Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

Hinds' Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard

A timeless mystical classic. Beloved by Christian women. A beautiful gift.

How deeply we who love the Lord of Love, and desire to follow him, long for the power to surmount all difficulties and tests and conflicts in life in the same exultant and triumphant way. To learn the secret of victorious living has been the heart's desire of those in every generation who love the Lord. - Hannah Hurnard

Hinds' Feet on High Places is an allegory of the Christian life, much like The Pilgrim's Progress. The protagonist is not however a Mr. Greatheart, rather she is Much-Afraid. We begin with her in the village of Much-Trembling in the Valley of Humiliation, surrounded by her relatives The Fearings. She is a servant of the Chief Shepherd, whom she deeply desires to please, and she seems to be happy filling her mind with verses from the Song of Songs. Secretly, she feels defeated by life; her mouth is crooked, deforming her face and her speech, and she is crippled, able only to limp and stumble through life. Finally, her relatives all hate the Chief Shepherd, and are about to force her to marry Craven Fear whom she despises. Her dream is to have feet like a hind's that will carry her gracefully to the High Places, far from the Valley of Humiliation and into the Kingdom of Love.

The book is an extended meditation on the victorious life, and on the Song of Songs. It is far from sentimental. Although it is an allegory, its protagonist, Much-Afraid, is a very real character, because she is partly based on Hannah Hurnard. This realism fully engages the reader, and is one of the reasons that Hind's Feet on High Places has powerfully moved so many.

Hannah Hurnard was born in 1905 in Colchester, England, to Quaker parents. She suffered many phobias and, in addition, had a stutter. Growing up she did not feel the presence of God in any way, but rather found the Bible and all things religious intensely boring. At the age of nineteen, all that dramatically changed, and she felt that God was asking her to serve him with her stuttering mouth. She developed a love of the Bible, went to Bible College, and then to Haifa, Israel as a missionary. She became a successful writer. Hind's Feet on High Places is her most famous book.

Hannah Hurnard was plagued by numerous fears and phobias. She even acquired a stuttering problem, which became worse when she had to talk in front of people she didn't know. Hannah was melancholy by the time she was 19 years old. She considered suicide, but her concerns kept her from doing so. Hannah's speech issue was a sacrifice that God accepted and used for His glory.

Christ healed her stuttering so that she could plainly share the message with others. Even though she continued to struggle with a fearful attitude, the Bible became a treasure and a thrill to her. Hannah, on the other hand, gained deliverance over time as she continued to obey the Lord. As a result of her encounters with the Lord, she went on to write the best-selling Hinds' Feet on High Places.

She arrived in Israel as a Jewish missionary in 1932 and stayed until the 1948 battle for independence. She worked as a housekeeper at a hospital in Israel, a job she despised before her surrender but now enjoys.