Frances Owens served selflessly. She did not fly overseas and share the gospel in a different language. But she prayed for missionaries who did. She may not have led hundreds to the Lord, but she prayed for the lost. She did not study medicine to help heal the sick. But she prayed for the ill. Many whom Owens prayed for may never know her name. But God heard her.
Owens was a member of Marion Baptist Church, where she raised her children. “She said that every time she was conscious, she was praying,” said her daughter, Carolyn Hoover. When speaking of her mother, Hoover thought of the song lyrics, “And he walks with me and he talks with me.” Owens loved to do gardening, and she used that time to talk with the Lord, fostering a deep relationship with her Maker. But life wasn’t easy for Owens.
In the 1970s, her husband suffered two aneurysms, which left him needing a caretaker. Owens faithfully cared for him for 20 years before he passed away in 1993, after losing her son in 1992. It was during the difficult times that she dedicated herself to praying every day through Missions Mosaic, a monthly magazine of the national Woman’s Missionary Union.
She told her pastor, Adam Work, that the first thing that she did every morning was pray through the Missions Mosaic. She scheduled time with the Lord, instead of simply praying when someone came to mind.
Pastor Work said, “We will make time for anybody else in this earth …. But God’s more important. I need to schedule to be with the Master, and I think that’s what Frances did. She met with the Lord every day to pray with Him and to study His Word.”
On Feb. 20, Owens went home to be with the One she prayed to. But her life of prayer remains an example to us. Her prayers also left an impact on the kingdom.
Before Owens died, she told Pastor Work that he needed to find someone to carry the torch and keep praying for the missionaries. She had spent over 50 years faithfully praying for them. Will you carry the torch?