Women of Valor: Amy Carmichael

 After our last post, “Hailing All Women: Who Love Jesus,” we thought it best to add some stories of women who followed after God’s leading, whether or not they were born into times that allowed it or not. I first read of Amy when I was a child, and the story of her brown eyes followed me throughout my life. I often was reminded of her at random times. And after we adopted our daughter, I knew that she would one day recognize that her brown eyes did not match the rest of our light-colored eyes in our family. I immediately began to seek out Amy’s story, as I couldn’t quite remember her name. God lead me to the right book at the right time for our daughter, and when my love for Amy’s story was restored. If you’d prefer to listen to her story, scroll to the end of the article for a video.

Here is her story, a woman of valor:

Amy Carmichael

The Dohnavur Fellowship

1867-1951

            As I read the words of Amy Carmichael, she seemed to be a friend that I already knew. The sister I never had. The woman who discipled me to Christ without me knowing. She wrote, "There are times when something comes into our lives which is charged with love in such a way that it seems to open the Eternal to us for a moment, or at least some of the Eternal Things, and the greatest of these is love. It may be a small and intimate touch upon us or our affairs, light as the touch of the dawn wind on the leaves of the tree, something not to be captured and told to another in words. But we know that it is our Lord. And then perhaps the room where we are, with its furniture and books and flowers, seems less "present" than His Presence, and the heart is drawn into that sweetness of which the old hymn sings. The love of Jesus, what it is; None but His loved ones know."

Before God Called Her:

In a strange sense, I feel as though I know this woman, yet I cannot. She was born on December 16, 1867 and died in 1951, a year after my father’s birth. She was born in a tiny village in Millisle, Ireland, as the oldest of 7 siblings. Her father, David Carmichael, was a miller, and her mother, Catherine, were both firm believers and raised their children in the faith. She spent several years at Marlborough House, a Wesleyan Methodist boarding school, where a spirited streak in her was born. She asked the principal, in 1882, if she and her classmates could stay up late to watch the comet. After a firm "no," from the principal, she still promised to tie strings to all her schoolmates' toes, as to yank and wake them when it was time to sneak from their beds to the attic to see the comet. Her plan succeeded until a floorboard creaked, and the girls were found out by the principal and all the teachers. Ha!

Until her teen years, Amy prayed for God to change her brown eyes to blue. She thought "blue eyes" were lovely and knew God would change her eyes if He wanted to. He never did. Later, those brown eyes served her well.

Her Competence

It wasn't until she was almost 16 that she heard a woman sing "Jesus Loves Me" as a special when a guest preacher came. Then, she opened her heart to Jesus fully and into His fold. When Amy was 16, her father moved them to Belfast as a church planter to start the Welcome Evangelical Church. However, he died suddenly two years later. It's strange because she writes of no hint of sorrow, doubt, or struggle with the loss of her father. Perhaps, she could not bring herself to write of it, as I've often struggled. But she did cling to a verse that her mother underlined and wrote next to, Nahum 1:7, which reads, "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him."

For the next couple of years, Amy helped educate her sisters and continued to help her mother care for the younger children. One drizzling day after leaving the church, they passed by an older woman lugging a bundle of rags through the streets. Amy and two of her brothers helped her, took the bundle, and her by the arms to help balance her.

As they walked, they passed many "respectable" people who turned up their noses, so they were all red-faced with embarrassment when they reached an elaborate Victorian fountain on the street. It was then that Amy heard through the rain, "Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble- every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be declared by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide…" Amy turned to see who had spoken, but no one was there except the fountain and some surprised smiling people. When she arrived home, she closed herself in her room to have a serious conversation with God. Amy realized later that the Voice she heard was quoting 1 Corinthians 3:12-14. From there, however, she began discipling poorer boys and girls in the Bible, teaching them to read it daily and pray.

On September 23, 1886, Amy attended a Keswick tent meeting in Glasgow and then later to a restaurant with some poorly cooked mutton chops, where she came to terms that nothing mattered because "God would keep her from falling." She realized if mutton chops didn't matter, then neither did clothes. She felt, as Paul wrote, "dead to the world." Later, she founded a mission to "shawlies" (mill girls who wore shawls instead of hats), and this mission grew to several hundred attendees. This was shocking to the middle-class people, as she welcomed these girls into the churches with open arms. When she learned of these girls' lifestyles, her eyes began to open to the atrocities and trauma of those not raised as she was. She called it "The Welcome." This mission quickly outgrew the church, and she soon needed to find a new meeting place. She saw an ad for a building that could be built for 500 pounds, and after that, she and the shawlie girls began to pray for God to provide. During one of the more tedious parts of Amy's life, God answered. After an afternoon tea with an older wealthy woman, she had the funds for the hall ($86,500 today), and later, a mill owner/friend of her father's donated a slice of land for her to build the hall. They dedicated the hall on January 2, 1889, with Amy sitting in the middle of the hall surrounded by the shawlie girls and two of D.L. Moody's students leading the meeting. She organized Gospel meetings, Bible classes, band meetings, vocal practices, night school, sewing clubs, dinners, and seminars for mothers.

