Amy Carmichael-I May Never Walk Again

By Mary Vee

Year: September 1931

Amy Carmichael: 63 years old

From Amy's Journal

Photo Courtesy

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

I had fallen into a pit while inspecting the land where we were building a new facility. I'd called for help and hadn't heard anyone respond.

Now you are caught up. And I'm still in the pit.

I dug holes to pull myself up to the surface. The dirt tumbled down on me. My good foot helped, but the pain really slowed me down. I reached up above my head for a rock and realized a hand had scooped up mine.

Tamil, the driver pulled me up and out of the pit. "Thank you, Tamil for helping me." 

He frowned. "You didn't fall. A demon threw you down there."

I didn't want to create a fuss so I did't say any more about that. "Please call the mission and tell them them I had an accident."

I waited two hours for medical help, feeling my ankle swell up to the size of a melon. The pain was so strong I could barely handle it. A car door closed and Dr. May's voice rang out. This was the first time I realized how the Indian people felt when medical help arrived. Through all the pain I was so happy to see her.

Until she gave me that look. "I'm sorry, this is very bad. We need to take you to the London Mission Society Hospital."

Forty-six long miles of narrow roads between rice paddies. Ooooh my ankle throbbed. I had to bite down on my finger at times to lesson some of the pain. The nurse, Mary Mills rode with me, trying her best to find ways to make me comfortable. This was not a job that could be done. 

To add to the bumpy road, rain gushed from the sky making the narrow steep roads dangerous. The driver worked so hard to keep the car on the road. One time the vehicle hit a huge bump created by the road washing out. Everyone was thrown out of the vehicle. I hit the ground with a thud. Pain surged from my toes to my head. Mud dripped down my face. Ooooh I hurt so much.

The one good thing that happened was the car stayed upright. We did not have the manpower to right a car that was turned upside down. 

We finally reached the hospital. The wide eyes from the doctors told the story of what they saw. We looked awful!

They took X-rays. The news was a little worse than I'd hope. My leg was broken above the ankle. The doctor said I had to have my ankle in splints for eight weeks. 

Eight weeks!!!

The doctor prayed for me, "O Lord have mercy on this servant of yours. Please be with this woman who has served you so many years. Help her leg to heal strong enough to let her stand again."

The staff wheeled me to surgery. The mask of ether covered my face and in the seconds before I went to sleep I thought of Psalm 6. "Have mercy on me, O Lord. For I am weak. O Lord heal me for my bones are afflicted."

And then I realized the doctor hadn't said I would be walking for sure. The last thing I remember was a tear forming.


Come back next week to read more of Amy Carmichael.



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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Let Amy hear from you!

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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Let Amy hear from you!

Amy Carmichael-Little Arulai Finds the Courage to Tell Her Father about the Living God

By Mary Vee

Year: January, 1904-1906 

Amy Carmichael: 36 years old

From Amy's Journal

Photo Courtesy

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

Ten-year-old Arulai finishes telling her story today. 

Arulai's father came to her uncle's home and said, "Arulai, you will come home with me."

The ten-year-old girl was frightened of her father. She knew he loved the Hindu gods and wanted her to worship them, too. He said he would marry her to a Hindu man which meant she would have to obey him and worship the gods.

Arulai ran to her room and prayed. "Please living God. Please help me. I don't want to go with him."

She felt the urge to say, "Father, I cannot go with you. I want to worship the living God." She stood back and waited for him to yell at her. To her surprise his anger turned to a puzzled look.

"Read to me from the words of the living God." 

Arulai was surprised, but ran to get her Bible. She read stories from the Bible to him then waited to see what he would say.

"I don't believe in this living God, but I am afraid of Him. I've changed my mind. You may stay." And with that her father left. 

Arulai wasn't surprised, in a way. She honestly knew the living God would answer her prayer. Still, she'd didn't expect her father to give her permission to be a Christian.

Arulai helped me with the younger girls who came to the mission. She played with them and hugged them. She even told them the Bible stories she knew. 

Arulai eventually left her uncle's home and came to live at the mission. What a jewel. She helped in every way she could.

I found that we were running out of space to house all the little girls who needed rescuing. So many girls were given to the temple as a way for the parents to earn money. I spoke with Mr. Walker and we decided to by land and build a bigger mission.

Buying land isn't as easy as it seems. If a man has four sons. He will divide the land in four pieces. If any of those sons have sons, they will divide their piece among their sons. 

The problem is that each little piece must be bought separately, and no building can go on any piece until all the pieces have been paid for. See? This was difficult and took a long time. BUT, God blessed and help us buy the land and build a bigger mission.

The next problem: convincing parents who wanted to force their little daughters to live at the temple to let us give the girls a home at the mission. At the temple the girls would be harmed for life. And once they went into the temple they could never leave. 

If only we could rescue more girls like Arulai by giving them a loving home where they could safely learn about the living God who loves them, teach them their schoolwork, and give them the food they need.

You are reading this story after it happened, I know, but you could still pray for the little girls in India that they could learn about the living God who loves them.


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.

Don't forget to comment! 
Let Amy hear from you!