Was God telling him to stay in London rather than go to China? Thomas Barnardo had come to London for missionary training, only to have a 10 year old child show him a rooftop were 11 homeless boys were sleeping. Barnardo’s heart was touched. He set about finding temporary lodging for the boys.
Other midnight tours of the area revealed many more homeless youth—- as many as 73 in one night. China would have to wait. God had given him London. Barnardo sold some 30,000 copies of the scriptures in the public houses and marketplaces to raise money for his work among the children. He was often rejected for defending them, even sustaining physical injury.
In one attack, he suffered two broken ribs. When a cholera epidemic hit London in 1866, he and others worked tirelessly, only to see thousands die. He eventually opened a “Home for Destitute Boys ” and later a ” Village for Girls.” Through the next several decades, he built numerous homes and villages that cared for some 60,000 abandoned children.
Barnardo’s missionary desire was put to work by his being ” The Father of Nobodies Children”. And happily, he lived long enough to see seventeen of the youth he rescued take the Gospel to foreign lands.
EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD. ATTEMPT GREAT THINGS FOR GOD.