All Eyes on God!—Amy Carmichael

Claire Black: This is True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time!

Welcome to the first episode of Season 12. It’s all about Incredible Influencers.

Lots of people want you to listen to their advice. They want you to buy stuff, listen to stuff, eat stuff, do stuff, write stuff. Whew, it’s exhausting! 

But you know what? You can choose who will influence your life. This season on the True Girl podcast, True Girl founder Dannah Gresh and her cohost Staci Rudolph will introduce you to six amazing women. I hope they’ll encourage you to love God and serve Him in really courageous ways. You won’t even believe some of these stories, but they’re all totally true!

We’re so thankful to The Good Book Company for partnering with us to bring these stories to life. All the stories you’re going to hear in this series can be found in their Do Great Things for God book series! You can find them at TheGoodBook.com.

Well, are you ready to dive into our first amazing story? This is episode 1, and we’re calling it “All Eyes on God.” It’s about one of Dannah Gresh’s very favorite missionaries, Amy Carmichael.

Staci Rudolph: Dannah, thanks for having me over today. I love hanging out!

Dannah Gresh: Oh man, I do too, Staci! Thanks for coming.

Staci: Well, when someone sends a text that says in all caps: I FOUND SOMETHING SO COOL! YOU HAVE TO COME OVER SO I CAN SHOW IT TO YOU! I mean, you don’t really want to say no to that, right?

Dannah: Yeah, I guess I went a little overboard with my excitement, huh? Before I tell you about it, do you want honey for your tea?

Staci: Yes ma’am! Thanks.

Dannah: You bet. Okay. Here’s what I wanted to show you. TA-DAH!

Staci: Okay, wow, those are some cool-looking books, Dannah. Why do they have you so jazzed up though? I mean, it’s not weird for you to show me the latest book you’re reading, but what’s so special about these?

Dannah: Well, I’m so glad you asked. These books are part of a series called Do Great Things for God. They’re made by The Good Book Company in the United Kingdom.

Staci: You had me at the title of the book series: Do Great Things for God. I love that!

Dannah: I do too. The series is all about women who have done some amazing things for God. Women like Corrie ten Boom, Helen Roseveare, and my personal favorite, Amy Carmichael.

Staci: So, these aren’t just any old biographies? These are heroes of faith. I feel like a lot of people are trying to get my attention, like they want to be my hero, but we need to be so careful who we look up to, don’t we?

Dannah: You are 1000% correct, Staci! So, this is my idea. These books aren’t very long, and I thought it would be kind of fun to read them out loud together over the next few weeks. What do you think? Is that too weird?

Staci: Well, it’s been a while since I’ve had some read along time, but sure. I’m in! I mean honestly, I do notice that when I’m listening to something, I catch things I don’t notice when I’m just reading it. Let’s do it! Who’s first on the list? Do you want to start with the one you mentioned who’s your favorite? What’s her name? Amy Carm . . .

Dannah: Carmichael. Amy Carmichael. And yes!, I would love to start with her story. 

Staci: Alright. I’m just going to sit back and sip my tea while you read that story about your girl, Amy.

Dannah: The first thing you should know is that Amy Carmichael was born in 1867, and she lived until the year 1951.

Staci: Okay, gotcha. So, she’s not driving around in a minivan or using her smartphone to text anybody, huh?

Dannah: Exactly! Alright. Here’s the story. This book is called Amy Carmichael: The Brown-Eyed Girl Who Learned to Pray by Hunter Beless and illustrated by Heloise Mab.

Amy Carmichael had brown eyes, though she wished they were blue. She begged God to change their color, but peering into the mirror, it didn’t seem like he’d heard her prayer. She did so want blue eyes!

Staci: Oh man, you got me already, Dannah. I remember wanting stuff about me to be different when I was younger. I always felt like I was too sensitive and wished I was tougher like other people in my family.

Dannah: Well, just wait until you hear how God used Amy’s blue eyes, Staci!

Amy started her life in a small village in Ireland. She loved to paint, ride ponies, and cause mischief! But then she was sent away to a school in England. 

While she was away, she found herself thinking about her mother’s favorite hymn, “Jesus Loves Me.” She loved the lines:

Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him belong;
We are weak, but he is strong.

Amy realized that Jesus had died for her sins and that her life was made for Him.

Staci: So, Amy was a little bit of a troublemaker, huh?

Dannah: Yep, and that served her well later on in her life. Okay, so where was I? Ah, here we go.

After she moved back to Ireland, one Sunday after church, Amy and her brothers saw a poor, old woman shouldering a heavy bundle, so they stopped to help. 

Amy’s cheeks burned with embarrassment when she saw the frowns of people passing by, but Amy knew that God wanted her to love people who were seen as unlovable.

Amy started to care for the “shawlies”—women who had very little money and who wore thin shawls as they worked in local mills. Amy started a meeting for the shawlies in her church, but some church people didn’t want to share their space with people who were poor. 

Amy asked God for help, and this time, God answered her prayer in just the way she’d asked. He provided a new meeting hall, and Amy named it “The Welcome.”

Staci: Hold up . . . hold UP! The church didn’t want those people in their church? That doesn’t sound right.

Dannah: Staci, this is a hard part of Amy’s story. But a lot of Christians didn’t like the things she did. She thought outside of the box and didn’t do things like other Christians did.

