Amy Carmichael

On Thursday as part of my time away in Auckland I had the opportunity to take part in the Auckland staff's training day. It was actually meant to be a 'retreat' (and I use that word carefully because I know in NI it's only Roman Catholics who have 'retreats' but actually here it is quite common, and it's actually a great idea... I time when you can get away from the busy schedule of things and learn about and spend time with and reflect on God) based on the life of Amy Carmichael.

Nicole and I had to laugh when the topic of the day came up because people talked about Amy as though we had never heard of her and we were like, 'Hold on, she's one of our own. We know all about her,' to which everybody was surprised because they didn't even know enough to know she was from our end of the world!

But while I 'knew all about Amy' actually it turns out I didn't at all. Of course I knew the story about the brown eyes and how she prayed for blue but in the end it was all part of the plan. Of course I knew about the story of how she and her brother helped an old lady in Belfast to carry her burden home. But I didn't realise the depth of her walk with God, her total dependence on Him and her great patience in the face of suffering. There is much we can learn from her, and this is not making an idol of her in any way, but holding her up as an example of what we can and should strive to be like. Actually the ladies taking the retreat were want to call her total relience on God and not asking anyone for help a little dated and lacking in community; but I actually think this is one of her great strengths, and when God provided how much more did it show His goodness than if she had made her need known to people.

I love Amy Carmichael's poems (again something I didn't realise was that she wrote so many). I have actually only read one of them; two when I realised the poem 'If' that I'd been searching for for about 10 years after reading it in a book once was actually by her. Again the ladies taking the retreat were almost apologetic about the archaic language used in the poems when I mentioned I liked them. But it's that that adds to her poems a sense of literary achievement, alongside relevant truths. A kind of literary art. And this is also the reason why I have gone backwards to my trusty old NIV, because the Bible is a poetic book. Even some of the non-poetic passages are beautifully written and flowing, and the familiarity of them helps verses I know to speak to me as I remember them and the situations in which I last read them. And that is something I didn't know about myself until I got here with only my NLT in tow. I have now bought a small handbag-sized NIV to use while I'm here.

Anyway I would like to post above a couple of Amy Carmichael's writings to share with you, and also a poem I wrote myself at the retreat; we were encouraged to try writing a poem after reading hers, and possibly inspired by creation, which mine is. I actually didn't share this at the retreat because I was shy (yeah right I hear you say!) but I am going to share it here above.