Good Book - Isobel Kuhn

 

Once again, my love for missionaries and their stories prompt me to share this biography of Isobel Kuhn; otherwise known as "Belle".  She is one of my favorites.  She did her mission work under CIM-OMF.

The author, Lois Hoadley Dick, starts at the beginning (ahem, "a very good place to start"), of Belle's early growing up years; moves on to her university days and early working years; then to the main focus, her "call" and how she lived it out.

Belle grew up in a strict, conservative Christian family but lost her faith during university years, substituting the emptiness of that with frivolous things.  Eventually she was guided back to the Lord by a godly, motherly sort.  It was amazing how the Lord led her then to the "right" people and places and that, combined, planted a seed for her 'call' deeply into her heart, for the people she had fallen in love with even before she met them.  She loved and served the Lisu of Yunnan, China (and some in Burma and Thailand).

These were a despised tribal group who reacted by retreating to the furthest reaches of the mountains; to the most of inaccessible regions you could possibly imagine; and then some.  They were demon worshipers and many were possessed often by them.  Most people were scared to death to approach them.

There was very little in their culture to hook on to that would suggest a connection to having "eternity in their hearts".  Even in the Lisu legends that would get passed down from one generation to the next, from the ancient times, there was next to nothing that hinted at Biblical stories (albeit altered) in evidence, as does exist in many other cultures.  They were a tough assignment but they did love to sing...

Belle and her husband John Kuhn, served these people through thick and thin, even escaping Japanese invasions; sicknesses after sicknesses; separation from each other and from their children.  The love of Christ worked wonders all around.

So staunch was the love and care for the Lord and for the lost souls of the Lisu that all the difficulties and great challenges were overcome, at great personal sacrifice, yet with reliance and strength from God, her/their Heavenly Father, Who Belle, herself, had come to believe was truly "there".

What an incredible woman of faith!

Wouldn't you like to find out the details?

Find a copy and plunge in.  😇

                                                    ~ERC  January 2020~