High Calling Magazine

The official publication of The Francis Asbury Society

A Love Affair With Jesus Christ

Elsie Blake Kinlaw
February 3,1921 – July 10, 2003
Written by her granddaughter Cricket Albertson

Sixty-four years ago this September, a lovely slender girl made her way to Asbury College in Wilmore, KY, from Schenectady, New York, for her first semester of college study. Little did she know how dramatically her life would be changed during her time at Asbury. Elsie Blake came to Asbury College because it had a pretty name and because her father had heard that it was a Christian school. Within two weeks of Elsie’s freshman year, Asbury held a Fall Revival. At that Revival Elsie Kinlaw met the Lord Jesus, and her life was never the same after that encounter. Walking back to her dorm, she said that the presence of Jesus was so real that she felt his physical reality by her side. A month before she went to heaven, Elsie said of that meeting with Jesus, “I have never been able to get away from what Jesus did for me that day in Hughes Auditorium.” Several weeks later, Elsie was bouncing down her dormitory stairs, and she looked out a window. At that moment, she heard Jesus whisper to her, “You have given me your heart; would you give me your whole life?” Her answer to Him in that moment characterized every other answer she would ever give to Him: “Oh, Jesus, Yes!”

Elsie Kinlaw’s life is completely inexplicable apart from these two experiences with the Lord Jesus. Hereafter, her life was marked by a passionate love for Jesus, for people, and for service. Those commitments that Elsie made to Jesus never had to be made again. They determined every other decision she made, and they became the cornerstone for all that Jesus would do with her life. One of the most impressive achievements to me, her granddaughter, was how she kept her first love. I want to know the secret of her surrendered life. I think that she had three ways of maintaining her love relationship with Jesus Christ. First of all, she sought His presence. She found delight in spending time with Him, and she insisted on that time. If she had any spare moments, she would go off into a quiet corner and begin to talk to Jesus. He was her relaxation and her strength. Secondly, she listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit. When He whispered to her heart, she immediately obeyed. As a result of this listening heart, she made the choice to separate herself from anything that contained a taint of sin. One story that particularly impacted me occurred when she was a young bride. She was staying with her family while her new husband was preaching. She said that she heard the Holy Spirit whisper to her not to spend her evenings watching TV, so when her family would watch television, she would sneak upstairs and work on a scrapbook and pray for her new husband who was out telling people about Jesus. It was in decisions like this, apparently small decisions, that the pattern of her life was set. Not recreation first, not Elsie first, not even family first, but Jesus first. The rest of her life, she consistently prayed through the hours when her husband was preaching. The choice for Jesus first had been established long before. She was willing to live without anything as long as she had Jesus. Finally, she never let anything come between herself and her first love. If she felt she had offended Him in any way, she immediately turned and asked for His forgiveness. Amazingly, she was even free to ask for her granddaughter’s forgiveness if she felt she had spoken in haste! She lived her life with a clean heart and with a passionate commitment to let the Holy Spirit keep it clean.

Not long after Elsie Blake fell in love with Jesus, she gave her testimony at a prayer meeting. There was one in the audience who listened with more than a casual interest; Dennis Kinlaw knew in that prayer meeting that he wanted to marry a girl who loved Jesus as Elsie Blake did. They began dating, and Elsie fell in love with Dennis the way she had fallen in love with the Lord Jesus – completely, unconditionally, and forever. The love story of Dennis and Elsie Kinlaw is a testimony to the type of faithful, passionate, and devoted love that is possible between a husband and wife. In the last year of her life, Elsie was extremely fearful of germs and illness because she was fighting hard to live. One morning I came into their house while she was saying good-bye to my grandfather. It was a rather subdued parting; I think she kissed his cheek. When they saw me, she smiled and said, “When we get to heaven, we are going to spend the first five hundred years kissing.” Fifty-nine years later, and she was as in love with Dennis as on the day she became his bride.

But their love testifies to more. It symbolizes the passionate and faithful love that is possible between Christ and His church. The purity and faithfulness of their love came because of their commitment to “Jesus First.” Elsie’s life verse became Matthew 6:33. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.” This was a good word, for when she married Dennis, she left behind all creature comforts and security in order to follow Jesus with her new husband. I have witnessed firsthand that if we make Jesus first, then we are able to love others more freely and more devotedly. Matthew 6:33 became the watchword of their life and family together, not only in prosperous times, but also in times of pain, uncertainty, and sickness. One of the most remarkable stories occurred in the last month of her life. Elsie was confined to bed, Hospice had been called in, and we all knew that the end was near. Dennis had several preaching appointments that he felt he should take. When he went to Elsie to ask her what he should do, she replied, knowing that she could die while he was gone, “Go Dennis and tell them about Jesus!” He went.

