A Chance to Die

Now first off, I definitely do not claim to be a professional book reviewer or anything, but I do think I know when I have read a good book.  A Chance to Die is one of those books.  It had been recommended to me a long time ago, but before recently I had a problem (Ahem...) with reading books that were not just entertainment (I would get lost in those stories and I didn't want to read anything else.  While I do think that some fictional books are good at certain times, I personally have been trying to read books that challenge me to think more.).  So, after I finished my recent R.M. Ballatyne book, I eagerly started on this one.

My goodness, of all the eye-opening books out there, this has to be one of them.

Elizabeth Elliot clearly points out how God works in Amy Carmichael.  Elliot outlines Amy's life from childhood to "Amma" in India, with quotes, poems, and songs written by Amy throughout the book.  Elizabeth Elliot truly

brings to life the story of Amy Carmichael in a way I have never read before.

"'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.' How often I think we ought.  NO sugary sentiment there.  Just the stern, glorious trumpet call, OUGHT.  But can words tell the joy buried deep within? Mine cannot.  It laughs at words."-Amy Carmichael, letter written in the Old Forest House, 1922

I know one thing that I loved about this book was how I got to read Amy's thoughts.  I got to see her struggles,  her prayers, her earnest desires to seek after God.   I think that God gives us examples of  true missionaries, like Amy Carmichael, to help us see how to fully rely on Him, and to show us how He glorifies Himself through one of His children.

"Crown Him the Son of Man/ Who every grief hath known/ That wrings the human breast/ And takes and bears them for His own/ That all in Him may rest." - Mathew Bridges

I think that Elizabeth Elliot best describes the example of Amy Carmichael in her own words in the preface of the book.

"To Amy Carmichael I owe what C.S. Lewis said he owed to George MacDonald: as great a debt as one can owe another.  I cannot pay it.  But it is my hope that this biography will introduce its subject to a generation which has not has the privilege that was mine.  Amy Carmichael became for me what some now call a role model.  She showed me the shape of godliness.  For a time, I suppose, I thought she must have been perfect, and that was good enough for me.  As I grew up I knew she could not have been perfect, and that was better, for it meant that I might possibly walk in her footsteps." -Elizabeth Elliot (emphasis added)

So, I highly recommend this book to you.  I pray it will bless you as it has me.

In Him,
Kristin

photo credit: 1st photo, 2nd photo, 3rd photo