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On This Day in Church History

A real event from the story of the church on each calendar day, told with its setting and what came of it, and quoted word for word from sources published before 1931.

On this day · November 12

Müller Opens His Second Orphan House

November 12, 1857 · Ashley Down, Bristol, England

The setting

George Müller had cared for orphans since 1836 without ever asking anyone but God for money. His first large house on Ashley Down opened in 1849 with room for three hundred children, and the waiting list kept growing.

The story

Müller prayed for seven years, often several times a day, for a second house. Under the date November 12, 1857, he wrote that the long-awaited day had come. The new building was ready for four hundred more orphans, and a few days later they began taking children in.

He wrote that the blessing did not surprise him. He had expected it, in full assurance of faith, in God's own time.

“The long looked-for and long prayed-for day had now arrived when the desire of my heart was granted to me, to be able to open the house for four hundred additional orphans.”

Journal, November 12, 1857

What happened next

By February 17, 1858, Müller wrote that he believed he had all the money he needed for a third house too. By 1861 his American editor reported 700 orphans in the buildings and a third building under way for 1,150.

Why it matters: Seven years of daily prayer, answered at last, is a picture of persistent faith.

Source: George Müller, The Life of Trust (1861; 1878 edition), Under the date November 12, 1857. Public domain.

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