When I first came upon Betty Stam’s (1906-1934) prayer, it struck me as noble and rather naïve. I was put in my place when I learned the real story of Betty’s life and her willingness to put this prayer to the ultimate test.
Betty grew up in China, where her parents served as Christian missionaries. She returned to the States for her last year of high school and attended Wilson College in Pennsylvania. In the summer after her first year of college, she attended the Keswick Convention in New Jersey, where she penned the prayer I referenced earlier and adopted as her life verse, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1.21). After college, sensing God’s call to the mission field, she studied at Moody Bible Institute, where she met John who shared her passion for mission work. They became reacquainted when they were both assigned to China, married, and gave birth to Helen Priscilla in 1933.
China was deadlocked in an eight-year civil war between government forces and the Red Army of the Communist Party. The Red Army showed up unexpectedly in their village, arrested John and Betty, and led them to a remote village twelve miles away. John wrote a note that was never delivered to their sponsoring mission agency, China Inland Mission (CIM), that they were being held for a twenty-thousand-dollar ransom. He didn’t expect the ransom to be paid but closed with the words, “The Lord bless and guide you and, as for us, may God be glorified either by life or death,” an allusion to Philippians 1.20. John and Betty hid their baby daughter in a sleeping bag, knowing their fate was sealed. After they were executed, a local pastor found Helen after twenty-seven hours and eventually delivered this “Miracle Baby” to Betty’s parents. Martin Luther said, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing is worth nothing.”