“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
2019 was the 70th anniversary of a revival that took place in the Scottish Hebrides. The Hebrides are a chain of islands located 40 miles west of the mainland of Scotland at the entrance to the Irish Sea. From these remote islands spawned a story that changed the course of history.
In the late 1940’s, in a small cottage on the island of Lewis, lived two elderly women, Peggy and Christine Smith. They were 84 and 82, one was blind and the other bent over with arthritis. Unable to attend the Presbyterian Church in the village, they met God in prayer in their humble cottage. They prayed for revival in their islands. “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground,” they pleaded day and night in prayer. They prayed for the village church to be revived and be once again crowded with young people! They sent for the minister and asked him to assemble the elders and deacons together to pray. An awareness of God filled the room and the power of the Holy Spirit was felt. One of those saved was the ladies’ nephew, a young boy named Donald Smith. This 15 year old became a prayer-warrior. He was often found on his knees with an open Bible “having an audience with the King.” Donald assisted the pastor and led in prayer during the services. An evangelist, Duncan Campbell was asked to preach a series of evangelistic meetings, but felt he was getting nowhere. The congregation was quite content in their stiff, cold, dead religious routines. He noticed Donald in the front row, weeping quietly and praying. He asked him to stand and pray. In just three sentences, the prayer of that young believer so affected the assembly, those formal churchgoers began crying out to God for mercy, in heartfelt repentance. The Spirit of God swept through the island and almost every family had someone saved that night.
The Hebrides Revival was about people being saved and Christians being renewed. Their eternal destiny was preached: heaven or hell? A great sense of the fear of God pervaded the area. Spontaneous conversions happened everywhere. In many ways, it was a young people’s phenomenon. Many teenagers and those under the age of 40 were converted. People did not want to go home when the services were over! They would linger at church or go to nearby homes for more fellowship and singing. This movement of the Spirit lasted 3-4 years.
Peggy and Christine Smith had a niece who left Scotland and immigrated to New York City in the 1930’s. Her name was Mary Anne and she was a cousin of Donald Smith. She met a man named Frederick Trump and they got married. They subsequently had five children, one of them they named Donald and he became the 45th president of the United States! Little did those two elderly sisters, who wanted to see God move in a fishing village on Lewis Island, imagine their prayers would reach around the world and their great-nephew would bring about change and a move of God to the Nations. God has appointed Donald Trump for such a time as this. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chron. 7:14.
On one of Mary Anne’s visits to Lewis, she was given Donald Smith’s Bible. She in turn gave it to her son Donald, and it’s in the Oval Office today! Church arise, put your armor on and do mighty exploits for God!
Your friend, Jean