Amy Carmichael-What? Boys in the Mission?

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.

Many of the little girls have grown up into young women here at the mission in southern India. Several of these young women have chosen to stay and help care for the children, tell them Bible stories, and teach them to read.

I liked going into the woods for quiet time when it was available. I sat by this one waterfall. The sweet sound helps me think, praise God, and meditate on His word.

Of late the little Indian boys have been on my mind. Baby boys are often sold to the temple for serving the Hindu gods. They have no way to escape these places. Only some of the children receive reasonable care. Punishments are severe. The boys are beaten.

Older boys are sold to theater groups. This may sound like something fun, but these boys are also not treated well. They rarely receive a good meal and are taught to mistreat others by those who are cruel to them.

I prayed, asking God to let me help the boys. This would be a big project. The boys couldn't live in the same building as the girls. We would need workers to take care of the boys. This would take a lot of money. So I prayed and asked God what He thought. If He supplied what we needed, the mission could help the little boys.

I really really wanted to rescue the little boys from the temples and theater groups.

One day someone dropped off a baby at the gate. They walked away leaving the child in our care. We took the baby inside to care for the needs. We unfolded layers of bundling and saw, to our surprise, that the baby was a boy! He must have been about one-years-old. The little one reached his hands out to us and smiled.

I hadn't told anyone that I wanted to expand the mission in order to help baby boys--here God had sent the first one to receive care.

Soon one building was added to care for the new boys, then a second. God provided a way of escape--a way for abandoned boys to hear about Jesus and to grow up in a loving home.

A time of great trouble came to our country. The Muslims and the Hindus fought terribly. This also became a time when God answered some amazing prayers for us. 

Come back next week to read what God did.



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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