March MISSION Madness: Embracing Selflessness Through Mary Slessor's Journey

In this episode, we explore the extraordinary life of Mary Slessor, a woman whose faith may have seemed like madness yet remains a powerful testament to selfless love and service. Born into hardship but driven by an unwavering faith, Mary left her homeland of Scotland in the 1800s to serve as a missionary in dangerous Nigeria. There she faced challenges many of us could only imagine. From her fierce opposition against the killing of twins to her leading during conflicts in Nigeria, Mary lived a life focused on eternal impact rather than temporary comfort.

Join the two of us - Wendy Hickox and Tosha Williams - in reflecting on Mary's incredible story of selflessness. As we share Mary’s experiences during our March MISSION Madness series, we invite you to consider how her legacy inspires you to embrace selflessness in Jesus' Name. 

Don’t miss out on this insightful conversation—then dive into the accompanying devotion-driven-discipleship conversation guide based on this theme verse for Mary's life: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others." Philippians 2:3-4 NIV 

May Mary's story ignite a passion in all of us to make a meaningful difference for the Kingdom of God in the lives of others. Subscribe to our podcast and join our mission to "Seek Him Speak Him" into the next generation!

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Family Disciple Me podcast and
to our collection ofconversations about March
Mission Madness.
I know, I know March Madness isusually about basketball and,
well, my family's in the thickof it right now.
However, this month, withFamily Disciple Me, we're using

(00:24):
March Madness as an opportunityto focus on March Mission
Madness.
So, welcome and, wendy, thanksfor joining me here.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Thank you for having me again.
I just can't wait to dig in andsee what's next.
We know that we've beenexploring the lives of
extraordinary women whose faithmay have looked like madness to
the world, but in reality it wasthe power of extraordinary
women whose faith may havelooked like madness to the world
, but in reality it was thepower of God at work.
Our series verse is 1Corinthians 1, 18.
For the message of the cross isfoolishness to those who are

(00:56):
perishing, but to us who arebeing saved, it is the power of
God.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
That's right, wendy.
And today we're talking about awoman named Mary Slessor.
She was someone who gave upeverything.
She gave up her home, hersafety, her comfort in order to
serve God in Nigeria.
She lived with such radicalhumility and love and well, the

(01:23):
more I thought about her life, Ithought that she would be a
perfect example for us in theMarch Mission Madness series.
The perfect example ofselflessness.

Speaker 2 (01:35):
That fits perfectly into our key verse for today,
philippians 2, 3 through 4,.
Do nothing out of selfishambition or vain conceit.
Rather, in humility, valueothers above yourself.
And, wendy, let me tell you,mary Slessor is the perfect
example for that.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
But I had no idea who she even was until last year.
I got to visit the WilliamWallace Monument in Scotland and
there, alongside warriors likeWilliam Wallace and Robert the
Bruce, I saw Mary's name in theHall of Heroes and I thought who
is Mary Slessor?

(02:22):
That moment led me on a deepdive into her life and well,
today we're going to talk abouther incredible story.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
That sounds great.
I just can't wait to see howher life ties in with our March
Mission.
Madness, let's cue the introand come right back to talk
about her life.

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast.
If you have a real relationshipwith Jesus, then you're in the
right place to be encouraged,challenged and blessed as you
seek Him, speak Him.
The mission of the FamilyDisciple Me ministry is to
inspire devotion-drivendiscipleship, which is something
we believe every Christfollower can do.

(03:07):
Discipleship starts with aconversation, so let's get going
with that right now.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
So to create the setting for how I found out
about Mary Slessor to start with, I was at the William Wallace
Monument in Stirling, scotland.
It was a beautiful town.
I loved it.
There's so many stories I havefrom Stirling, wendy, but we'll

(03:34):
stick with this one for today.
We're in the William WallaceMonument and it's almost like a
lighthouse.
It's really tall, it's reallyhigh and when you get to the top
of it you can look out and seeforever.
But about halfway up they giveyou a breather from the very
confined steps that it takes toget up there, and in that

(03:55):
mid-level section they have aHall of Heroes Wow, and in it
there's William Wallace's swordand there's all sorts of history
.
It's fascinating.
You can watch a sword andthere's all sorts of history.
It's fascinating.
You can watch a movie andthere's all these things.
But then you go a little waysmore up and there is an area
where they memorialize differentheroes from Scotland Many men

(04:20):
and well, a few women, and oneof those women was Mary Slessor.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
That's such an amazing way to discover her
story when you were standingthere in Scotland, which.
I can't even imagine, as you'rein Scotland, what started to
stand out to you as you werereading about her story.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Well, wendy, I loved Scotland.
It was such a privilege to bethere, and one of my husbands
and my favorite heroes hasalways been William Wallace.
So it was totally unexpected,in this beautiful memorial to
him, to see this memorial tothis woman.
And well, as I stood there andstarted reading, I was quite

