An End-Time Handmaiden is one who has a call of God on her life to serve Him unconditionally with trusting obedience. She surrenders her will to Him and joyfully takes up His instead. She joins Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and says with Him, “Not my will but Thine be done.” She takes up her cross and follows Him.

• She surrenders her right to eat as she enters a 21-day fast to receive the double-portion anointing to which she is called. She is an intercessor and learns how to pray the prayers that are on the heart of the Chief Intercessor, Jesus Christ. She has a burden for the nations and will weep for souls, travailing with Paul “until Christ be formed” in them.
• Every Kindred, Every Tribe: She may be of any race, kindred, tongue or tribe, but she loves and serves Jesus as her Bridegroom and soon-coming king. She may differ in many ways in her culture and physical apperance from other End-Time Handmaidens—she may be tall or short, large or small, young or old, in a wheelchair or storng, but she perseveres in prayer and brings forth the fruith of the Kingdom of God in the earth.
• She knows with Paul that she is in a relay race and carries the baton with faithfulness to her calling, ready to pass it on to the next generation when her lap is finished.
• She may be called to preach or she may be hidden in the prayer closet.
• She may travel to another nation and spend the rest of her life serving the Lord there or she may make many short trips to mission fields, coming home to work and raise money for her next journey, or she may simply travel on her knees, touching souls by her intercessions. She may be called to the church or the streets or the workplace, but she knows she’s called. And if she fails or falls, she knows to repent and get up and go on to fulfill her destiny.
• She may be an apostle, a prophetess, an evangelist, pastor or teacher, or she may be a prayer warrior. She may be a doctor, attorney, teacher, nurse, computer technician, housewife, real estate agent, student, pilot, flight attendant, cook or mayor. The call manifests in many ways. She blooms where she is planted. She has a call to press into God and go beyond the limitations of her natural circumstances into the limitlessness of His Kingdom.
• She is a worshipper. Whether she can sing in tune or not, whether she can dance with rhythm and beauty in man’s eyes or not, whether she can play an instrument or not, her heart is toward her Beloved Bridegroom and to Him her “voice is sweet and her countenance is comely.”
• She may be loud and bombastic or quiet and subdued—or both, depending on the move of the Holy Spirit. End-Time Handmaidens are all individuals and diverse—each one is unique. They all bear a certain mark of a calling of God in their spirit.

Raised up of God to call out the ETH: Sister Gwen Shaw received a call of God in her youth and was a missionary to China, going there by faith in 1947 with only $10 in her pocket and no promise of support. When China closed, she continued to work in Taiwan and Hong Kong for many years. In 1963, she was led by the Lord to fast for 21 days and the Lord gave her a double portion anointing. She began to go to the nations and a trail of revival fire followed her wherever she went. She went many times to India, her great love. She wanted to lay her life down for the Lord in the Himalayan Mountains, her love for India was so great. But one day while walking down the street in New Delhi, the Lord spoke to her and asked, “Would you be willing to lay down your desire to be a martyr for Me in the Himalayas?”

She responded, “Lord, I have given you everything— do I have to give up my heart’s desire too?”

“But, what if I have a better plan for you? Would you be willing?” Knowing she could trust Him, she agreed.

In 1970, when she was on a water fast, Sister Gwen received the word of the Lord from a prophet of God. He said an angel met him and told him to go to her and give her the word that “She is raised up of God to call out the End-Time Handmaidens.”

Sympathetic Vibrations: Have you ever been around a piano when a loud noise happens? If someone shouts or sings loudly, or if something is dropped and it causes a loud sound, the string or strings that have the same wave length as that sound will begin to vibrate in “sympathy” with that sound. You will hear the piano or other stringed instrument echoing back.

The same principle applies in the spirit. When you get around someone who has the same calling in God that you have, your spirit responds with a resounding “Yes!” and you know that God’s eternal purposes are somehow involved with that encounter.

If you have heard Sister Gwen speak or you have read her articles or books and you feel something deep in your spirit saying, “Yes!,” then you might be an End-Time Handmaiden. If you are a man and you feel the same resounding “Yes!” then you might be an End-Time Servant. It takes a very special, humble, strong man to be willing to join himself to these anointed sisters in the Lord.

You Are Not an Island: If you find you have been reading a description of yourself, you need to know that you are not an island; you are a part of a vast network. God wants you to join yourself to others of “like precious faith” and calling. Come to the events the Lord is calling you to (Retreats, Camp Meetings, Conferences, International School of Ministry, World Convention, local branch meetings). Get connected to the support system—you need us and we need you. You are not alone. Just like Elijah found out that he was not alone in his ministry to God and that there were 7,000 who had not bowed their knee to Baal, you must find the fellowship of those with a calling like your own and be encouraged to be all God has called you to be.

Sharon Buss