«Those who listen to instructions will prosper; those who trust the Lord will be joyful»(Proverbs 16:20, NLT).

Mary Jones was born in Wales in 1784. At the age of ten she had two great desires: to learn to read and to have her own Bible. The first desire was fulfilled when a school was opened three kilometers from her home. But the second one looked to be very difficult, because back then a copy of the Bible was extremely expensive. To achieve this, she decided to do some occasional work for the neighbors: raising chickens, selling their eggs, gathering straw, helping mothers with their chores and taking care of their children. For six years Mary saved her money. In the end, she had enough to buy a copy of the Holy Scriptures.

Mary found out that there was a pastor named Thomas Charles who lived forty miles from her home, who sold versions of the Bible in Welsh. Thomas Charles was moved in hearing Mary’s story. «I love the Bible,» she said. «I have loved it ever since I was a child and listened when they read from it at meetings I attended with my father and mother. Then they opened the school when I was ten years old, and I learned how to read. Now I want my own Bible.» However, Pastor Charles told her that he no longer had Bibles in Welsh because the Religious Tracts Society had refused to print more in this language. Mary began to weep disconsolately. Thomas Charles took pity on her and sold her a copy of the Bible in Welsh that he had promised to another person. The girl went away happily with her copy of the Holy Scriptures.

Mary’s experience motivated Pastor Charles to go to a meeting of the Religious Tracts Society in 1802 to relay what had happened. When he finished, he urged members to consider forming a new society dedicated to printing and distributing the Bible in the Welsh language. On that day in December, the British and Foreign Bible Society was formed. They had their first meeting on March 7, 1804, and collected seven hundred sterling pounds for the printing and distribution of Bibles all over the world.

Mary never thought that she would play such an important role in God’s plans for this planet. The Lord used her to put the Bible in the hands of millions of people. That is what God does; He can use the noble dreams of a young man or a lady to transform the world.

Today, remember that no matter how simple your life may be, God can use you to spread His Word to every corner  of our planet