Amy Carmichael, missionary and author was known to orphaned children in India as “Amma” or Mother. She was sent to South India as a missionary by the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society. She was touched by the many children that were offered and dedicated to the temple by their parents. She found it in her heart to rescue and raise these children in an orphanage that she founded called Dohnavur Fellowship. Although the orphanage was originally supported by the Church of England, Mother Carmichael eventually continued to run the mission in the “faith” mission style, receiving volunteer help and financial donations even though she never asked for money. The Dohnavur Fellowship continues in South India today.
Amy Carmichael devoted more than 50 years of her life rescuing children [1] and during that time she also wrote over forty books. Here are just 22 top Amy Carmichael quotes.
Featured Amy Carmichael Quote: ” We say, then, to anyone who is under trial, give Him time to steep the soul in His eternal truth. Go into the open air, look up into the depths of the sky, or out upon the wideness of the sea, or on the strength of the hills that is His also; or, if bound in the body, go forth in the spirit; spirit is not bound. Give Him time and, as surely as dawn follows night, there will break upon the heart a sense of certainty that cannot be shaken.”
Friendship & Kindness
If I do not give a friend “The benefit of the doubt,” but put the worst construction instead of the best on what is said or done, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I take offence easily; if I am content to continue in cold unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I fear to hold another to the highest goal because it is so much easier to avoid doing so, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if my fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I do not look with eyes of hope on all in whom there is even a faint beginning, as our Lord did when, just after His disciples has wrangled about which of them should be accounted the greatest, He softened His rebuke with those heart-melting words, “Ye are they which continue with Me in my temptations,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.
[2]Love & Commitment
Give me the love that leads the way, the faith that nothing can dismay, the hope no disappointments tire, the passion that will burn like fire; Let me not sink to be a clod: Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God.
You can always give without loving, but you can never love without giving.
Those who think too much of themselves don’t think enough.
God, harden me against myself!
We profess to be strangers and pilgrims, seeking after a country of our own, yet we settle down in the most un-stranger-like fashion, exactly as if we were quite at home and meant to stay as long as we could. I don’t wonder apostolic miracles have died. Apostolic living certainly has.
Peace
If I am perturbed by the reproach and misunderstanding that may follow action taken for the good of souls for whom I must give account; if I cannot commit the matter and go on in peace and in silence, remembering Gethsemane and the cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love
If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying “Peace, peace,” where is no peace; if I forget the poignant word “Let love be without dissimulation” and blunt the edge of truth, speaking not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace… If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you know what His will is.
There is only one way of victory over the bitterness and rage that comes naturally to us–To will what God wills brings peace.
Sin, Suffering & Truth
If I can easily discuss the shortcomings and the sins of any; if I can speak in a casual way even of a child’s misdoings, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
Let us not be surprised when we have to face difficulties. When the wind blows hard on a tree, the roots stretch and grow the stronger, Let it be so with us. Let us not be weaklings, yielding to every wind that blows, but strong in spirit to resist.
Can we follow the Savior far, who have no wound or scar?
All the great temptations appear first in the region of the mind and can be fought and conquered there. We have been given the power to close the door of the mind. We can lose this power through disuse or increase it by use, by the daily discipline of the inner man in things which seem small and by reliance upon the word of the Spirit of truth. It is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It is as though He said, ‘Learn to live in your will, not in your feelings.’
If I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, “You do not understand”, or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the other’s highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
Do not fight the thing in detail: turn from it. Look ONLY at your Lord. Sing. Read. Work
Conclusion
Studying the lives of missionaries is a great way to refocus our efforts to the Lord. He raised up Amy Carmichael who lived as a selfless woman; devoting her life to loving others. Perhaps the Lord is calling you to do something for Him, don’t ignore that tug at your heart. You can serve the Lord right where you are. I pray you are blessed by these quotes and that they encourage you to be what the Lord created you to be.
Related Post: 10 Famous Christian Missionaries [3]
Resources – Some biographical and historical information found at Boston University School of Theology, History of Missiology.