John and Betty Stam

Betty Stam, who was executed as a missionary in China, wrote at age 18:
Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, All my own desires and hopes, And accept Thy will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all Utterly to Thee to be Thine forever.Fill me and seal me with Thy Holy Spirit. Use me as Thou wilt, send me where Thou wilt. And work out They whole will in my life, at any cost, Now and forever.

John, her husband, in writing to his father mentioned the prevailing dangers which lay ahead, had enclosed verses which, though written by another, he said expressed his own feelings.

Afraid?
Afraid? Of what?
To feel the spirit’s glad release?
To pass from pain to perfect peace,
The strife and strain of life to cease?
Afraid—of that?

Afraid? Of what?
Afraid to see the Savior’s face,
To hear His welcome, and to trace
The glory gleam from wounds of grace?
Afraid—of that?

Afraid? Of what?
A flash—a crash—a pierced heart;
Darkness—Light—O Heaven’s art?
A wound of His a counterpart!
Afraid?—of that?

Afraid? Of what?
To do by death what life could not—
Baptize with blood a stony plot,
Till souls shall blossom from the spot?
Afraid?—of that?