amy carmichael
Loving Others
Amy Carmichael was born to a devout Presbyterian family on December 16, 1867, on the north coast of Ireland. When she was a child, her curiosity was strong, and her favorite playground was the rocky beach where she explored the little things that were alive in the ocean’s tide. She loved the adventure she found in the outdoors.
She was not a conventional little girl. Once, given a beautiful dollhouse completely furnished with exquisite furniture and elaborately dressed dolls, she surprised her nanny by emptying out all the furniture and filling the house with moss, stones, and beetles. Amy found those things much more interesting.
Her parents surrounded all their children with beauty. They taught them to be observers and learners, told them exciting stories, gave them many pets to love, and taught them about God’s love. Life was full, and Amy was a very happy child.
Even when young, Amy showed a deep sensitivity toward the pain of others. When her mother first told her the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, she ran outside to find solace in the garden. She could not understand how anyone could take the life of a man so special and good.
She later recalled a lesson she had in prayer at age three. She knew God answered prayer and so knelt by her bed one night, asking for blue eyes, quite confident that she would have them in the morning. At dawn, she jumped out of bed to check the mirror. She was bewildered to find she still had brown eyes. And then she felt the Lord gave her an explanation: sometimes the answer is no. At a very early age, she learned a profound, hard lesson about the nature of prayer.
When she was twelve, Amy was sent to a Wesleyan Methodist boarding school in Harrogate, Yorkshire. She was homesick but did not question her parents’ decision. Amy didn’t particularly like Marlborough House boarding school, but at the end of the three years she experienced a watershed moment. One evening, there was a children’s special service in Harrogate. While singing the famous hymn “Jesus Loves Me,” Amy realized that there was much work to be done in the world. She always knew of Jesus’ love, but in those quiet moments at age fifteen, she knew God was requiring more of her. There, she surrendered her whole life to His service.
Around that time, for business reasons, the Carmichaels moved to Belfast. Financial difficulties forced the parents to remove all the children from boarding school. The Carmichaels never discussed money struggles in front of the children, but later Amy learned that her father lent several thousands of pounds to a friend who was not able to pay him back.
It was during that time that her father contracted double pneumonia. He died at age fifty-four. Amy didn’t seem to question that this was God’s best for her father and her family. She trusted God and knew He would take care of them. Her mother found solace in Nahum 1:7: “The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him” (KJV). Amy followed her mother’s example. Instead of becoming angry and resentful toward God, she threw herself into serving others. Her sisters learned from Amy’s enthusiasm and benefited from her knowledge and hunger for beauty. Amy was not preoccupied with her looks, her clothing, or her social life like most seventeen-year-old girls. Her sensitivity toward others was evident in her actions.
One dull, rainy Sunday afternoon she was returning from church with her family. She and her brothers saw an old woman carrying a heavy load down the streets of Belfast. They didn’t know her situation but went to help the woman, despite the stares from other Christians on their way home.
The harsh wind was blowing through them, and the drizzling rain drenched the woman’s bundle of old rags. Amy tried to ignore the looks and comments of others who disapproved of their helping a lower-class citizen. Suddenly, in her mind’s eye she caught a glimpse of an ornate Victorian fountain and the words of 1 Corinthians 3:12-14 flashed before her: “Now if any man build upon this foundation 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 revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.”
Amy knew the words were for her, and at home she shut herself in her room to settle her heart before God.
Soon, Amy began holding neighborhood meetings for children, encouraging them to read their Bibles daily and spend time in prayer. Amy also worked at the YWCA, helping the “shawlies” (women who could not afford hats to cover their heads and so instead wore shawls) learn about God’s love for them. Amy’s church members criticized Mrs. Carmichael for letting her daughter associate with the lower class and venture to the slums to get them and bring them home for ministry.
But Amy poured herself into the lives of the children in her neighborhood and into the shawlies. She knew she was sheltered and was not aware of all the world’s evils. While she tried to do all she could for others, she felt it wasn’t enough. She wanted to serve more. She wanted more of God.
The number of shawlies coming to the neighborhood disturbed Amy’s community. They were uncomfortable with so many of the lower class invading their streets. Amy knew she needed to find a building to accommodate them. In a magazine advertisement, she learned she could construct an iron building for five hundred pounds. That was an awesome sum of money, and Amy knew she needed the Lord’s help.
Amy and the shawlies began to pray faithfully for the funds and were rewarded when an older woman with ample finances sent word to Amy telling her she would fund the hall she needed. The iron tabernacle was a lively place, and the shawlies enjoyed Bible studies, singing classes, and prayer meetings because of Amy’s desire to serve.
Amy soon moved to the slums to help women around the clock. She heard the brawls and screams of desperation each night. In the day she heard the factory sirens and the heavy footsteps of the working class trudging to work. She learned to do without privacy and quiet and was not afraid to walk alone, even in the dangerous parts of the city.
Though Amy enjoyed her work with the factory girls, on January 13, 1892, God told the young woman it was time to leave. She was torn, as she felt she was needed there. Yet, clear as a human voice, she heard “Go ye.” Through the struggle of leaving family and enduring others’ criticism, Amy faithfully determined to go to the mission field.
She went on to spend fifty-three years in South India without furlough. She became known as Amma, which means “mother.” There, she founded the Dohnavur Fellowship, which was a refuge for hundreds of children who were secretly set aside for Hindu temple prostitution. Amma was greatly loved at Dohnavur and resolved to give all of her life to save the children.
Throughout her life of service, Amy’s silent offerings, unseen struggles, and steady obedience made those around her wonder if she was some sort of angel or saint. But Amy knew her humanity was what God could use to fulfill her calling. She wrote, “Teach us, good Lord, to serve Thee as Thou deservest; to give and not to count the cost; to fight and not to heed the wounds; to toil and not to seek for rest; to labor and not to ask for any reward save that of knowing that we do Thy will, O Lord our God.”
Amy was willing to serve.
[Christ Jesus] Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
(Philippians 2:5-8)