52 Books in 52 Weeks - Book 1 - "A Chance to Die" by Elizabeth Elliot

A Chance to Die - The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael by Elizabeth Elliot

Amy Carmichael (1867-1951) was a missionary to India who founded the Dohnavur Fellowship: a home for orphaned and abandoned children. Most of the children taken in were in danger of being sold & put into service in the temples.

From a young age, Amy determined that she wanted to follow Christ, whatever the cost, and wherever He would lead her. She had a driving desire to do evangelism, and bring the light of Christ into the darkest places in the world. After responding to the Lord's call to go to India, she eventually became aware of the plight of young children who were taken into the Hindu temples, sometimes as infants, and groomed to become temple slaves and prostitutes. She began rescuing these children, and founded the Dohnavur Fellowship to house, raise, and educate them.

Any modern day Christian who reads this biography will be challenged by Amy's full and complete surrender to the Lord's will, no matter the cost. She always sought to follow the "soldierly" way, and not the easy way. She was uncomfortable in places filled with earthly conveniences and preferred to live in the most basic, simple settings. She was distressed by the nominal "Fashionable Christianity" that she saw both in her native Ireland, amongst Indian Christians, and even her fellow missionaries. Above all, she valued love. Discipline, service, and love.

Most of the material in the biography is taken from Amy Carmichael's own writings. She was a prolific writer, publishing newsletters and, eventually, 35 books. She rarely, if ever wrote of her own personal feelings or inner struggles, and she is known to have burned a number of her personal journals. But there is still much that can be learned about her life, her motivations, and desires from these writings.

This biography gives us a shining example of a hero of the faith who truly gave her all for Christ.

Sojourner