Amy Carmichael-If Our Wishes Really Came True

By Mary Vee

Year: December 16, 1880 

Amy Carmichael: 3 year old

Due to Amy's Young Age, 

Her mother, Catherine Will Tell Today's story

Photo Courtesy - An Irish hillside

As a wee little girl, my sweet  Amy had a wish. The angel was born with brown eyes, given to her by the good Lord, and she didn't like them. 

You may not know but typically Irish have blue eyes and many of us have red in our hair. I'm told it we show our tempers especially well with our fair skin.

Little Amy showed her spirit just the same. She truly wanted blue eyes. 

At only three-years-old, she pulled a chair up to the mirror and climbed to see if the color had changed. But it hadn't.

"Mama," she called to me. "Why didn't God give me beautiful blue eyes like yours?"

The answer seemed simple to me. Still, I had to find a way to help my little girl understand that even God who loves us doesn't always give what we want. "Sweetie, you know that your father and I love you very much right?"

"Yes."

"And sometimes you ask for things we don't give you, like the cookie you wanted this afternoon?"

"Yes, I know."

"God loves you, too." I hugged her and set her on my lap. "I have a feeling, someday you will know the reason God gave you those beautiful chocolaty brown eyes instead of blue ones."

The answer didn't make her happy at the time. She prayed every night, asking God to change His mind and let her have blue eyes like the sky and the ocean. Each morning she checked and found her eyes brown.

Sometimes we pray and wish for something so deeply we still remember the prayer as adults. That is when we can look back and understand a bit better why God did what He did. 


A note from Mary Vee- Gladys Aylward had the same wish as a child. She too, was born not far away in a place called England. Kids teased her about her brown eyes. When she grew up, though, God called her to be a missionary in a country where all the people had brown eyes. Imagine that. I wonder, if on our journey with Amy Carmichael, we will see her happy to have brown eyes.

If you'd like to learn more about Gladys, I have included a two-year series about her life on this blog. Go to the Missionary Adventures tab at the top and scroll down a bit. You'll see all of the stories about Gladys Aylward. Click on the one you want to read.


Resources used for this series:
Benge, Janet, and Geoff Benge. Amy Carmichael: Rescuer of Precious Gems. Seattle, WA: YWAM Pub., 1998. Print.
Davis, Rebecca Henry. With Daring Faith: A Biography of Amy Carmichael. Greenville, SC: Bob Jones UP, 1987. Print.
Dick, Lois Hoadley. Amy Carmichael: Let the Children Come. Chicago: Moody, 1984. Print.
Meloche, Renee Taft., and Bryan Pollard. Amy Carmichael: Rescuing the Children. Seattle, WA: YWAM Pub., 2002. Print.
Wellman, Sam. Amy Carmichael: A Life Abandoned to God. Uhrichville, OH: Barbour Pub., 1998. Print.

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