Virginia Hall was an ordinary American woman whose selfless
and heroic actions --below the radar-- largely altered the course of history.
In the 2019 book A Woman of No Importance: The Untold
Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II, author Sonia Purnell
reveals the incredible story of a largely unknown woman who worked as an
undercover agent for the United Kingdom’s special operations in Nazi-occupied France.
She operated as a spy in a sphere which was an unknown and inconceivable role
for a woman at that time. But more than merely gathering intelligence, Virginia
was one of the key on-the-ground initiators of the French Resistance, heroically
conducting espionage, sabotage, and recruiting thousands of resistance fighters
in cities and hidden enclaves in the French countryside to push back against the
darkness of the Nazi invaders.
Insurmountable was not in her vocabulary. Narrow squeaks were always around the next
corner. Her strength was in her audacious spirit, her willingness to live
anonymously in harsh conditions, and her ability to encourage those who were
overwhelmed, discouraged, and paralyzed by fear of the dark. And driven by her love for France. She was certainly not enduring these experiences
for her meager salary or fame.
As the first female secret agent who was repeatedly
discounted and scoffed by her peers, her disadvantages actually worked to her
advantage. Indeed, described as a “woman
of no importance,” ironically created opportunities for her. Who would expect that this strikingly
beautiful woman with a prosthetic leg was a serious contender of
subversive activity? Her daily choices
–and personal sacrifices—started a chain reaction of monumental consequences. Living
way below the radar and willing to change locations or appearances at a
moment’s notice served as a grand disguise to protect her from the Nazi forces,
who were determined to eliminate her. She
created intricate networks of underground resistance agents and fighters to
undermine the enemy. She rallied a huge
movement of ordinary citizens who collaborated to accomplish the extraordinary,
clandestinely aiding the Allies, rescuing pilots who had been shot down, hiding
Jewish refugees and helping them to escape.
Through major battles and at the end of the war, French and Allied
military officials claimed the glory for the survival of France, but as in most
of life, it was those secret workers, the unknown people of the Resistance who
turned the tide, those who worked, lived and died sacrificially under the radar
to make things happen. Each individual was not just a “necessary” component, but
as a vital force that directly impacted millions of lives.
“For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor
is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.” (Luke 8. 17) Most of which we will not comprehend until
the other side of life. As in Virginia’s
incredible story, there is so much of which we are unaware.
In one sense and in many dimensions, as believers, we are
all secret souls that work below the radar for an eternal Kingdom with
unexpected love and grace in unlikely places.
We are all strategically positioned in time and place, and divinely
appointed to serve God. Nothing is random
at all, but pivots on how we respond.
Even though our actions, words and even attitudes may not
appear on the surface as anything heroic, there are no small obediences,
nothing that God does not use powerfully.
Am I faithful to Him? Even in what
He has placed before me?
Behind the scenes, Judy and her husband, decades ago,
prepared and served the Wednesday evening meal at a small church we were a part
of, week after week. They may or may not
have realized the significance of their hard behind-the-scenes work, but as a
young mom with three children, three and under, they contributed enormously to
my own physical and spiritual well-being.
And multiplied my understanding of grace, what faithfulness looks like
in real time, and trusting God for the fruit I will never see.
At the church where I grew up, an older single woman Miss
Ruth taught kindergarten Sunday School for so many years, grandchildren of her
students were even instructed in God’s Word under her care. I was never in her class, but I watched this
kind and gentle saint greet the children as they came into her classroom. She did not fill a niche, or find her “calling,”
but stood in the gap for the next generation.
And as with Virginia, it was not anything but love that drove her to
persevere.
When the adversary whispers, “What you are doing doesn’t
matter,” we can know it always does, whether it is recognized or acknowledge or
even ignored.
Because serving God is always redeemed in one way or a
million. We are all secret agents of
grace. It is not a matter of hiding, disguising,
or avoiding the spotlight. But being
faithful in whatever God places on our hearts or paths. And pushing back the darkness.
There is nothing mundane in His Kingdom, and
someday all will be revealed. We don’t have to be acknowledged, or known, for
God to get the glory. Just to be faithful to Him in the unexpected, unknown,
unlikely, and even in what we may see as ordinary. Insignificant never appears in God’s
vocabulary.
There is nothing irrelevant for His eternal
purposes. Even when we are unaware of
it, God is using us to make His invisible Kingdom visible.
So also good works are conspicuous,
and even those that are not
cannot
remain hidden.
1
Timothy 5. 25