(05:03):
honestly awestruck that Scotlandtook the effort to honor a
missionary woman.
She gave up everything to leaveher homeland of Scotland to
suffer for Christ in order toserve others selflessly.
To me, she completely embodiesPhilippians 2, verses 3 and 4

(05:24):
that you read earlier in theintroduction.
Mary didn't just live forherself, she lived selflessly in
order to serve others.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
And it sounds like Mary's ability to lay down her
life for others.
It didn't just start in Nigeria.
It sounds like it started waybefore that in Nigeria.
It sounds like it started waybefore that.
She was born in 1848, from what.
I understand in Scotland, whereyou were in extreme poverty and

(05:56):
she had to work in a textilemill at age 11 just to help her
family survive, which really,Wendy, makes me think about all
the parents right now that havechildren with them.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
Absolutely Little 11-year-old Mary is having to
work really hard to help herfamily.
It was a survival situation andyet, even in that hardship, God
was shaping her heart.
Her mom, I've read, was a verystrong believer and she would
read her children missionarystories, especially stories

(06:27):
about the famous missionarynamed David Livingston.
She would tell Mary and hersiblings all about these amazing
people who loved and sacrificedfor Jesus.
And well, those stories plantedseeds for Mary's faith and for
her calling.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
So, as her mother was sowing into her, those seeds
started to take root and by theage of 28, she knew God was
calling her to missions herself,and my understanding is is she
went to serve in Calabar,nigeria.

Speaker 1 (07:03):
That decision.
For her to go, as a 28-year-oldwoman, to Calabar, it surely
looks like madness to the worldA single woman going to one of
the most dangerous places onearth, a place where, well, she
may never be able to come backfrom.
But she wasn't going forherself.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
She was going because God called her to serve others
as you said, might look likefoolishness to all of us.
I can't personally imagine whatshe was going through, but it
seems like she was prepared fromthe age of 11 to be serving
others.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
That brings us back to our key verse, the message of
the cross, the mission ofliving for Jesus.
It does look like foolishness,it doesn't make sense if you're
looking at it through theworld's eyes, but the Bible says
to us who are being saved,living a life of sacrifice and
selflessness on mission forJesus.

(08:03):
Well, that's the power of Godand that is what Mary's life
exemplifies.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
And I'm so excited that we're having the
opportunity to share about herlife and this extraordinary
experience she had.
But I have to tell yousometimes it feels a little
intimidating as a woman sittinghere in Colorado, like that's
not my life.
But I know, learning aboutsomebody with such great faith

(08:32):
to serve it applies to my life.

Speaker 1 (08:34):
It does apply, wendy, because well, mary lived this
extraordinary life ofselflessness and for me it just
sets almost like a North Star inmy heart as I think about what
selflessness I can't even sayselflessness could look like in
my life.

(08:54):
I'm not called to Africa, atleast not right now, but there
are so many ways that God wantsme to live selflessly.
So, as we have theseconversations about March
Mission Madness and we hold upthese examples, in no way are we
saying live exactly like thisperson, but we are holding them

(09:14):
up as an example to say in whatway can we live like them and
emulate those godly missiontraits that they have in their
life, Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
That sacrificial love that she demonstrated.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
She demonstrated it in so many ways when she arrived
in Nigeria.
One way that she lived out thelove of Christ is that well, she
was horrified to learn aboutsome of the local traditions.
One of those traditions thatreally jabs me in the heart is

(09:50):
that in Nigeria, they killedtwins.
What they killed twins.
And that strikes me especiallydeeply because my family has a
new set of twins.
They're about seven months oldnow, and that was something that
we celebrate, but it was notcelebrated in Calabar.
The tribes believed that one ofthe two twins was a demon child

(10:15):
, but obviously with newbornbabies, which is which.
So they would abandon or theywould kill both of them.
So here's what Mary did sherescued those abandoned babies,
she took them into her home andshe fought against those
cultural superstitions that ledto their deaths.
And she would just.
She just kept filling up herhousehold with these, these

(10:37):
twins.
She would go looking for themand when she would find them,
she would bring them home.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
The people of Calabar they thought she was crazy for
that.
3 through 4 in action.
That's the epitome of what thisverse is about.

