Svea Flood.
You’ve never heard of her.
I hadn’t either.
So often, we look at our lives and wonder if we have made, are making, or ever really will make a difference for Christ. Will Jesus look at us and say, “Well done.”?
The answer for all but a few is that we simply do not know the impact our lives have on others. And, on this side of heaven, we might never know.
Perhaps that’s why so many of us love the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” George Bailley doesn’t know the impact he had on his hometown until an angel shows him what his town would have been like had he not been born. In his own mind, he had had little impact. But in truth, his life had had a tremendous impact for the good in his town. His life had made a difference.
A real-life illustration of this can be found in the life of Svea Flood. Svea was a woman who went to her grave believing her life hadn’t made a difference—when in fact, she helped bring an entire village to Christ.
I am going to provide a brief summary of her life—but if you want to learn more, Randy Alcom wrote an excellent piece on her life which can be found in the January/ February issue of evangelicalmagazine.com. For the full story, in rich detail, read Aggie Hurst: The Inspiring Story of a Girl Without A Country published by Gospel Publishing House (Aggie was Svea’s Daughter).
Here is Svea’ s story:
In 1921, David and Svea Flood, a missionary couple traveled, with their two-year old son, from Sweden to the Belgian Congo in the heart of Africa. There, they met the Ericksons, another couple from Scandinavia, and the four of them sought direction from God. After a period of time, they felt that God was leading them to go from the main mission station to take the gospel to a remote area.
At a village, N’dolera, the chief would not let them enter the village because he was afraid their presence would alienate the local gods. So, the two couples went a half a mile up the slope, and there they built their own mud huts.
They had prayed to bring the native residents to Christ, but nothing happened. In fact, the only villager they were in contact with was a young boy who was permitted to sell them chickens and eggs twice each week. Svea, a tiny woman who was only four feet eight inches tall, decided she would try to lead this young boy to Christ. And she succeeded. He was the only convert.
Soon, each member of their small party was infected with Malaria. The Ericksons had had enough and decided to return to the central mission station. Svea and David Flood remained, and soon Svea learned she was pregnant. The village chief softened a bit, and allowed a midwife to assist her. She delivered a little girl, Aina. Svea, already weakened from bouts of malaria, lived only seventeen more days.
David Flood broke. He dug a crude grave, buried his twenty-seven-year-old wife, and took his children back to the mission station. He gave newborn Aina to the Ericksons, and vowed to return to Sweden, declaring that "God has ruined my life."
This tragic story continues. The Ericksons were stricken with a mysterious sickness and died within days of each other. The baby was turned over to American missionaries, who changed her name to “Aggie,” They brought Aggie to the United States when she was three years old. Aggie grew up in South Dakota, attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis, and married Dewey Hurst, who became president of a Christian college in the Seattle area. Aggie gave birth to a son and a daughter.
Then, one day, Aggie opened her mailbox, and inside was a Swedish religious magazine. She didn’t know who sent it to her—and she couldn’t read Swedish, but as she turned the pages, she came upon a photo that startled her. The photo was of a grave with a white cross—and on it were the words, SVEA FLOOD.
Aggie took the magazine to a college faculty member. He translated the article about the missionaries who went to N’dolera—the birth of a white baby—the death of Svea—and of a little African boy she had led to Christ. But, the story didn’t end there. The article went on to say that the little boy grew up, persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village, and gradually, this boy led all of his students to Christ. Then, he led their parents to Christ. Finally, he led the chief to Christ. At the time the article was written, there were 600 believers in this one village.
On their 25th anniversary, Aggie and her husband visited Sweden. Aggie sought out her father. David had remarried, had four more children, but was an alcoholic and had suffered a stroke. He had one rule: no one was to mention God to him because he believed God had taken everything from him. The mention of God caused him to go into a rage.
Aggie got to see her father. He told her he had never meant to give her away. She explained that God had taken care of her. Her father began speaking of his anger toward God, but Aggie was not deterred. She told him how the one little seed they had planted in that one little boy had grown into a large tree of believers. Over the course of their time together, David returned to God. Within weeks of the couple’s return to America, David died.
But the story doesn’t end there.
Several years later, Aggie and her husband attended an evangelical conference in England. A report was given by the superintendent of the national church of Zaire, the former Belgian Congo. The national church had 110,000 believers. Afterward, Aggie approached the speaker and asked if he had heard of her parents, David and Svea Flood. He said, “Yes, madam. Svea Flood led me to Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. To this day, your mother’s grave and her memory are honored by all of us.”
He invited Aggie to Africa and she went. There, she visited her mother’s grave and attended church.
What was the scripture that was read in church that day?
John 12:24 and Psalm 126:5 (New Living Translation):
“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But, if it dies, it produces many seed.”
“Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.”
You do not know the impact your life will have on the Kingdom.
Praise God.
Share the Good News.
Let the Holy Spirit empower your witness.