Women of Faith

 

The Lord has particularly blessed me all the days of my life in the many beautiful women of faith who have influenced my life.  First of all my mother, Esther Williamson. From the very first I was taken to the House of the Lord, and because my parents loved the Lord and his house, I learned to do so too.  More than that, though, both my Grandmothers, Emma Williamson, of Knox Church, Lower Hutt and Mary Priest also had a strong faith and not only taught it to their families, but lived it all the days of their lives.  My mother was not one to preach, but her quiet and gentle ways endeared her to all who knew her. 

However she was not one to stand silently by if she thought it necessary to defend or uphold her faith, so that folk knew where her strength and wise counsel came from, and she did teach Bible class for a number of years.  In my early days at school I had the same teacher, Miss Anderson, (later Mrs. Don Riddell).  She was greatly loved by all her pupils and who can gauge the measure of influence a Christian teacher has in the lives of children?  A well remembered S.S. teacher of those days, Mrs. Chadwick, strengthened and reinforced my Mothers teaching and also encouraged the memorizing of many of still loved passages of the Bible and Corinthians 13 became the standard on which I based my actions in marriage, and family life, as it had my parents and Grandparents in theirs.   

When we shifted to Tauranga we were privileged to live near the family of Catherine Hollister-Jones.  At that time Catherine told God she would go anywhere except India. However she felt it was India she was being called to, like her Lord she answered “Not my will, but yours to be done”.  Catherine’s faith and faithfulness and achievements in Kharar have been recorded through the years till her time in India was up and she came home to retire. Instead of retirement she was commissioned by the Presbyterian Church to travel the length and breadth of N.Z. encouraging the churches and the people in them to a greater faith and prayer and a more personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  One cannot listen to Catherine speak or pray without knowing how great is her love and her faith in her god and her saviour, and her love for his people everywhere. Her Mother also was a great woman of faith, having taken part in the Welsh revival before coming to N.Z. In the early days Catherine remembers that when they were going to church one Sunday   they had only one half crown left.  She said it must go in the plate, the Lord would see that their needs were met and they were. 

My story would not be complete without mention of Amy Gibb.  So like my Mother in many ways, except she was more vocal in her praises and thanks to her lord for all the blessings that came her way, especially for the many beautiful flowers and vegetables she was able to grow in her garden and share with all who came.