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DIFFICULT YEAR linda evans shepherd | lindashepherd.com
We’re not the first generation to face disappointment, which is why I’d like to introduce you to my hero. former slave and
gold rush entrepreneur Clara Brown. Born in 1800, Clara experienced the hardships of slavery, yet her heart remained free in Jesus. But, being a believer didn’t mean God answered every one of her prayers. When Clara married Richard, they were both slaves on the same farm where they raised their family. But when their owner died, her family was forced to face a Kentucky auction block. Clara’s husband and son were sold downriver to work the worst of the plantations, forever lost to Clara. Even worse, Clara’s ten-year-old daughter, Eliza Jane, was sold to a stranger, a mother’s worse nightmare. Clara herself was sold to Mr. Brown, a local plantation owner, to work in his kitchen with a slave named Becky Johnson. When Mr. Brown died, he willed Clara and Becky their freedom. Clara soon joined a wagon train headed for Denver, where she worked as a cook, conquering prejudice as she befriended the cowboys who were headed out to become gold miners. When she got to the Colorado high country, she opened a laundry in Central City. Being a successful businesswoman, Clara even managed to grubstake some of her miner friends, and they all struck it rich. Her riches allowed her to continue her search for her daughter through newspaper ads across the South. When Governor Pitkin invited Clara to become Colorado’s ambassador to Kansas to help the former slaves, Clara didn’t hesitate. She spent what was left of her fortune to feed the hungry and helped stop the black settlers’ rampant starvation.
She even led a delegation of former slaves, via wagon train, to jobs in Colorado.
But her 50-year search for her daughter mounted to nothing. It wasn’t until she was on her deathbed that she finally got the telegram: Eliza Jane was found! It seems Eliza’s best friend, Becky Johnson, had recently migrated to Council Bluff, Iowa. On her first Sunday at the African Methodist Church, Becky told a fellow worshipper Clara’s tragic story. The woman responded, “My mother was named Clara, and I grew up on a Kentucky farm.” Becky had found the missing Eliza Jane!
When Clara got Becky’s telegram, Clara got off her deathbed and took a train to Iowa and was reunited with her daughter at long last. Even though Clara never pretended, she understood the ways of the Lord. She trusted Him all along, despite separation from her family, hardships, war, fires, and floods. It took 50 years, but the Lord led Clara to her heart’s desire— her daughter’s arms. Through it all, Clara’s favorite saying was, “I go where my Jesus send me.” Let’s pray the same:
Dear Lord, this has been a difficult season and year, but like Clara, I will trust You and go wherever you send me. In Jesus’ name. 29.
