More Heroes Of The Faith

I’ve really been into reading the lives of heroes of the faith. I just wanted to mention one of my favorites - Amy Carmichael. No Amy Carmichael fan could ever miss Elisabeth Elliot’s biography of Amy entitled A Chance To Die. Great book with some pictures. Includes a lot of those small details and stories of her adventure with the Lord. Amy was a rare heart, no doubt about it. She lived by faith and was serious about the Lord. I recently found some pictures online of Dohnavur Fellowship in Tamil Nadu, the southernmost part of India. You can see those pictures here. Just click on each of the four pictures in the right column. You can also read the adventure of these people as they drove five miles to see what Dohnavur Fellowship looked like. They were able to see the room where Amy was bedridden for the last 20 years of her life. During that time Amy wrote most of her books. Also, the last picture is a little birdbath with Amma engraved on it marking Amy’s gravesite. As I read about all these heroes of the faith, I’m inspired and encouraged to run my race well. In my reading, I discovered that Lilias Trotter and Amy Carmichael were friends and wrote to each other. Amy had two of Lilias’ books in her possession (Parables of the Cross and Parables of the Christ Life) and marked them up as she read through them. When I found that little tidbit of information, I thought, “How cool is that for the Lord to bring those two rare hearts together and give them a friendship.”

Amy’s life, of course, influenced thousands. One of those lives influenced was an Indian girl named Mimosa. I read her story in the book by the same name. Dohnavur Fellowship was a sanctuary for many children, saving them from temple prostitution and idolatry. Mimosa’s sister, Star, had been allowed to stay and live at Dohnavur. Mimosa, as a very young girl, met Amy at Dohnavur one brief afternoon. Amy shared the love of God through Jesus with her. Mimosa was not allowed to stay and forced to return home to a life of suffering and ultimately marriage to a Hindu man who had no land or work. Mimosa’s life was one of great suffering but in her brief encounter that one afternoon she found the Lord and lived in the light of His love all her days. What an amazing story of grace it is. Amy spent 53 years in India without furlough and stepped from time into eternity, face to face with her Lord in 1951. She was once asked by a young lady who wanted to be a missionary, “What is missionary life like?” Amy replied, “Missionary life is a chance to die.” And indeed the Lord tells us to not save our lives, but lose our lives for His sake - it’s a wholehearted surrender to the Lord.
Lord, thank You for heroes of the faith like Amy and Lilias. I pray that You will give us that wholehearted devotion and surrender to You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.