George muller biography book

This is a very long book, probably the longest I've read since grad school, and its positive impact on my life correlates directly to how many pages it is.

More than anything, this book inspired me to pray. Like no book that is directly about prayer has ever done, Mueller's exhortations and example caused me to have a far more prayerful mindset in all of life. This led to several major life shifts when I started praying about things I hadn't ever bothered to ask God about. It also led me to catch myself every time I started to compose a speech or start niggling at some troublesome thing while brushing my teeth or washing dishes--Stop, Shannon, you're not doing anyone any good. Pray instead. Approach the One who can actually make a difference in this situation--or in your own heart.

It also encouraged me to generosity, like no other book that is directly about giving has ever done. Mueller's meticulous records of how many donations came in for his work with orphans and missions were an astounding testimony to God's work through His people's generosity. In fact, most of this book is just records of donations, which can make for slow, somewhat dry reading after the first hundred or so pages of this material. However, the cumulative effect was faith-building. With so many donations recorded, there were literally hundreds of notes Mueller copied saying the same thing (this is my modern English paraphrase): "We gave a little according to our ability (say 5 pounds), so God gave us more money, so we gave according to our ability again, and so on . . . so here we are now several years later sending this donation of 100 pounds as the Lord has prospered us." It illustrated the proverb "He who lends to the poor lends to the LORD" in vivid, undeniable color. Because of this, during the pandemic, when we would normally be tempted to lock down like never before, we were able to give more than ever before--in hospitality, and in gifts to mission work--and we found it to be NO loss.

George Mueller's encouragements to have faith built me up in the faith. Here's a sampling of the treasures:

“If our work be His work, He is sure to provide the means for it!” 177

“Lord if Thou hast no need of another Orphan House, I have none.” 191

“He who has infinite wisdom and unfathomable love to us, who therefore knows what is for our real welfare and happiness, . . . cannot exact from us any requirement inconsistent with that love which led Him to lay down His life for us.” 204

All this being said, the book required some wherewithal to get through. First, George Mueller was not ever one to make much of the amazing things that happened through his prayers. You will not find the amazing story of the broken-down milk truck in this tome (though you will find the boiler room!). What you will find is the "steady plodding" of donation records:

"September 29. From two believers 25 pounds for Missions, 'given on their wedding day.'--September 30th. Received 54 coupons, amounting altogether to 177 pounds 19s. 7d. Again and again this donor has kindly sent us similar donations, which invariably have come in most seasonably.--October 2nd. From Yorkshire 1 pound, 'Instead of insuring the glass of the shop windows'" (475).

This, for hundreds upon hundreds of pages. Again, the cumulative effect was CRAZY beneficial. But it was admittedly kind of difficult to want to pick up and read 10 more pages at certain points. And because Mueller won't toot his own horn, downplaying himself at every possible opportunity (or rather, never taking any opportunity to play himself up), I actually got a somewhat better picture of his impact from reading the fascinating records in the back from after his death, like his eulogies, or what newspapers printed about him, or the final chapter by his American biographer.

There are other difficulties as well as these. First, you'll want to keep a currency converter handy, since the value of the British pound has changed over time. The records can be even harder to get through if you don't even know how much each donation actually represents. Second, much of the autobiography is simply compiled from the Annual Reports Mueller published to show clearly how all funds were being used. There will be therefore be a huge section of all the donations recorded for the Orphan work, then he will go BACK in time and the next "chapter" will be about the donations recorded for Missions for over a decade. Sometimes we'll get a small chapter about major events in his life. Anyway, the point is that with all this back and forth, it is very hard to keep track of what donations for one period line up with the donations for the other work for that same period, and where it all fits into the overall timeline of Mueller's life. It's easy to get bogged down, in other words.

I think the American biographer summarized it best when he was approaching Mueller about permission to write a biography: "those four volumes [of your autobiography] were bulky, largely compiled from the Annual Reports, and necessarily containing much repetition. . . . Moreover, I emphasized that there are many lessons of his life that a biographer would feel more free to emphasize than the man himself" (724).

So the effect of this book is FIVE STARS. "This book is power," as another reviewer says! Couldn't agree more.
The experience of READING this book was three stars, and sometimes, honestly, two.

For that reason, I'm tempted to recommend an abridged autobiography over this one... but then, I benefited so much from this one, and I don't know what people take out in the abridged version! So I'm at a loss as to what to recommend--but I will say that I am definitely NOT the loser for having read this. I have only gained.

This book is a treasure chest full of gold for my soul. (It's even almost the shape of a treasure chest, ha!) I thought about sending the book on since it takes up so much room on my shelf, and with that view in mind, I began copying quotations from it into a Word document. Six pages in, I looked at Cap and said, "Okay, I think I need to keep this book." So, here it will stay, an encouraging friend and a treasure trove of healthy nourishment for my soul, challenging me, reminding me, and filling me up. George Mueller's God is MY God! Hallelujah.