As the greatest missionary in North African Missions, Lilias Trotter reached an unforeseen greatness through her weakness and sacrifice.
By Daniel L. Akin
The people greatest at their skill know how good they are. Gold medals prove to Olympic runners they are the fastest, and sold-out tours remind singers how much their fans love them. But could someone be unconscious of their greatness? Can a person, like a towering mountain range in a national park, radiate intense greatness and be self-forgetting in the same moment? And if that’s even possible, how would they do it?
Isabella Lilias (Lily) Trotter reached an unforeseen greatness becoming the greatest missionary in North African Missions. And she did it through her weakness and sacrifice.
Five of Lilias’s life choices embody the truth of 2 Corinthians 12:7–10 that God’s power is made perfect through weakness and that we become truly great as we sacrifice for Him.
1. She chose the hard road of a missionary life
At age 35, Lilias decided to become a missionary in North Africa. But she did not choose this path because she lacked better options. She was born into a wealthy family in London, and a successful career as a painter seemed all but guaranteed for her.
But Lilias loved her King more than comfort. She believed in a victorious Christian life not marked by personal success. Like Paul, she knew that being able to “exalt myself” would lead her away from, not toward, greatness because it would lead her away from depending on God. By choosing the life of a missionary, Lilias chose a self-forgetting yet amazing and Christ-glorifying life. “He is worthy to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win,” she believed.
“He is worthy to have all there is to be had in the heart that He has died to win.” — Lilias Trotter Share on X2. She sacrificed a successful career for God’s kingdom
Greatness requires sacrifice, they say. But Lilias sacrificed more than what earthly wisdom would recommend. Like most children, Lilias loved to draw. But she showed a talent for drawing above her peers. “She seemed to learn everything the instant she was shown, and ever so much more than she was taught,” one observer said. Lilias was so good the leading art critic in Europe declared that if she would give herself completely to her gift, “she would be the greatest living painter and do things that would be immortal.”
Perhaps, Lilias could have argued, God could use her great skills to bring Him glory. But, like Paul, Lilias believed God did not need her greatness. If God’s power is perfected in weakness, Lilias could walk away from earthly immortality by giving up her promising art career.
So, that’s what she did. Instead of painting, she gave herself completely to giving the gift of God’s kingdom to the unreached as a missionary. Christ was her priority. That’s where greatness truly lies. Lilias never saw her sacrifice as significant though. Like Paul, she took pleasure in giving up everything for the sake of Christ.
3. She accepted her physical struggles as the way to bring God glory
When Lilias arrived in Algeria, the North African Mission had already denied her twice for medical reasons. She had been ministering to prostitutes and girls in London and suffered a physical breakdown from exhaustion. This exhaustion led to permanent heart damage and required her to take extended periods of rest throughout her life.
Like Paul, Lilias lived with weaknesses, hardships, and difficulties. But Lilias believed these weaknesses would be the power for, not the obstacle to, God’s glory. When she was weak, then she was strong. And Lilias gladly boasted in her weakness. She believed all that is against us inwardly and outwardly are the vehicles for the power of Christ to rest upon us. Christ’s power was on great display because Lilias knew she was weak and small, not strong and great.
“Like Paul, Lilias Trotter lived with weaknesses, hardships, and difficulties. But Lilias believed these weaknesses would be the power for, not the obstacle to, God’s glory. ” — @DannyAkin Share on X4. She kept going through years of hard missionary work
Persecution and opposition did not deter Paul from his task of serving Jesus. He persevered to exalt Christ. Lilias’ hardships didn’t stop her either. When she sacrificed her career and health to further God’s kingdom, she could have easily assumed God would reward her with quick fruit overseas. Yet, her first years in Algeria were difficult. A close friend summarized those years as “unmitigated anguish.” Even after 17 years on the field, only a few people believed.
But Lilias did not crumble under the burden of hard missionary work or let her passion for caring, prayer, and giving shrink. God would work as He saw fit. So, she continued as a missionary for decades. By God’s grace, the work in Algeria eventually grew. Bible studies and prayer groups for women sprang up. New believers were born. Lilias also established mission stations throughout North Africa. It is Lilias’s perseverance through hardship, not the results, that sets the example of true greatness for the church.
5. She constantly prayed for support
The “secret” fuel of Paul’s and Lilia’s greatness was their communion with God. Paul pleaded with God in his weakness and heard from God, “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:9, CSB). Lilias too communed with her God. “Her eyes seemed ever looking upward,” Samuel Zwemer would comment.
Lilias knew the great need of prayer, and she knew the strength the child of God finds on her knees. She believed this for her physical weakness and for the success of her missionary support. When funds were low and Lilias’s mission needed financial support, she trusted God to provide. On one occasion, Lilias wrote that God had “accepted the challenge” of supplying their needs. She received a check in the mail for exactly what she needed. In her words, it put “all afloat” and was as if “brought by the angels.” Lilias knew God was answering her prayers. As she let Him provide, her life achieved greatness in fresher ways.
“Lilias Trotter was delightedly absorbed in God’s world, God’s plan, and God’s power. She reminds the church today to redefine the path to greatness through perseverance and prayer.” — @DannyAkin Share on XLilias Trotter was delightedly absorbed in God’s world, God’s plan, and God’s power. She reminds the church today to redefine the path to greatness through perseverance and prayer. She teaches us that to be truly great is to know that God’s power can and will work because you are weak.
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