VOICE OF TRUTH FOR TODAY
Florence Nightingale
What do you do when you feel called by God — but have no idea what that calling looks like?
At sixteen, Florence Nightingale sensed God inviting her into a life of service. She wrote of her desire “to lead a life of obscurity and toil” so that what God had placed within her could ripen in His time. She did not rush the process. She was willing to wait.
While other young women focused on social accomplishments, Florence pursued mathematics — a discipline few women of her class were encouraged to study. Though her parents resisted her ambitions, she remained steadfast.
Years later, when she believed nursing might be her calling, they opposed her again. Nursing was considered disreputable, unsuitable, beneath her social standing.
Still, she persisted.
At thirty-one, after declining marriage proposals and enduring years of resistance, she finally received permission to train in Germany. Soon after, war broke out in Crimea. Florence was recruited to lead nurses into a military hospital — the first time women had ever served as combat nurses. Her faithful service earned her the name “the lady with the lamp.”
But her greatest contribution came later. Drawing from her mathematical training, she established modern nursing on statistical and sanitary principles that saved countless lives.
Florence later echoed the words of Acts 26:19 — she “did not disobey the vision… from heaven.” Her life reflects the truth of Ephesians 2:10: “We have become His poetry… created to fulfill the destiny He has given each of us.”
God often develops destiny in hidden seasons.
Be tenacious in seeking Him.
Be patient as He reveals your calling step by step.
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Excerpt from Voice of Truth Magazine
“Power Points: God at Work through Women Leaders Yesterday and Today” by Leecy Barnett