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Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God
These are the stories of five ordinary women-Sarah Edwards, Lilias Trotter, Gladys Aylward, Esther Ahn Kim, and Helen Roseveare-who trusted in their extraordinary God as he led them to do great things for his kingdom. Noël Piper holds up their lives and deeds as examples of what it means to be truly faithful. Learning about these women will challenge readers to make a difference for Christ in their families, in the church, and throughout the world.
176 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2005
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1318 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 145 reviews
July 4, 2017
A beautiful, refreshing, sobering, startling and challenging read. This is a book that will make you wonder about the God to whom these women dedicated their lives. Even as a believer, I am inclined all the more to ask "what is it that makes people love Jesus to such extents?" Whatever it is, I want to know. Perhaps it is because I myself am in a dry spell, but, O how I long to know! That's why this is a good book. It leaves me with a hunger to be as these women. A faithful woman with whom the extraordinary and only true God walks. As it was with Sarah Edwards, Lilias Trotter, Gladys Aylward, Esther Ahn Kim, and Helen Roseveare, of me also, Lord, may it be so!
May 19, 2025
Beidzot latviski.
Tāds mazs ieskats parastu, ticīgu sieviešu biogrāfijās. Kā ar paļāvību uz Dievu un paklausību Viņam vienkāršas sievietes uzticami darījušas neparastas (un parastas) lietas.
Multiple small biographies. I appreciated the details author mentioned, especially in the first few biographies. Inspiring for missions and homemaking alike.
Tāds mazs ieskats parastu, ticīgu sieviešu biogrāfijās. Kā ar paļāvību uz Dievu un paklausību Viņam vienkāršas sievietes uzticami darījušas neparastas (un parastas) lietas.
Multiple small biographies. I appreciated the details author mentioned, especially in the first few biographies. Inspiring for missions and homemaking alike.
April 26, 2024
What an edifying read! The faith and courage of these women reveals just how great God is and how feeble my own faith usually is by comparison! Sarah Edwards, Lilias Trotter, Gladys Aylward, Esther Ahn Kim, Helen Roseveare--after reading their stories, they are no longer just vaguely familiar names to me. They are like dear older sisters showing the way.
The lives of these women of God are very well-written and very well-situated within the broader context of world history. I appreciated Noel Piper's insightful narrative and her personal, scriptural reflections at the end of each chapter.
These women's stories can broaden a Christian woman's imagination for how God may work in the life of one who throws herself entirely upon His mercy and seeks to do His will. I wish I had read these stories as a young woman or teen. I'm going to recommend this book to the women at my church, and though I only have sons, I will assign this for their reading, as well. It is good for all believers to hear of how God has used women in missions and church history for His glory and for the advancement of His kingdom among the nations.
The lives of these women of God are very well-written and very well-situated within the broader context of world history. I appreciated Noel Piper's insightful narrative and her personal, scriptural reflections at the end of each chapter.
These women's stories can broaden a Christian woman's imagination for how God may work in the life of one who throws herself entirely upon His mercy and seeks to do His will. I wish I had read these stories as a young woman or teen. I'm going to recommend this book to the women at my church, and though I only have sons, I will assign this for their reading, as well. It is good for all believers to hear of how God has used women in missions and church history for His glory and for the advancement of His kingdom among the nations.
May 3, 2023
This book is about five women who were not sissies. This review is by one woman who is. Helen Roseveare's story resonated most, perhaps because we share a couple big-E-on-the-eye-chart sins: unjust anger and "sweet, sad, stinking self" (to borrow a phrase I picked up from Elisabeth Elliot). O Lord, please rip out my pride and stomp that sucker flat. But gently. You can stomp gently, Lord, can't You? 😬 (I just started singing to myself: "Softly and tenderly, Jesus is stomping, Jesus is stomping my pride. There on the carpet it's all squashed and bleeding, there on the carpet it died." 😂 [Please forgive the artistic license—I don't have a carpet, but linoleum wouldn't scan. {Please forgive the further artistic license. I don't have linoleum, but vinyl isn't as funny.})
Didn't love the narrator. She sounded familiar, so I think I've come across her before, but I can't recall what book.
Didn't love the narrator. She sounded familiar, so I think I've come across her before, but I can't recall what book.
