Unbind Those Feet

By Mary Vee

Glady's Thoughts

photo courtesy of visualbiblealive.com

I never would have guessed that my missionary work in China would involved becoming a foot-inspector for the Mandarin! Hah. God certainly has a great sense of humor.

Before the Mandarin visited me at the inn, people from Yangcheng and the villages nearby called me names and threw mud at me. 

Yang, the cook I hired to work at the inn, said I didn't have "importance" for Chinese people because I came from another country. Without importance, no one would truly listen to me tell Bible stories.

Now that the Mandarin requires me to serve as foot-inspector, I have importance as an official servant of the government. You can read more about how I became foot inspector here: The Powerful Mandarin

The Mandarin assigned me guards, food, and a donkey to carry out my duties. I didn't have to worry about anything.

The soldiers called for villagers to the meeting place and shouted: "The Mandarin has ordered that all female feet be unbound. Anyone refusing to obey will be put in prison. Any man preventing a female from having her feet unbound will be put in prison. You will obey his new foot inspector." 

That's when everyone looked at me.  I walked into the first home. The mother and father jumped to their feet then bowed. (I think this was because I had been given importance).  I saw a preciousl little girl holding on to the leg of her mother.  Her feet looked short and stubby. Layers of cloth had been wrapped to keep her feet from growing the way God planned.

I pointed to little one, "Unbind those feet!" The mother immediately sat her daughter on her lap and unwrapped the cloths.  Her little toes had curled so the toenails poked into the bottom of her foot.  I rubbed her tiny feet, pushing the toes to uncurl. Her mother and  father watched. 

I think they expected the little girl to scream or cry.  Her soft feet unfolded. She began to giggle when I ran my finger along the bottom of her foot.

The mother laughed. The father laughed. They ran to the other homes and showed the little girls feet. Soon all the little girls giggled with their unbound feet. 

The favorite part of my day with the villagers was telling them Bible stories. Once they realized I came to help, and that I had importance, they gathered to hear stories about Jesus.

There is so much more to tell! I will see you next week.

Gladys