Through Wars and Tragedies: A Story of Faithfulness

Sometimes we hear a story that needs to be shared. In our winter donor newsletter, we gave you a glimpse of Mrs. Matsushita. Now, let us tell you her full story. Her daughter, Ms. Junko Onodera, wrote the Japanese editor of The Upper Room, telling him how much the daily devotional guide meant to her mother who died at the age of 115. At the time of her death, she was the second-oldest person living in Japan.

Mrs. Shin Matsushita was born in 1904 in the city of Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. She was adopted by the Matsushita family when she was eight months old. When she grew up, she got a job as a telephone operator. She started attending a church and was baptized. She married a Christian, and they had three daughters.

In her letter to the editor, Ms. Onodera wrote: Despite wars, sanctions by the Japanese military on Christians during World War II, financial challenges, family illnesses, and her husband’s tragic death, her mother kept her faith and was always empowered by the Lord.

Through it all, Mrs. Matsushita read The Upper Room first thing in the morning. In the final years of her life, her three daughters would take turns reading the meditation to their mother every morning until she passed away peacefully on August 27, 2019.

What a faithful, devoted servant of the Lord! The Upper Room feels blessed and honored that the daily devotional played such an integral role in Mrs. Matsushita’s long life.

Although the Japanese edition of The Upper Room has been self-sustaining for many years, many of The Upper Room’s 37 language editions are not. They need the generous support each year from our donors to stay afloat.

Your donation to The Upper Room language editions will not only help to sustain and grow the language editions that are trying to become self-sufficient but will also help us to develop new ones, where there is demand and need.

When you give to the International Editions of The Upper Room, you help people around the world connect with God in their native tongue, a gift that is truly priceless. Will you give today?