(11:02):
She humbled herself enough, shedidn't live for her own comfort
and she gave herself completelyto those children.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
And thing is, it wasn't just twins that Mary
lived selflessly for.
She became a peacemaker betweenwarring tribes and eventually,
believe it or not, she was namedthe first female magistrate in
that country.
All the way from Scotland toCalabar, that country, all the

(11:31):
way from Scotland to Calabar.
She became their first femalemagistrate and she earned their
trust, so much trust that theysaw her sacrificial love and
they wanted her influence intheir lives.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
After reading through all of this material and
learning more about her life, Irealized that she had so many
hardships, malaria, loneliness.
She could have left, but I'mnoticing she didn't leave.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
She didn't leave, she stayed.
I think she went back toScotland for one visit, but then
she was right back to Calabar.
She once said, quote heaven isnot here, it is there.
If we really want to love him,we must serve him where he needs
us most.
And so she endured all thosehardships, that loneliness, that

(12:26):
malaria, that danger.
She put herself on the linebecause she believed with all
her heart that Jesus needed herthere in Calabar.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
That's such a powerful reminder.
She wasn't focused on thetemporary comfort.
She was focused on eternalimpact.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
She was, and when she died in 1915, she was given a
state funeral in Nigeria.
She had become known as quote MaSlessor she was also known as a
mother to all, and you know,wendy, we're moms and I know
there's a lot of moms listeningto this podcast, and I have my

(13:07):
five, you have your three, andit could be really easy for us
to just focus on our ownchildren that God has given us,
and certainly that is ourprimary calling, right,
absolutely.
But an inspiration from Mary'sselfless life is that she was
known as a mother to all.

(13:29):
Like you said, what if we openour hearts up and we mother
others that God sends our way?
I know you do that as a teacher.
You care about so many kids.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Absolutely.
It looks like giving to others,putting others first and loving
whoever God has sent into mylife in addition to my own
family.
You know, when I think aboutMary's life, I think there's
some really powerful lessons.
Suffering isn't wasted.
God uses hardships to prepareus.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
He uses hardships to well use us in other people's
lives.
Mary's a great reminder of that.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Absolutely.
I think also a lesson is thatlove means sacrifice.
Real faith isn't about self,it's about others.

Speaker 1 (14:18):
That's right.
And it's not just about others,but as Christ self, it's about
others.
That's right.
And it's not just about others,but as Christ followers.
It's about others in Jesus nameand we should live for eternity
.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
The world may call it madness, as we've been focusing
on this month, but heaven isour true home.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
And I love that, as Mary is there.
She's been there over 100 yearsnow, departed from this world
and in the presence of Christ.
There are so many people withher there because she lived
selflessly to go tell them aboutthe truth of the gospel.
I love that.
She lived not just as amissionary but on mission, and

(15:01):
well, that's what we're allabout this month, with Family
Disciple Me Passing on thisfaith, this mindset about
sacrifice, about selflessness,about love, about prayer, about
freedom, about an eternalmindset.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
I'm so thankful for the opportunity to talk about
this extraordinary woman's lifeduring our March Mission,
madness month.
Mary Slessor's life is areminder that true faith.
Well, it isn't about what wegain, it's about what we give.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
Isn't Mary such a great inspiration for that?
Yes, I am so encouraged by herlife and, well, I hope that you
listener are encouraged as well.
We challenge you to spend sometime thinking about Mary's story
and then take it a step further.
Seek the Lord about this.

(15:58):
What does this look like inyour life?
In the show notes, we haveincluded a discipleship
conversation guide aboutPhilippians, chapter 2, verses 3
and 4.
And we encourage you to spend afew moments doing what we call
Seek Him, speak Him.
Don't take our word for itabout what the Bible says.

(16:20):
Go, spend time in thatscripture yourself.
Listen to what God wants to sayto you about that scripture.
Maybe mull over Mary's story,think about her example and what
God wants to show you throughthat and then, as you spend time
seeking him in his word andhearing his voice, then turn

(16:40):
around and speak him into thenext generation.
Dig into the story, dig intothe scriptures, dig into what
God wants to teach you and whathe wants to teach, through you,
to those entrusted to you.
It is such an amazingopportunity that we have during
March, mission Madness andAlways.

(17:01):
As we close, I want to say aprayer for us.
Lord, god, thank you for thisamazing woman who now sits at
your throne.
I am sure that she isinterceding as part of the great
cloud of witnesses, and we areso inspired by her example.
Lord, help us to live selflesslives that glorify you and bless

(17:26):
those who are entrusted to us.
We give you our lives for yourglory, for our good and for the
good of all of those that you'veplaced in our life.
Amen, amen, yes, amen, yes.
Go with God, friend.
Until next time, be encouraged.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Thanks for joining us in this podcast episode.
You can find the matchingconversation guide in the show
notes To get the latest updatesabout the Family Disciple Me
ministry, as well as word aboutour soon-to-be-released app,
sign up to be the first to knowat familydisciplemeorg.
Also, if you enjoyed thispodcast, help us get the word

(18:06):
out by leaving us a review onyour favorite podcast platform.
God bless you, friend.
Now go seek Him, speak Him,speak Him.