Amy Carmichael-The Heat that Brought a Swarm of Hungry Caterpillars

By Mary Vee

Year: January, 1918 

Amy Carmichael: 50 years old

From Amy's Journal

Photo Courtesy

My name is Amy Carmichael. I am a missionary in India.

I had prayed for a way to rescue the little boys and God answered my prayer. 

The other workers saw God's blessings and learned to pray and trust God even more. 

We worked hard to be good stewards of the money we received. We chose to plant our own rice crop on the mission property. The harvest would be the food for all the children and workers for the next year. So you can see how important a good crop was to us.

Never knowing what the weather would bring, we prayed before planting time, during the growing season, and every day we ate the rice. Year round, God heard our prayers of need and thanks for supply. 

Rain is not the only important need for a good crop. Temperatures are important as well. Rice needs hot at certain times and cold at other. 

One year, the weather grew unexpectedly hot when it should have been cold. Caterpillars in their cocoons became confused and hatched. They had not yet matured into butterflies.

Photo Courtesy

Starving and needing food to grow they devoured rice seedlings in the surrounding villages and in the mission's crops.

If this continued, the entire crop for next year would be lost. We wouldn't have food for the children. 

In all the surrounding areas, men and women prayed to their idols. They offered sacrifices. They tried everything they could think of--hoping their idols would help.

I called all the missionary workers together, even the children. We got on our knees and prayed to the Lord, "Please, Father, save the rice crops. Save ours and the villagers too, if it pleases you." We prayed all day and into the night after putting the children to bed.

Two days later, one of the little girls looked out the window and cried, "Come and see! Hurry! Come and see!"

We all crowded around the window and watched hundreds of big, white birds eating the caterpillars. The workers moved back and let taller children squeeze in to see the sight. 

The birds feasted, screeching and flapping their wings. They soared up to the air and dove back down to eat more. 

The children cheered. "Oh, God, thank you! Thank you!!" We sang and prayed and danced and laughed with tears in our eyes. What a blessing this was for all of us to see. 

The living God cared for the rice plants so they would grow strong and feed the children.




Come back next week to read about our Robin Hood.



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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