Amy Carmichael

I have been reading A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elisabeth Elliot. As a child, Amy Carmichael fascinated me. I read a couple of her biographies and did a report on her once, I think. I also read these missionary fiction books that told the stories of real missionaries through fictional characters who interacted with them, and the Amy Carmichael one was always my favorite.

Amy was a missionary to India in the late 1800s - mid 1900s whose ministry revolved around saving girls from lives of temple prostitution. She never married and devoted her life to Dohnavur, the mission she started and which continues even today. There is so much in her life that reflects what I want to be able to say of my own. Elliot wrote of Carmichael's romantic relationships, "she had given over all matters of the heart to Him to whom alone hers was open." Not that God I know where God is calling me in respect to those things, but I want to have given all of that over to God and have my heart completely given over to Him first and foremost.

Amy also wrote a lot of poetry, which of course catches my eye. I read this prayer poem today and wanted to share it. It reflects the attitude I want my heart to have as well.

And shall I pray Thee change Thy will, my Father,
Until it be according unto mine?
But, no, Lord, no, that never shall be, rather
I pray Thee blend my human will with Thine.

I pray Thee hush the hurrying, eager longing,
I pray Thee soothe the pangs of keen desire--
See in my quiet places, wishes thronging--
Forbid them, Lord, purge, though it be with fire.

And work in me to will and do Thy pleasure
Let all within me, peaceful, reconciled,
Tarry content my Well-Beloved's leisure,
At last, at last, even as a weaned child.