Mary Slessor

1848-1915 19th century

Prayer as a climate: a whole life breathed in answered prayer, unhurried, one day at a time.

Who was Mary Slessor?

A textile mill worker in Dundee from the age of eleven, she sailed in 1876 for Calabar, in what is now southeastern Nigeria. Living as her hosts lived, speaking Efik, she took in dozens of twin babies doomed to abandonment and the mothers cast out with them, and became a magistrate consulted from far away. She died at Use Ikot Oku after thirty-nine years in Africa, and is still honored in Calabar as one of their own.

In their own words

My life is one long daily, hourly, record of answered prayer.

Testimony written for the collection Our Faithful God, quoted in W. P. Livingstone, Mary Slessor of Calabar (1916)

Christ never was in a hurry. There was no rushing forward, no anticipating, no fretting over what might be. Every day's duties were done as every day brought them, and the rest was left with God.

Written in her early Calabar years, quoted in W. P. Livingstone, Mary Slessor of Calabar (1916)

The only way I can explain it is on the ground that I have been prayed for more than most. Pray on, dear one. The power lies that way.

Letter to a friend who prayed for her, quoted in W. P. Livingstone, Mary Slessor of Calabar (1916)

Mine has been such a joyous service. God has been good to me, letting me serve Him in this humble way.

Letter quoted in W. P. Livingstone, Mary Slessor of Calabar (1916)