the story of amy carmichael

My Aunt Willa recently emailed me this prayer. It’s not only relevant to physical pain, but to the pain we sometimes feel within our hearts.

FOR ALL IN PAIN

Dear Lord, for all in pain
We pray to Thee;
O come and smite again
Thine enemy.
Give to Thy servants skill
To soothe and bless,
And to the tired and ill
Give quietness.
And, Lord, to those who know
Pain may not cease,
Come near, that even so
They may have peace.
~ by Amy Carmichael

I wasn’t familiar with Amy Carmichael (1867 – 1951), so I did a little research. She was a prolific writer of letters, books, and songs. I’ve written a “short” synopsis of what I read about her life.

Just a few examples of her books: Gold By Moonlight: Sensitive Lessons From a Walk with Pain is not only for the ill. It finds its way into many rooms of human need. It’s for all who walk in difficult places or are caught under any sort of harrow. Figures of the True is comprised of devotional thoughts written to help the ill, the troubled and the bewildered by showing the sufficiency of the comfort offered us by God. If is a life-changing book of poetry. Most of the entire book is based on the premise that, "If I am thus...., then I know nothing of Calvary love." It’s a wonderful devotional book, very convicting, and shows us how shallow our love is compared to the love of Calvary.

It was at the Keswick Convention of 1887 that Amy Carmichael heard Hudson Taylor speak about missionary life. Soon afterward, she became convinced of her calling to missionary work. She became a Protestant Christian missionary, went to India in 1895, opened an orphanage, and founded a mission in Dohnavur (situated in Tamil Nadu, thirty miles from the southern tip of India).

In due course, she built up a large Christian community known as the Dohnavur Fellowship. She cared for the spiritual and physical needs of God's children claiming "…One cannot save and then pitchfork souls into heaven…Souls are more or less securely fashioned to a bodies…and as you cannot get the souls out and deal with them separately, you have to take them both together."

Amy Carmichael suffered from a disease of the nerves called neuralgia, which made her whole body weak and achy and often put her in bed for weeks on end. In 1931, she was badly injured in a fall, which left her bedridden much of the time until her death. For the last twenty years of her life, she was in constant pain.

She died in India in 1951, after serving there for fifty-five years without furlough. She asked that no stone be put over her grave; instead, the children she had cared for put a bird bath over it with the single inscription "Amma", which means mother in the Tamil.

Her example as a missionary inspired others to pursue a similar vocation. Noteworthy examples are: Jim Elliot and Elisabeth Elliot.