When Amy Carmichael first worked in Dohnavur, India, in 1900, she faced scorn and hostility as she tried to share the gospel. She was pelted with ashes and rotten plants. Crowds harassed her. Refusing to be defeated, she kept reaching out to idol worshipers with kindness and truth.
A few Indian Christian women joined her as she went to surrounding villages, seeking to bring the hope of Christ. One day, a child escaped the temple where she was enslaved. She saw Amy and clung to her, begging the missionary to be her Amma—her mother.
And that was the beginning. Amy sought other unwanted children to rescue them from the dangers of being given to the temple. They were handed over as babies and served as harshly treated slave workers until they were old enough to be forced into temple prostitution, often before maturity.
In time, Amy built an entire community dedicated to the Lord—including a medical clinic, school, and dorms with dorm mothers to care for the children. I have heard testimonies of how she was always so gentle and kind. She was “Amma” to all.
Then Amy fell into a hole and severely damaged her body. She was bedridden for twenty years but continued to run the community from her bedside. She also wrote books published in England that awakened a heart for mission work. Amy refused to be discouraged.
Amy reminds me of King Hezekiah, who invited all of Israel to come to Jerusalem to celebrate God’s Passover. His couriers were scorned in most of Israel. Those who did come, came unclean and with no care to purify themselves for the Lord. As people saw this, discouragement blossomed. “But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, ‘May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God—the Lord, the God of their ancestors—even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary’” (2 Chronicles 30:18b-19). God was glad to do so.
God doesn’t want us to be stalled out by discouragement. He invites us to open the doors of heaven so others may come in. Give your discouragement to God.
(Photo courtesy of pixabay and geralt.)
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Kim Robinson is a former schoolteacher who has taught in rural and central Oregon, Alaska, and with Mercy Ships in Africa. She currently lives in Salem, Oregon, where she is delighted to serve the Lord as a mom, grandma, writer, copy editor, and encourager of others.