Amy turned to the book of Ezra for guidelines and soon had a band of helpers through loyal friends and cousins.

When she pasted an article in her journal from a local paper advertising a church bazaar to help pay a Presbyterian's debt of 800,000 pounds off, she wrote these three questions down:

1. Is the work for which we want the money God's chosen work for us or our chosen work for Him? If the former, will He not see the money necessary? If the latter, how can we expect anything better than what we have?

2. Can we expect a blessing to follow money given grudgingly?

3. Should we not see that our Root is right before expecting flowers and fruit?

Wow. This woman was ahead of her time. And yet, the more I research these women, I realize that perhaps, we are the ones behind. Perhaps in our modernity, we as a society have slipped into a slow decay of apathy.

Her Calling:

In 1889, she attended another Keswick convention, and God reaffirmed her calling to the destitute to become like Christ. On January 13, 1892, a snowy Wednesday evening, she heard a clear voice tell her, "Go ye." She wrote to her mother about" those dying in the dark, 50,000 of them every day," and her wanting to tell them of Jesus. She quoted Jesus, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life will lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake will find it." The Keswick meetings raised a fund to send missionaries overseas. In 1892, Amy was their first.

Her Courage:

She prepared for Hudson Taylor's China Inland Mission and packed her trunks, but the mission doctor refused to approve her due to her nerve disorder. In January of 1893, she felt God calling her to Japan. She wrote to Buxton, a friend of her adopted father, who was the leader of the Japan Evangelistic Band. As she sailed away to Japan just two months later, her friends and family stood on the shore for over an hour singing hymns as the ship pulled out of sight. And when the boat rounded the last corner, her adopted father stood again, having hiked a half-mile down the docks for a final glimpse. They were close enough to call out Bible verses until she sailed out of sight. She arrived safely in Shanghai on April 14 and onto Matsuye by May. Almost immediately, she realized that her Victorian dresses were a complete distraction to the Japanese church there, so she soon began wearing a kimono to church. The other missionary ladies followed suit.

She stayed 15 months, but her neuralgia returned, forcing her to leave the mission. While recouping in Shanghai, she felt God call her to Ceylon in Sri Lanka. The C.I.M. people were appalled, but she knew that Jesus was going before her. She said, "I am prepared for much blame, or at best misunderstanding, but I cannot help it. One dare not do anything but obey when that Voice speaks." How did it speak? In 3 ways according to Amy: 1- through the Word, with unanswerable force, 2- through the inward leading of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes 3- through circumstances. With these three things in place, Amy moved to Sri Lanka. She served awhile in Sri Lanka, but when news of her adopted father's stroke reached her, she made the long journey home to England, entirely sick along the way.

 After his recovery, she stayed in England for almost another year, publishing books. She was contacted by a friend in Bangalore, India, stating that it had a healthy climate, so she applied to be sent as a missionary by the Church of England's Zenana Mission. She was accepted, so in November of 1895, she stepped ashore with dengue fever. She recovered thanks to the mission doctor. It took her almost a year to understand parts of the language, and she still "felt only ankle deep." She wanted to be "one" with the people, but it was not "appropriate" for the missionary women there to don "saris." But she knew if she could, she would blend in. She began to pray.

Her Character

Years passed, and the missionaries and she began traveling by tent, trying to convert one person a day. The caste system in India made it extremely difficult. Some converted dishonestly to try and escape the caste system. It was rare to find a true convert. One day, she met a woman who laughed at another convert. This woman was highly educated and could quote poetry, yet refused to listen to Amy's story of Jesus. Later, Amy learned that that woman was a temple prostitute. Not one had been converted yet. She knew they had to reach women in India, for they had no voice. They were seen as property, even married women. Their jewels dictated their wealth, and their husbands held their freedom to become a believer or not.

Finally, in March of 1901, something changed for Amy. As she wrote, something happened that "caused a new thing to begin, and I was rooted for life." Another mission in Dohnavur lost their missionary, so they stepped in to help. Not far from there was a Hindu temple where "devadasis" lived. These were women married to deities; they were to clean, fan the idol, carry lights, sing, and dance, but it soon degenerated into prostitution, thanks to human failing. Mothers brought their infant daughters to be reared in the temple women's house, where they learned the "trade." The missionary women longed to rescue these children but were heavily guarded and tucked away. One small girl named Preena escaped and made the 20-mile trek back to her mother. She was found out and returned to the temple, her hands branded and told that she was now "tied" to the idol. Preena longed for death. Suddenly, one evening, an angel, as Amy describes it, took Preena by the hand and led her out across a stream and through the woods. Another woman named Servant of Jesus found Preena standing in front of the church in Pannaivilai. It was late, so the woman kept Preena for the night, intending to return her the following day.

