A Chance to Die by Elisabeth Eliot is a beautifully written and compiled biography of Amy Carmichael’s life. Amy was a missionary, writer, hymn writer, and servant of God. I won’t share with you all the events, or even all the major details of her life in this book review. However, I will share with you a glimpse into the life and character of Amy Carmichael, and some of the distinct speakings that she had from the Lord.

In the late 1800s Amy and her six siblings grew up in a devout Presbyterian home in Ireland. Her mother had a deep life with the Lord and both her parents read Scripture to their children regularly. Her home life growing up prepared her well for the life she was going to live.

Even at a young age Amy was fearless, outgoing, and compassionate. Amy was incredibly strong yet sensitive to the pain of others. She was eighteen when her father died. She grieved the loss of her father quietly as she attended to the needs of her mother and siblings. Soon after, on a dull Sunday morning, she begrudgingly helped a poor elderly woman walking with her heavy bundle. As Amy carried it down the street for her, she felt embarrassed to be seen with such a woman. On her walk back home afterwards, she had a vision and heard these words: 

“Gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble—every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be declared by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide—” 

This speaking from the Lord changed the course of her life. This began in her a desire to live for what is eternal. She began spending a lot of time with youth in her town and taught them to read and pray. 

At the age of 19, she attended a large Christian conference, the Keswick Convention. She sat through meetings and felt she did not have a word from the Lord yet— she felt that her “soul was in a fog.” Near the end of one of the meetings someone closed in prayer and one line of the prayer was a word of light to her: “O Lord, we know Thou art able to keep us from falling.” This word very much sustained her for the rest of her Christian life. 

Her heart for the gospel began to stir more and more. Eventually, at the age of 25, she heard again and again an “inescapable and irresistible:” “go ye.” She knew she was to bring the gospel to a place that had yet to be reached. 

Soon after, Amy left for Japan and lived in a few different countries before she ended up in India, where she would live for the remainder of her life and ministry. She spent those years studying the Word, preaching the gospel, praying, learning languages, and hosting church meetings. This time was characterized by discipline, obedience, and faithfulness. During these years she also encountered illness, fatigue, difficulty learning new languages, loneliness, and fear as she sought to serve the Lord where she was. In a time of deep desperation, she cried out to the Lord. “What can I do, Lord? How can I go on to the end?” And He answered, “None of them that trust in Me shall be desolate.” 

There is so much more to be said of this biography and the window that it gives into the life of our sister, Amy Carmichael. I only shared about the first few decades of Amy’s life; the rest of her journey is left for you to read in her biography. In it there are stories of grieving the loss of loved ones, trusting the Lord in prayer, rescuing and raising children who had previously been dedicated to temple prostitution, seeing souls come to know Christ, and for the last twenty years of her life: still serving the Lord while bedridden.