Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)
Born into slavery in the early years of the Civil War, Louise’s first pursuits included education. After a stint as a public educator, she became the first female black missionary appointed by the American Baptist Convention. In 1887, she sailed to the Congo, where she used education to improve the lives of the children she met there.
As her own health deteriorated, she was forced back to the states in 1891. Realizing the importance of proper medical care for the people she loved in Congo, she enrolled that same year in the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia. Four years later, she returned to Congo, the only known female medical doctor in the entire country. She worked for the health (physical and spiritual) of the Congolese people over the next four years before dying at the age of 37 from African sleeping sickness.
Over a hundred years later, she continues to shine as an example of bending your life around scripture’s instruction to “consider others more important than yourself” (Phillippians 2:3).
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