Out of Elsie’s love relationship with Jesus came many fruits. First of all, Elsie loved other people. She loved passionately and completely, and she loved in truth. She had a commitment that never wavered to speaking the truth. And to those she loved, she spoke about the central reality of her life. The central truth in all reality for her was Jesus, and she told everyone that she possibly could about the One who is Truth. If a person saw her only occasionally or met her only one time, she would get right down to business and ask whether that one knew Jesus and whether he or she was living with a clean heart. She never minced words, and she never waited for a better opportunity. Her love relationship with the Lord Jesus was such that she talked about Him wherever she went and with whomever she met.

I remember countless times when she would share her faith with waitresses, servers, and clerks about the difference that Jesus can make in a human heart and life. She knew what a difference He could make because He had made such a difference in her own heart. She would share her love for Jesus in such a way that each person wanted her to return. Her sweetness, her honesty, and her overflowing love were an irresistible combination.

Elsie Kinlaw also lived a life of prayer. Whenever she had a quiet moment she would get out her prayer list and begin to go to Jesus with the names on that list. Almost every person she met ended up on that prayer list, and she would faithfully pray for the person’s salvation, sanctification, and surrender to the call of God on each life. She loved to pray and to challenge people to go into missions—to give their entire lives to God. Her number one passion was for the world and, in particular, for China. Her dream of being a missionary to China was fulfilled in the burden that she carried for that country. In her last prayer journal is this statistic. “One out of every three people who go to hell today are Chinese.” Her comment on this was, “We cannot ignore that sad statistic for the most populous nation of the world. China must be a major thrust for world missions.” Until the very end of her life, she was committed to praying for the evangelization of that nation.
Her prayers took the form of action as well. When she was First Lady of Asbury College, her prayer group began to pray for the children of Wilmore and High Bridge and to get a burden for their salvation. Even though she had a busy husband, five children, and a stressful house to run, she took the time to go and to bring those little ones to Sunday School and church every Sunday. Out of that ministry to those children came eternal fruit; children and families were saved and transformed because several women cared enough to put their prayers into action.

She also prayed for small, seemingly inconsequential concerns or concerns that no one else would think about. Perhaps at this point, her family had the opportunity to witness more miracles than did others. Let me give you a few examples. She prayed over her wardrobe, that every piece in it would be appropriate and bring glory to Jesus. For her daughters and granddaughters, going into her closet after she went to heaven and looking at the handful of things that she owned was a moving experience. Jesus was there—even in her closet. She prayed over her children’s and grandchildren’s toys. When Denny was a child, she prayed he would not lose his baseball glove, and he kept it until after he married. She prayed that all her grandchildren would be born in the daytime so the mommies would not be so tired; and they were! She prayed for safety for her sons-in-law and grandsons-in-law when they were traveling; she prayed for beautiful weather for wedding days. To be quite frank, she prayed about everything; there was nothing too small and nothing too large to be taken to Jesus. I remember as a child, we cringed a bit when Goosie said, “Let’s just pray a minute” because we knew that that minute would be a very long time.* I remember as an adult, running into her room and asking her to pray for various specific requests. I knew that if I asked her to pray, she would pray with all her heart. Even at the very end of her life, people were coming to her bedside and asking her to pray over them and over their spouses and over their children. Elsie knew that when we cry out to Jesus, He answers, and she claimed that reality in her life and in the lives of everyone she knew.

All of the Francis Asbury Society family have benefited from her prayers. She has prayed for every supporter, every meeting, and every evangelist. The FAS office knew that if a meeting was coming, they had to get a list of those attending to Mrs. Elsie so that she could pray for each one.

In her prayer journal was this quote, “One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have not been awakened by His Spirit.” Elsie Kinlaw’s life had been awakened by the Holy Spirit, and she lived in fellowship with Him. Because of His presence, the love of Jesus radiated from her life in such a way that it drew all kinds of people to her and to her beloved Lord Jesus. She had ministry to people of all ages. Children loved to come and bring her gifts; college girls came to her for counseling; young mothers listened to her advice and her challenges; couples and families watched her and modeled their relationships on hers; and older women became prayer partners for families and for the world. Even during the last year when she was confined to her house, she had a worldwide ministry through love, through prayer, and through her very life that so clearly reflected the life of her Savior. The hundreds who came to her Celebration testified to the way God had used her life in multitudes of ways to countless people.

Elsie Kinlaw’s life was a sweet-smelling fragrance to God—a testimony of what God can do with one little woman who says one big “yes” to Jesus.


*Elsie Kinlaw was affectionately known as “Grammy Goose” or “Goosie” to all her grandchildren.


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