May 1, 2023
These women and their stories hit me much more deeply than I expected…I really would recommend every Christian to read this book! Be encouraged and stirred by some very bold and very flawed (but passionate!) women in the most unimaginable circumstances, seeing God powerfully at work through their faithfulness.
May 5, 2023
A little slow at first, likely because of having less of the earlier women’s inner thoughts, but I’m so glad I pressed on.
May 14, 2013
I enjoyed reading these short vignettes of godly women, most of whom I had never known. Very encouraging!
April 22, 2020
This book was so encouraging, convicting, challenging, and life changing. A MUST read!
March 24, 2020
This is a quick, easy read that leaves you feeling challenged, encouraged, and longing to be filled with even greater faith. While each of the 5 women in this book are drastically different, lived in different times, faced different struggles and callings, I found something to connect with in each one of them. Something that I felt reflected my own life, as well as something that I longed to see myself grow in. It left me praying that I would be another faithful woman who sees her extraordinary God do extraordinary works in and through her life.
September 27, 2025
I was very skeptical about reading this book, for a book club, after looking at reviews. And it started off not great, for me. But the last 3 stories rocked me. These are women who faced fears, bore hunger and welcomed death; who were humiliated and stripped of their livelihoods and pride and senses of self—with joy—all to do the work God had called them to.
But Piper’s personal convictions and conclusions she drew from the stories of their lives were sometimes trite and annoying to me…so maybe just read full biographies of these women?
But Piper’s personal convictions and conclusions she drew from the stories of their lives were sometimes trite and annoying to me…so maybe just read full biographies of these women?
May 2, 2024
It always takes me such a long time to read these types of books because there is so much to digest, ponder and be thankful to God for.
These women give me courage to keep walking with the Lord down whatever path He lies out for His treasured ones, even when it comes with sorrows, sacrifice and suffering.
These women give me courage to keep walking with the Lord down whatever path He lies out for His treasured ones, even when it comes with sorrows, sacrifice and suffering.
May 26, 2019
Ļoti īpaši 5 sieviešu stāsti, kā Dievs ir aicinājis viņas izdzīvot savu dzīvi, paklausot un atsaucoties Dievam. Skaistas liecības, patika, ka atspoguļotas arī grūtības un emocionālie aspekti, ne tikai paklausības soļi. Īsti un dažādi stāsti kā Dievs mums unikāli katram sagatavojis savu ceļu.
March 18, 2024
The content is good. I do not care for her writing style. It is not fluent and sometimes not easy to follow.
July 13, 2024
I really enjoyed reading about five very different stories of women living in faith and how God uses their lives for his purpose.
January 28, 2025
Love it! Each woman she talks about addresses different areas of faith and each one is relatable in some way. Inspiring to read and I feel like I need to write a report so I can hold on to all I learned!
August 7, 2025
Such an encouraging book and a good mix of mothers and single women who faithfully served God.
June 17, 2020
I always love reading about faithful women and their (my) extraordinary God. This just makes me want to read their actual biographies.
April 27, 2023
An excellent reminder that God uses the most ordinary people to further His will. Nothing is impossible and no one is too small to bring glory to His name. These women prove that.
May 22, 2023
Really interesting character sketch of godly women who made their mark on so many and left a beautiful legacy for God’s glory. Great devotional supplement!
February 29, 2024
This book was such an encouragement to me!
January 27, 2024
The book is amazing and so informative of 6 women of the Christian faith: Gladys Aylward, Lilias Trotter, Esther Ahn Kim, Sarah Edwards, and Helen Roseveare. Each woman has an amazing story of how she was used by God. Even in hard circumstances, they were fully surrendered to fulfill His purpose in each life. It will develop in you a deep respect for each woman and will encourage you toward greater surrender in your own life.
March 4, 2019
I found this at my local used bookstore, and since I had such success with "7 Woman," I decided to give this short biographical summary collection a try.
All the stories were well-paced and structured, no jumping back and forth between events - nice and chronological, with a few foreshadowing "hints." You can tell Noel went to great lengths to be accurate, pulling from published authoritative biographies and autobiographies. She also went to great lengths to keep God as the focus of these women's choices and callings, and sufferings, because all of them experienced some kind of sacrificial suffering, from the hectic family life of Sara Edwards, to the poor health of Lilias Trotter, to the poverty of Gladys Alyward, the imprisonment and torture of Ahn Ei Sook, to the physical exhaustion, and during a military coup, the assault and rape of Helen Roseveare. Clearly, suffering for the sake of Christ ranges from common to extraordinary, though we usually think of it in terms of outright persecution rather than a weak heart or a large brood of children.
