Julia Foote (1823-1901) struggled with self-doubt. Don’t we all! She was born a free woman, the daughter of former slaves, yet racial prejudice prevented her from attending public school in New York. She described her conversion at age fifteen in her autobiography A Brand Plucked from the Fire, in words taken from Zechariah 3.2. The minister at her church preached on Revelation 14–how those redeemed by Christ will sing a new song. A voice inside her head whispered, “Such a sinner as you can never sing a new song.” She fainted during the service and was carried home. As she came to consciousness, she prayed, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.” The voice that told her she could never sing a new song ceased and a ray of light flashed before her eyes. She sprang from her bed to sing a new song, “Redeemed! Redeemed! Glory! Glory!” When she opened a Bible, her eyes fell on Isaiah’s words, “Fear not, I have redeemed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you…When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned” (Isaiah 43.1-2). “Was I not a brand plucked from the burning?” she wrote of the moment.
Julia received God’s call to preach the gospel. Despite opposition from people in her church who resisted her call as a female preacher, she preached the gospel for fifty years as an itinerant evangelist. She detailed in her book traveling along the eastern seaboard on a boat headed to Boston. She and the other passengers of color were compelled to sit on deck all night in the cold, damp air. Her prayer expressing fortitude and trust invites us to do likewise:
Julia Foote
O Prejudice! Thou cruel monster! Wilt thou ever cease to exist!
Not until people will come to know you, Lord,
and holiness shall be written on the bells of the horses,
upon all things in earth as well as heaven.
Glory be to the Lamb, whose right is to reign!
As long as God lives,
and Jesus sits on His right hand,
nothing will be impossible to me,
if I hold fast to Thee in faith.
Now unto Him who is able to do exceeding,
abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that worketh in us;
unto him be glory in the church of Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Peter James served 42 years as the senior of Vienna Presbyterian Church in Vienna, VA — 21 years in the 20th century and 21 years in the 21st century. He retired in 2021 and now serves as Pastor-in-Residence at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Even as a pastor, prayer came slowly to Pete. Read Pete’s story.