Week 10: Lilias Trotter
Character Traits: Evangelism, Endurance, Compassion, Determination
Lilias Trotter was born in 1853 to a wealthy family. Growing up amid the privileged surroundings of London’s West End during the Golden Age of Victoria, Lilias experienced the many benefits of physical wealth. Though she was blessed with a great many luxuries, young Lilias was often unaware of her own spiritual emptiness. It wasn’t until her mid-twenties when she attended a series of Christian conferences that she became apprehensive of her great need for the Lord.
Her freshly kindled faith was stretched and applied to volunteer missionary work with YWCA at Welbeck Street Institute, a home for London working girls; her heart also reached out to women of a more questionable occupation. Her heart was moved with compassion for these “lost sheep,” and along with offering them training in an employable skill, she introduced them to the Good Shepherd.
As Lilias continued her mission work, she also became close friends with renowned Victorian art critic, John Ruskin, due to her incredible natural gift in painting. He was a valued mentor in her life; he predicted that she could be a great painter, possibly one remembered for centuries to come, if she could pursue her art career full time. After much prayer, she felt compelled to keep pursuing ministry and dedicate herself fully to seeking God’s kingdom first.
She felt the Lord calling her to bring the gospel to the people of Algeria. For the next forty years, Lilias established stations along the coast of North Africa and deeper south in the Sahara desert. While in Algeria, Lilias created beautiful watercolors along with Bible verses and combined her gifts as a missionary, faith-filled writer, and artist. At her death in 1928, she had established thirteen missions and oversaw the Algiers Mission Band.
“Exhaust the human possibilities of a situation and then trust God to do what is humanly impossible.”
―Lilias Trotter
Image credit: Lilias Trotter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons“And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”
Easy Recipe from Algeria: Algerian Souffle Bread
Recipe credits: https://cookpad.com/us/recipes/16532826-algerian-souffle-bread?ref=search&search_term=algeria
Ingredients:
300 g fine semolina
200 g all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon seeds (anise/nigella)
5 tablespoons olive oil or neutral oil
1 1/2 cups warm water (about 350 ml)
For shaping:
1 cup semolina
Instructions:
Mix the sugar and active dry yeast in the warm water, cover, and let the yeast activate.
Pour the fine semolina and all-purpose flour into a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, add the seeds, and mix.
Combine with the first mixture to form a stiff dough.
Knead for 5 minutes, then gradually incorporate the rest of the mixture while kneading until the dough becomes soft, smooth, and sticky.
Shape into a ball, then brush with oil, cover with plastic wrap or a towel, and let the dough rise until it doubles in size.
Place the semolina in a bowl.
Divide the dough into two, shape into two balls, then roll in the semolina and flatten with your hands to a thickness of 1 cm (about 1/2 inch).
Place on towels sprinkled with semolina, cover, and let rise.
Bake at 480°F (250°C) for about 15 minutes (+/-).
Biographies:
A Passion for the Impossible: The Life of Lilias Trotter by Miriam Huffman Rockness
Parables of the Cross by Lilias Trotter
The Way of the Sevenfold Secret by Lilias Trotter