Noel also took the time to add a page or two of reflections at the end of each chapter, some of which resonated with me, and some that did not. Honestly, as far as personal reaction goes, I had three visceral responses to three of the five women - Sara Edwards' highly spiritual experiences of joy and euphoria triggered jealousy and disappointment; Gladys Aylward hooked my interest, being reminded that Hollywood made a movie about her life (Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman); and Helen Roseveare seemed almost a carbon copy of me - cerebral, highly successful in school, motivated to win the approval of family and friends, and constantly frustrated at a lack of joy, despite knowledge of the scriptures. Perhaps in the path and outcome of her life, I can see what it might take for me to finally connect with and focus entirely on who I am in Christ Jesus, not who I am as a sinful creature.
I don't feel a strong compulsion to keep this book, so I lent it to my mother-in-law, who adores Christian biographies, and we'll see if it ends up back in my hands. In the meantime, I may borrow a couple full biographies from the library, such as Gladys' or Ahn's or Helen's.
Support your local library!
All the stories were well-paced and structured, no jumping back and forth between events - nice and chronological, with a few foreshadowing "hints." You can tell Noel went to great lengths to be accurate, pulling from published authoritative biographies and autobiographies. She also went to great lengths to keep God as the focus of these women's choices and callings, and sufferings, because all of them experienced some kind of sacrificial suffering, from the hectic family life of Sara Edwards, to the poor health of Lilias Trotter, to the poverty of Gladys Alyward, the imprisonment and torture of Ahn Ei Sook, to the physical exhaustion, and during a military coup, the assault and rape of Helen Roseveare. Clearly, suffering for the sake of Christ ranges from common to extraordinary, though we usually think of it in terms of outright persecution rather than a weak heart or a large brood of children.
Noel also took the time to add a page or two of reflections at the end of each chapter, some of which resonated with me, and some that did not. Honestly, as far as personal reaction goes, I had three visceral responses to three of the five women - Sara Edwards' highly spiritual experiences of joy and euphoria triggered jealousy and disappointment; Gladys Aylward hooked my interest, being reminded that Hollywood made a movie about her life (Inn of the Sixth Happiness, starring Ingrid Bergman); and Helen Roseveare seemed almost a carbon copy of me - cerebral, highly successful in school, motivated to win the approval of family and friends, and constantly frustrated at a lack of joy, despite knowledge of the scriptures. Perhaps in the path and outcome of her life, I can see what it might take for me to finally connect with and focus entirely on who I am in Christ Jesus, not who I am as a sinful creature.
I don't feel a strong compulsion to keep this book, so I lent it to my mother-in-law, who adores Christian biographies, and we'll see if it ends up back in my hands. In the meantime, I may borrow a couple full biographies from the library, such as Gladys' or Ahn's or Helen's.
Support your local library!
January 22, 2012
I first read this book 6 years ago and just finished reading it with a group of ladies at my church. I think it was something about reading it with others but I got more from it than I did the last time. Either way it is an excellent book, focusing more on the extraordinary God than the faithful women whom God used in his kingdom. There are five ladies, most of them missionaries, some of them little known. The last chapter on Helen Roseveare who was a missionary to Congo was my favorite. Here's one quote "Perhaps the deepest underlying personal factor in Helen's tension was the need she felt to do her very best and, if possible, to be the very best. God called her to Africa where that was not possible.... Perhaps that is an issue for some of us-struggling with the reality that God has called us to do less than we want to do or less than what we believe is best." I also appreciated her relationships with the African Christians and especially submitting to the counsel of the local pastors there. "Even when we don't want to be racist or prejudiced, and though we wouldn't admit it to ourselves, it's hard to believe that someone from another culture can understand or even have the right to admonish us." Helen overcame that natural tendency and grew because of it.
I wasn't crazy about the chapter on Esther Ahn Kim. I found some of the things hard to swallow and have actually written moody, who wrote her original biography, to try to find out what evidence they have that these things are true. She more or less claims to be a prophet.
I think men would enjoy this book as well as women. It's not a long book and is easy reading. I hope to learn more about these women as the book also points you to other biographies written about them.
