Amy Carmichael-I Didn't Like My Name

By Mary Vee

Year: 1880 

Amy Carmichael: 13 year old

From Amy's Journal

Photo Courtesy

By the time I turned thirteen-years-old, the number of kids in my family had grown. I helped mother with Ernest and Alfred. Then Ethel grew older and little Eva and two more brothers were born.

The household became quite busy. Mother and Father decided I was ready to go to boarding school to learn how to be a grown up lady. Well, I also learned math, science, and other subjects.

Mother and Father also sent Ernest to boy's school. Alfred and Ethel took our place as the oldest children in the house.

I didn't mind going to boarding school. I felt quite grown up just walking up to the school building all by myself. The woman at the front desk asked me my name. 

It was then that I had decided Amy was nothing more than a childish name. I pressed my shoulders back and said "My name is Beatrice."

The woman looked at me then down at her paperwork. "It says here that your name is Amy Beatrice Carmichael."

Well, if she knew my name in the first place, why did she ask? Even still. I had firmly made up my mind that Beatrice had a grown-up sound to it. "If I may, I would like to be called Beatrice. It has such a lady sound to it. And I've come here to learn how to be a lady, right?"

"Yes. This is true. Very well then, you may be called Beatrice. The house mistress will show you to your room. Go to bed early. Classes start at seven in the morning."

"Yes, ma'am." I felt so important carrying my suitcase up the stairs to my new room. I would make new friends and go to classes. I had started a new, exciting chapter in my life with a grown-up name.

I didn't know at the time that God would help me learn more about Him even in little things like asking to be called Beatrice instead of Amy.  

Come back next time to see what fun we had at boarding school.


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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