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You have to find the right motivation for everything you want to achieve in your business and personal life.
One lady called Granny Brand demonstrates the power of motivation more than anyone I have ever come across, and I want to share her story with you. The details were published in a publication called Word for Today on 7th April 2015.
Granny Brand
“Evelyn Brand felt called by God to go to India. For a single woman in 1909, a calling like that required a lorry load of faith. She married a young man named Jesse and together they began a ministry to the people of rural India, bringing education and medical supplies and building roads to reduce the isolation of the poor.
For seven years, they went without making a single convert to Christianity. But then a priest in a local tribal region developed a fever and grew deathly ill. No one else would go near him, but Evelyn and Jesse nursed him as he was dying. He said, ‘This God, Jesus, must be the true God because only Jesse and Evelyn will care for me in my dying.’
The priest gave his children to them to care for after he died – and that became a spiritual turning point in that part of the world. People began to examine the life and teaching of Jesus, and in increasing numbers began to follow him.
Her husband died
Evelyn and Jesse had thirteen years of productive service, then Jesse died. By this time Evelyn was fifty years old, and everyone expected her to return to her home in England. But she wouldn’t do it. She was known and loved for miles around as ‘Granny Brand’, and she stayed another twenty years under the mission board she had served so faithfully.
Her son, Paul, came over to see her when she was 70 years old, and this is what he said about his mum; ‘this is how to grow old. Allow everything else to fall away, until those around you only see love.’
At aged 70 she received word from her home mission office that they weren’t going to give her another five-year term. A party was held to celebrate her time in India, and everyone there cheered her on. ‘Have a good trip back home,’ they all said. ‘I’ll tell you a little secret,’ she announced, ‘I’m not going back home. I’m staying in India.’
She just wouldn’t give up
Evelyn had a little shack built with some resources that she had smuggled in. Then she bought a pony to get around the mountains, and this septuagenarian would ride from village to village on horseback to tell people about Jesus. She did that for five years on her own.
One day, at seventy-five years old, she fell and broke her hip. Her son, Paul Brand, the eminent doctor, said to her, ‘Mum you’ve had a great run. God’s used you. It’s time to give up now. You can go back home.’ She replied, ‘I’m not going back home.’
She spent another eighteen years travelling from one village to another on horseback. Falls, concussions, sickness and ageing could not stop her.
Finally, when she hit 93 years old, she could not ride a horse anymore. So the men in these villages – because they loved her so much – put her on a stretcher and carried her from one village to another.
She lived two more years and gave those years as a gift, carried on a stretcher, to help the poorest of the poor. She died, but she never retired. She just graduated.”
What amazing motivation
This true story of Granny Brand is amazing and hard to believe. As I sit here writing this, I’m in awe of this woman who gave up her entire life to serve the poor, in the most difficult of circumstances.
The motivation she needed to continue year after year after year was so huge, but that is exactly how she managed to continue through every setback and disaster. If we can capture this sort of motivation for our lives, then we will achieve amazing things.
This level of motivation is extreme but demonstrates clearly how effective powerful motivation can be. Our job is to discover a big enough reason to take action on everything we are faced with on a daily basis. Whether it is work related or personal, it still requires motivation to begin to take action.
“Fall seven times and stand up eight.” Japanese Proverb
Thoughts for the week
- How is your motivation for difficulties you face?
- Often the reason ‘Why’ is the most important thing.
- If you are struggling with procrastination on anything take a step back and find the reason ‘why’ you are doing this. Really dig deep.
- When you find the ‘why’ which is bigger than the pain of the thing you need to do then you will succeed in completing this task.
- Granny Brand had the massive ‘Why’ of changing people’s lives which kept her going and never giving up.
Well that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and keep getting back up.
Warm regards
John
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