Corrie Ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom was a brave woman who hid and witnessed to many Jews in Holland. She risked her life to help these people during World War II. She was also part of the Dutch Underground and Resistance. In 1944 the ten Booms were caught and Corrie and her sister were sent to a concentration camp in Berlin. After a few years in the camp she was mysteriously released and found her way back home. Through her experience Corrie learned many things and witnessed many miracles. She has gone all around the world sharing her story to millions of people who need encouragement.

(I had the privilege of hearing Ms. ten Boom speak in the late 1970's. What a wonderful speaker with such a powerful story to tell! I highly recommend her book to you, The Hiding Place."

Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson

Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson’s concern about education for young women led to the establishment of the Georgia Normal and Industrial School, which later became Georgia State College for Women, now Georgia College & State University, in Milledgeville. The day her husband introduced a legislative bill to establish the school, she provided him with petitions of endorsement from 200,000 Georgia men, women and girls. When he was later elected governor, she was a distinguished first lady and after his death she supported herself and their six children by starting an insurance business. She later persuaded President Theodore Roosevelt to name her postmaster of Newnan. Atkinson Hall at Georgia College & State University was built and named for the Atkinsons in 1896.

Fanny Crosby

Blinded at only six weeks old by an incompetent doctor, Fanny Crosby could have spent her life wrapped in bitterness and depression. Instead, she declared that her blindness was “. . . the best thing that ever happened to me. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me.” Fanny not only sang hymns, she wrote them - between 5,500 and 8,000 of them, including classics such as Blessed Assurance and To God Be the Glory. (The exact number is hard to pin down due to her numerous pseudonyms. We do know that she sometimes authored six hymns a day!) With so much upheaval and confusion all around us, it’s a comfort to have Fanny’s words (old-fashioned though they are) to remind us just Who is in control:

All the way my Savior leads me

What have I to ask beside?

Can I doubt His faithful mercies

Who through life has been my guide?

Heavenly peace, divinest comfort,

ere by faith in Him to dwell.

for I know whate’er befall me,

Jesus doeth all things well.

Women Who Served in Vietnam

"The military, which prided itself on the records it kept in Vietnam -- counting the enemy number of weapons captured, for example -- cannot to this day say with certainty how many women served. The army that sent them never bothered to count them. The estimate most frequently given is that a total of 7,500 served in the military in Vietnam."

Laura Palmer, "Shrapnel in the Heart"

Vivian Bullwinkle

Vivian Bullwinkel (1915-2000) was the sole survivor when the Japanese massacred 21 army nurses and one elderly civilian woman on Bangka Island, now part of Indonesia. She was taken POW and survived the hell camps of Sumatra, going on to become one of Australia's most distinguished women.

Sarah F. Adams

Sarah F. Adams was born in England in the winter of 1805. Even as a child she was the center of attention and dreamed of being an actress. In 1834 she married Williams Bridges Adams, a civil engineer. They lived in London so that Sarah could be near the great theatres of that time. In 1837 she played "Lady MacBeth" in the Richmond Theater in London and received rave reviews.

Unfortunately, her frail health hampered her acting carrer and she found herself focusing on her literary gifts more and more. It has been told that she wrote very quickly, as if under some sort of compulsion and that editors seldom found anything that needed change or correction in her work. Among her work you can find hymns of praise that she often wrote, while her sister Eliza, a gifted musician wrote the music to accompany the lyrics.

In 1841 Sarah received a visitor in her home from her pastor, Rev. William Johnson Fox of London's South Place Unitarian Church. He was compiling a church hymnal and wanted to use some of Sarah's and Eliza's hymns. He went on to mention that he was a bit frustrated because he could not find a hymn to go along with his upcoming Sunday message which was based on the story of Jacob at Bethel (Genesis 28:20-22).

Sarah offered to write a hymn based on these verses and for the rest of the week she studied the passage, visualizing Jacbo's sleeping with a stone for his pillow as he dreamed of a ladder reaching to heaven. True to her promise, on the following Sunday the South Place Unitarian Church sang Sarah's song, "Nearer My God, to Thee."

Sadly, Eliza died from tuberculosis in 1846 and Sarah, who's health was failing as a result of consumption, passed away on August 14, 1848 at the age of 43 years.

Sarah's contribution to society in the form of this hymn, and her gutsy determination to not sit back and feel sorry for herself because she could no longer be a theatre artist is a great reminder for each of us.

Here's the lyrics for timeless hymn:

Nearer, My God to Thee

Nearer, my God, to Three. Nearer to Thee.

E'en though it be a cross, That raiseth me!

Still all my song shall be, Nearer, my God to Three;

Nearer, my God to Thee, Nearer to Thee!

Though like the wanderer, The sun gone down.

Darkness be over me, My rest a stone.

Yet in my dreams I'd be, Nearer, my God, to Thee.

Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!

There let the way appear, Steps unto heav'n;

All that THou sendest me, In mercy giv'n;

Angels to beckon me, Nearer, my God, to Thee;

Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!

Then, with my walking tho'ts, Bright with Thy praise,

Out of my stony griefs, Bethel I'll raise,

So by my woes to be, Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!

Or if, on joyful wing, Cleaving the sky,

Sun, moon, and stars forgot, Upward I fly,

Still all my song shall be, Nearer, my God, to Thee,

Nearer, my God, to Thee, Nearer to Thee!

Copyright 2004-2005, M. A. Webb. All Rights Reserved.

PUBLISHING RIGHTS:
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your e-book or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Michele has 20+ years experience in oncology healthcare, including Cancer Registry management. You can learn more about cutting-edge learning tools and opportunities by visiting her Cancer Registry and online training site, or her online bookstore.

Welcome to Gutsy Women!

Welcome to GutsyWomen.Blogspot.com!

I just started this blog but I've been thinking about it for quite a while. You may be wondering what this is going to be about?

Well, I've always been a firm believer in having mentors, teachers and other people in my life that influence and challenge me to be my best or to achieve more. That's what Gutsy Women will be about. Each week we'll review a woman who "stands out." Some of these women will be famous, some will be Biblical characters and some will be actresses, political figures, artists, writers, poets, TV legends and more. But, each will have contributed something to us as a woman.

If you have a favorite heroine or person you would like to see profiled here, please send me an email and let me know.

Hope you like the site and we see you again soon!