Scoffers. Cultural walls. Godless People. Lack of support. Threats. Loss. Illness. Death. These words were a reality in the life of missionary, Amy Carmichael. Amy was a missionary who served for most of her life in India. It was during a time that the caste system equaled huge problems for Amy and also for the Indian people who chose to listen to her message. Many of those (especially women and children) who dared to express an interest in the Gospel were later tortured, drugged, tied-up and even killed.
Amy’s life makes many of our lives look like a walk-in-the-park.
Even as a young girl in Ireland, Amy was scoffed at by “Christians” for helping the “less than” and for using “their” church property to minister to these less-than-desirable people. I suppose when you think about it, she had already had a touch of the “Christian caste system” before she had ever arrived in India.
After Ireland, Amy later went to Japan and then finally India. She chose in both countries to dress like the people she gave her life to serve. This also brought on raised eyebrows from other missionaries who clearly held man’s traditions on equal footing with God’s Word. Most people in India despised her ministry. They called her a “child-stealer” because young, temple girls would run to her for safety from their life as temple prostitutes. Amy would take these girls in, love on them and raise them as her own.
The hatred for Amy and her ministry even resulted in the burning down of their school. Amy was often overrun and overwhelmed. She had cultural and language barriers, financial needs and a major lack of willing helpers. She had lots of health set-backs. She had no family nearby to help her. She never married. She lost many loved ones, including babies and young children that she had taken in to raise. The last 20 years of her life were mostly spent bed-ridden after taking a fall.
Amy had every single reason in the book to quit.
Amy could have gotten bitter.
Amy could have left the mission field when she faced opposition…when things got too hard or too complicated.
Amy could have whined and complained and wished her life and her ministry were easier.
When Amy was old and bed-ridden, Amy could have given-up and said the phrase so many Christians spout-off today… “I’ve served my time”.
But she didn’t. Amy didn’t quit. She JUST. KEPT. GOING.
In fact, she served in India for 55 years without a furlough. Wow!
Amy knew that the suffering in her life had served to strengthen her faith and to strengthen her resolve to share Christ’s Gospel with a lost world. I often wonder what the scoffing Christians in her life ever did for the Lord. Did they ever lift a finger, or just lift an eyebrow? Did they ever open their mouth to share the Gospel or just open their mouths to gossip? But Amy didn’t have time to worry about such things. Amy had a job to do. She kept close to the Lord through prayer and His Word. She prayed with an incredible faith and saw God perform miracles.
If she had quit, hundreds of boys and girls would have never been saved from the evil rituals of the Hindu religion.
If she had quit, she never would have influenced the world with her 35 books on the missionary work in India. (Many she wrote while older and bed-ridden- wow!)
If she had quit, her mission work would not still be going on today. It currently serves around 500 people on 400 acres with 16 nurseries and a hospital.
If she had quit, she would have missed being used by God in countless ways to save lives spiritually and physically.
Today you may feel like giving up. People are cruel. Life is cruel and unfair. Loss can feel like it’s swallowing you whole. Age may get in the way. Physical ailments may hinder your abilities. Critical words may have refused to leave your mind. The world in its degenerating state can weigh you down and make you feel hopeless.
But. God. God is bigger. God is greater. God is in charge. God can heal your heart. God can meet that need. God can deal with the naysayers. God can heal your brokenness and your bitterness. God can use you despite your age or your physical ailments. God can mend your broken heart.
Your job? Your job is to JUST. KEEP. GOING.
Amy’s life serves as a great reminder to us all. If you still have breath in your lungs, God has a purpose for you. Lay aside the excuses. Put one foot in front of the other and don’t stop going until He calls you Home.
“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6
“And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season, we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9
Just a Mom’s View 