some sensitive events in the story, this account is not appropriate for younger readers.
This is book 1 in Lucy’s story. It begins with her marriage to Asa and covers their first 8 years on the Hawaiian islands.
Lucy’s story is far from over. I expect we will get a continuation of her story in the following books (not yet published).
Why you should read God’s Grace was Sufficient
- This book will increase your knowledge about traditional Hawaiian culture and history.
- You will gain insight into the challenges of the pioneer missionaries of the 1800’s
- This book will make you ponder the challenges missionaries faced raising children in a foreign culture.
- This easy to read book will prepare you to read more complicated and slower-moving biographies of other missionaries.
Want to read about a modern day missionary to Peru? Check out my review of Out of the Dust.
