Mabel Lee
We all have ideas about how we want our stories to go. When I was little, I wanted to be a doctor or maybe the President. But now as a grown-up, I am neither of those things. Sometimes our hopes and dreams are possible. Other times they are not. What do we do when we work really hard for something only to find out we cannot achieve it? What about if we plan ahead and know what we want, but then realize we are supposed to do something else?
What do you do when your plans don’t work out?
This month, we wanted to share the story of one such StoryMaker who imagined and hoped for one life, but who learned that God had another plan.
Mabel Ping-Hua Lee was born in 1897 in Guangzhou, China. Her father was a missionary, and in 1905, when Mabel won a scholarship, her family moved to New York City. She went to school in Brooklyn and got involved in the fight for women’s suffrage, the right to vote. In 1912, at just sixteen years old, Mabel led a parade from Greenwich Village to protest for the right to vote.
She attended Barnard College and then graduated with a PhD in Economics from Columbia University, becoming the first Chinese woman to do so. Mabel planned to return to China and start a girls’ school. But when her father passed away in 1924, Mabel took over his role at their church. She became the Director of the First Chinese Baptist Church. She later founded the Chinese Christian Center, which provided English classes, a health clinic, and a kindergarten.
Mabel was probably disappointed at first that her plans to start a school in China did not work out the way she thought they would. BUT, guess what??? God gave Mabel an amazing story, one she could not have imagined for herself. She was a young teen speaking for justice and equality for women and was given a path to educate and provide health to her community.
Mabel’s favorite hymn, “This is my Father’s world,” reminds us that we can rest knowing our plans may come and go, but God’s plans never will. StoryMakers hold tight to the truth that God has a story for each of us and will create paths for us to walk in, paths we could never imagine for ourselves.
Let’s get crafty.