I wasn't crazy about the chapter on Esther Ahn Kim. I found some of the things hard to swallow and have actually written moody, who wrote her original biography, to try to find out what evidence they have that these things are true. She more or less claims to be a prophet.
I think men would enjoy this book as well as women. It's not a long book and is easy reading. I hope to learn more about these women as the book also points you to other biographies written about them.
April 16, 2012
John Piper talks about the importance of having living and dead Christian heroes of the faith, this book helps you find some of those heroes. It's a fun read, perfect for the end of a busy day :D It's also available in ebook version from Desiring God for free :D
May 9, 2017
The writing is more like a high school paper. The stories are inspiring though.
December 8, 2015
Informative and educational stories. I appreciated that the author took stories from sometimes very different times and contexts and included a section on what all of us might learn from them.
December 21, 2019
Unforgettable ❤️
July 9, 2013
Such an encouraging collection of brief biographies! I thoroughly enjoyed it.
February 12, 2024
This is an extraordinary book; a beautiful book of 5 ordinary but remarkable women! Noel Piper writes very well, engaging the reader with historical context for each character as well as wonderful personal background and experiences that led each woman discussed to the place of living an extraordinary life by simply living the life she was called to.
This book explores the lives of Sarah Edwards, wife to Jonathan Edwards; Lilias Trotter, missionary in Algeria; Gladys Aylward, missionary to China; Esther Ahn Kim, a North Korean woman missionary to Japan and to her own people; and Helen Rosevere, missionary in Congo. I had only preciously heard of 2 of these women but each of their lives was a personal encouragement and challenge to me.
This is a great mini-biography of these ladies, giving enough of a glimpse into their lives to rejoice in the work of God through them and whet the appetite more more in depth reading about each one in the future.
“It doesn’t matter whether I travel 6,000 miles or just 20 minutes from home…What matters is whether the people we meet matter to us as much as they matter to God.” -Helen Roseveare
This book explores the lives of Sarah Edwards, wife to Jonathan Edwards; Lilias Trotter, missionary in Algeria; Gladys Aylward, missionary to China; Esther Ahn Kim, a North Korean woman missionary to Japan and to her own people; and Helen Rosevere, missionary in Congo. I had only preciously heard of 2 of these women but each of their lives was a personal encouragement and challenge to me.
This is a great mini-biography of these ladies, giving enough of a glimpse into their lives to rejoice in the work of God through them and whet the appetite more more in depth reading about each one in the future.
“It doesn’t matter whether I travel 6,000 miles or just 20 minutes from home…What matters is whether the people we meet matter to us as much as they matter to God.” -Helen Roseveare
October 4, 2024
Did not Finish.
This book may have some good information, but the writing style simply was not for me. I have never read anything from this author so I can't say whether the writing style is the norm for her. I read through a good portion of the first chapter and it was a lot of quoting of other people's writing and a lot of explanations of standards of living that are quite outdated being represented in the life of this woman. I realize a lot of that is cultural and not biblical in terms of the role of a woman versus the role of a man. I think the author is trying to show lives of godly women. And I'm sure they have amazing stories. This is not a biographical writing style I like.
my ratings:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Loved it. Couldn't put it down. I will probably read it again and it has a place in my library.
⭐⭐⭐⭐: Enjoyed it. Good characters, great story. if nonfiction, great information, interesting topic.
⭐⭐⭐: Liked it. Glad I read it, but won't read again.
⭐⭐: okay, I won't read it again, it will not be kept for my library.
⭐: I didn't like it, don't recommend it.
This book may have some good information, but the writing style simply was not for me. I have never read anything from this author so I can't say whether the writing style is the norm for her. I read through a good portion of the first chapter and it was a lot of quoting of other people's writing and a lot of explanations of standards of living that are quite outdated being represented in the life of this woman. I realize a lot of that is cultural and not biblical in terms of the role of a woman versus the role of a man. I think the author is trying to show lives of godly women. And I'm sure they have amazing stories. This is not a biographical writing style I like.
my ratings:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: Loved it. Couldn't put it down. I will probably read it again and it has a place in my library.
⭐⭐⭐⭐: Enjoyed it. Good characters, great story. if nonfiction, great information, interesting topic.
⭐⭐⭐: Liked it. Glad I read it, but won't read again.
⭐⭐: okay, I won't read it again, it will not be kept for my library.
⭐: I didn't like it, don't recommend it.
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