Mary Jones's Bible, A post by Carolyn Mahaney

Last week I was reading A Place of Quiet Rest, edited by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, and came across this inspiring story:


“I must have a Bible of my own! I must have one, if I have to save up for it for ten years!”

The year was 1794. For as long as she could remember, little Mary Jones had yearned to hold a Bible in her hands so that she might read it for herself. For years, she had sat at night on her weaver father’s lap and listened to him tell stories of Abraham, Joseph, David, and Daniel. But her family was far to poor to afford a Bible, even if one had been available, for Bibles could scarcely be found in all of Wales during those days.

Two years earlier, Mrs. Evans, the wife of a nearby farmer, having learned of Mary’s longing to read the Bible, had promised the child that when she learned to read, she could come to their house and read their Bible. As soon as the first school opened in a neighborhood village, Mary had eagerly set about learning to read.

Now, the ten year old girl had just walked two miles from the North Wales village of Llanfihangel to the Evanses’ farm. The distance was no object to the eager child: “I’d walk farther than that for such a pleasure, ma’am!” she said to Mrs. Evans.

When once Mary finally was left alone in the room with the Bible, she reverently lifted off the white napkin that covered and protected the cherished Book. Then, with trembling hands, she opened the Bible to the fifth chapter of John where her eyes lit on the words, “Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39, KJV). Confident that God had spoken to her directly, she earnestly vowed to search His Word with all her heart.

Every Saturday from that point on she made the journey to the Evanses’ farm where she read, studied, and memorized entire chapters from the borrowed Bible. All that time, however, her heart ached, so great was her yearning to have a Bible of her own. She purposed that she must have a Bible, at any cost.

For the next six years, in addition to her studies at school and the many chores to be tended to at home, Mary used every available moment to do odd jobs for friends and neighbors. Every penny she earned was carefully laid aside, until at long last she had saved enough to buy a Bible of her own.

When she learned that the closest place a Bible could be purchased was the town of Bala, some twenty-five miles away, there was no question in her mind about what she must do. With hope in her heart, she started out early one morning, walking barefoot so as not to ruin her one pair of shoes Before she reached her destination, her feet were blistered and cut from the stones in the road.

Physically weary, but barely able to contain her excitement that her lifelong goal should be so nearly realized, Mary finally arrived in Bala where she poured out her story to the minister, Mr. Charles. When she had finished, Mr. Charles reluctantly informed her that the last of the Bibles available for purchase had already been sold and that the remaining Bibles had been promised to others. Furthermore, the Society that had printed the small quantity of Welsh Bibles did not intend to print any more.

So great was Mary’s disappointment, that she began to sob uncontrollably. Touched by the intensity of her passion to have a Bible of her own, Mr. Charles decided that she must have one of the few Bibles left in his possession. Words cannot describe the ecstasy Mary felt as Mr. Charles placed into her hands the precious treasure for which she had prayed, wept, and hoarded all these years. Her heart sang as she walked the twenty-five miles back home, carrying her very own Bible, the Book that would remain her dearest friend and companion throughout her life.


The footnote to this story goes on to tell how: “Mr. Charles Thomas’ encounter with Mary Jones deeply impressed him and led to the establishment in 1804 of the British and Foreign Bible Society, a society dedicated to publishing and distributing the Word of God throughout the world.”

Mary’s passion for God’s Word forces us to consider: “Do I have the same infectious passion for God’s Word?”

Thankfully, most of us don’t have to save for ten years or walk twenty-five miles for a Bible anymore. All you may need to do is come back to girltalk tomorrow.

Something i was thinking about....

Early last year, I went to a youth event at a nearby church with some friends. I was looking forward to a fun time of worship and fellowship with other Christian teens. My friends told me there'd be music and singing, games, food, and a little message from a guest speaker. It was an outreach to non-Christian teens in the area. I was excited. A friend and I carpooled and my dad drove us there. Once we got inside the building, we were instantly welcomed by our friends and we all got into conversations and were just hanging out. First we did a few fun games, and then we all got to singing. We sang some pretty good Christian songs from bands like Skillet and stuff... But then we started singing this song from U2. Like, wait a minute... I thought we were at a Christian teen outreach program here. hmm. Well anyway, after the songs, we all sat down on the floor and listened to our guest speaker. He was a nice guy- tall, blonde (I think), and he had a nice smile. He said he had little kids at home and a good wife too. He did a good visual to illustrate something he was talking about in the beginning and then he got started on talking about Jesus' life. This is where it got pretty bad.

I'm sure that the man had every good intention, but the way he was explaining the gospel to these teenagers was just wrong. First he was talking about how Jesus may have acted as a teenager.

"He probably was told to take out the trash my his mom and he probably was like "aww Mom...""



"Jesus probably even farted; hanging out with the disciples and Peter says, "Whoa, Jesus, what are ya doin'?"



What?! Is this was the gospel is all about? Jesus was just like us?! First of all, He never dishonored His mother because He was "holy and blameless" before God. Second, even if Jesus did fart, WHO CARES?! The point of Jesus' life was not about how He was God and so much like Man. He was God and Man. Christ came down as a Man so He could pay the sacrifice for our sins. Not so He could show us how much He was like us... because He wasn't.

And why were we even talking about Jesus' life without even mentioning His death? 'Cause we're talking to a bunch of unsaved teenagers here. The point of Jesus' life was His death. Everything He did paved the way so that we could have eternal life by His death. That's what made Christ's life so amazing! And that's what salvation is all about.

This was just a little bit about what I've been thinking about in the past couple of days. :)

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