But Preena insisted she is taken to Amy (whom she had been told was a child-stealing woman). When Amy was having her tea the following day, Servant of Jesus brought Preena to her, and Preena jumped into her lap and began to chatter away, saying she wanted to stay with her always. Many people believe that Amy never understood the concept of sex. Her Victorian mind would not admit such thoughts. She just knew that she was rescuing these children from something horrible.

Soon, she was carrying four other children besides Preena and knew she needed a "home" for them. They could not continue to travel by tent. The Mission at Dohnavur had just been an evangelistic hub, but it soon housed her and the children and became known as The Family. She was burdened with rescuing more children but, for years, kept hitting roadblocks. One day she had a vision of a man near their mission bungalow. The tamarind trees that encircled the house became olive trees, and under them knelt a man praying alone. She knew it was the Lord, praying there in the Garden for the children. So she realized the burden was His, not hers. At that moment, an Indian pastor in a more northern province was traveling and came across a group of temple women with children. He prayed right then and there that something might be done. He immediately heard of an infant just taken by a temple woman. He rescued her and gave her to the Family. The compound soon grew to over 17 children, and Amy needed help. God heard her call, and another missionary showed up with Amy's mother in tow to help through an epidemic.

Her Legacy

As the years passed, the home grew to accept boys as well. They built baby nurseries, cottage homes, schools for all ages, a dairy farm, rice lands, fruit and vegetable gardens, tailoring departments, kitchens, laundries, workshops, and offices. By the end of Amy's life, they had teams of childcare workers, builders, carpenters, and electricians, complete with its simple Indian facilities and a hospital to serve the sick and preach the Gospel. It still exists today, known as The Dohnavur Fellowship.

After these children began calling her "Amma," for mother, she realized that she would never have been as accepted by the Indian people if her eyes had been blue. Her brown eyes and brown hair made her more relatable and made the rescued children who became her "very own" feel as though she was created to be their mother- because she looked like them.

Amy writes in her book, "… if I have not compassion on my fellow-servant, even as my Lord pitied me, then I know nothing of Calvary love… if I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting 'who made thee differ? And what hast thou that thou hast not received? I know nothing of Calvary love."

Her Impact on Me:

            When reading her book, I felt like I'd known this woman my entire life. And perhaps it's because I read about her in a Sunday school pamphlet when I was about six years old. The story of her brown eyes helped me to realize that God has an intentional plan for all of us if we are just obedient to what He's asked of us. She was exactly that. Obedient. Her prayer life and pouring out of her heart and emotions in her letters helped me realize that her struggle was IMMENSE, yet she clung to Jesus through it all.

            She was an avid discipler, not caring that she was a woman, or that she didn’t have a seminary degree. She plunged in and shared the Bible and Jesus with anyone who would listen. She felt a burden for the voiceless women of India who had no say in how their lives looked or played out. She knew that trauma was occurring in the temples to little girls, and she kept her eyes peeled for babies and small girls to rescue. She left her door open, always.

            She was open to hearing from the Holy Spirit whenever He moved her to another location to minister. She was teachable, even though she struggled to learn the language and customs, even when they were completely foreign and almost "unacknowledgeable" to her. She continued to pick up her cross, even though her family and adopted father asked her several times to come home. She literally and figuratively gave her life for Jesus, trusting in Him to provide and guide her. Her courage and commitment, although at times she doubted, were steadfast. And all because she leaned heavily upon the One who gives steadfast love to us.

Bibliography

White, Kathleen. "Amy Carmichael," (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1986).

Benge, Janet, and Geoff. "Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems," (Seattle, WA: Y.W.A.M. Publishers, 1998).

Dick, Lois Hoadley. "Amy Carmichael: Let the Little Children Come," (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1984).

Elliot, Elisabeth, "A Chance to Die: The Life and Legacy of Amy Carmichael," (Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1987).

Houghton, Frank. "Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur: The Story of a Lover and Her Beloved," (London: S.P.C.K., 1953).

Skoglund, Elizabeth, "Wounded Heroes: The Secrets of Charles Spurgeon, Hudson Taylor, Amy Carmichael, C.S. Lewis, Isobel Kuhn, Ruth Bell Graham, and Others who Triumphed over Pain," (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1992).

Carmichael, Amy, "Figures of the True," (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1976).

Carmichael, Amy, "The Widow of the Jewels," (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1928).

Carmichael, Amy. "Gold Cord: The Story of a Fellowship," (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1974).

Carmichael, Amy, "God's Missionary," (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1953.)