Staci: Ah, so that troublemaker thing from when she was little actually helped her do really cool stuff to help people, huh?

Dannah: Exactly! But she wasn’t a troublemaker as in disobedient or willfully opinionated. She was just confident in what she did for the Lord. Sometimes God really needs girls who are willing to do things differently. Okay, so can we keep going?

Staci: Uh huh. 

Dannah:

God had answered Amy’s prayers, and so Amy kept asking. She had a special “Ask and Receive” book where she wrote down all the ways she’d seen God answering her prayers. 

One day when she was turning its pages, one word that Jesus had spoken to His disciples sounded in her head: “Go.” 

Amy promised to spend her life going and telling people about Jesus. She decided to become a missionary.

So, Amy went to Japan and told people about Jesus. One woman listened carefully to the good news that Jesus offers us eternal life . . . until Amy’s fancy, fur gloves caught her attention. She was so fascinated with how different Amy looked that she stopped listening to what Amy said!

After that, Amy swapped her English clothes for a silky Japanese robe. She didn’t want people to stop listening to the good news about Jesus just because she looked different.

Staci: So, she basically made herself look more Japanese so that the Japanese people would be more willing to listen to her talk about Jesus?

Dannah: Uh huh, and other missionaries thought that was a little crazy. They didn’t really like it. But that didn’t matter to Amy. She was more concerned about people coming to Jesus than trying to please other people.

Staci: Amazing! Keep reading, Dannah. I’m all in!

Though Amy saw many Japanese people believe in Christ, she became ill, and so she had to leave. With many twists, turns, ups, and downs, Amy finally ended up in India. 

The language there was very hard to learn, but Amy did it because she wanted the people to know she was just like them. She traded her English dresses for a traditional Indian one, so that she looked like everyone else. 

Dannah: Alright, Staci. Remember how at the beginning of the story Amy desperately wanted her brown eyes to be blue?

Staci: Sure

Dannah: Well, check this out.

Peering into the brown eyes of the Indian people, she shared the same, simple message that had brought her to faith years ago: “Jesus loves you, this I know!” Her brown eyes looked just like everyone else’s eyes . . . and the people were listening! 

Suddenly, Amy realized why God had given her brown eyes—so that it would be easier for the people in India to listen to her. Years before, God had answered her prayer for blue eyes in the way he knew would be best!

Staci: WHAT? That’s cool! God knew what He was doing with those brown eyes all along, huh? 

Dannah: He sure did!

Staci: You know, Dannah, God did the same thing with me wishing I was “tougher.” I realized that my tenderness was exactly what God needed in order for people to feel loved and cared for. 

Dannah: I love that, Staci! Okay, let’s see what else God did with Amy’s life.

God brought Amy many more people who desperately needed to hear about the love of Jesus, especially children. Many of them had been sold, kidnapped, or abandoned. So, Amy became a mother to many. Every week, the children would say out loud 1 Corinthians 13:13: 

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Her family grew and grew into a small village, which had its own school, gardens, houses, offices, and a place to care for sick people. 

Just as she’d always done, Amy prayed and trusted God to provide for their needs. And just as he’d always done, God answered. 

Amy had learned to trust that God would do great things for His glory, and she only needed to ask. So, ask she did. And great things God did.

Dannah: The end. So, what did you think? Is Amy Carmichael one of your favorite women now, too, Staci?

Staci: Definitely! And you know what? I have a great idea. You know how Amy Carmichael had an Ask and Receive book? How about we make one of those this week? And maybe our True Girl friend who’s listening with us, maybe she would want to make one, too.

Dannah: Oh, yes! You could even just get a little notebook or staple some papers together and write “Ask and Receive” on the front of it. 

Staci: Hey, Dannah, next week I’ll read you one of these books. How about this one? It’s about Fanny Crosby! 

Dannah: I can’t wait! Hey, where should we meet?

Staci: I think I know just the place. I’ll let ya know. In the meantime, I’m going to keep thanking God for making me the way He did. See ya, Dannah. Thanks for the tea too.

Dannah: Bye, Staci. See you next week!

Claire: I can totally relate to wanting something about me to be different, just like Amy Carmichael did. How about you? If so, you might like a copy of Hunter Beless’s book titled Amy Carmichael, by the Good Book Company. 

Hey mom, if you enjoyed learning about Amy Carmichael, Revive Our Hearts has a booklet that includes her story along with other great women of influence. It’s called (Un)remarkable Volume 2: 10 More Women who Impacted Their World for Christ. You can get a copy at ReviveOurHearts.com.

Today we learned that God is in all the details—even when it comes to the color of your eyes! Doesn’t that strengthen your faith in Him?

And you know what else can help your faith grow? Getting into God’s Word every single day! That’s why the True Girl Subscription Box exists. When you sign up for it, you’ll get a box every other month that’s filled to the brim with stuff to help you grow closer to Jesus. It includes things for you to do with your mom so you can learn and grow together. Ask your mom to check it out at MyTrueGirl.com.

I hope you’ll join us next time on the True Girl podcast, because you’re going to meet an amazing songwriter who was full of joy even though she couldn’t see! Until then, True Girl, don’t forget to thank God for caring about all the details of your life.

The True Girl podcast is produced by Revive Our Hearts calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness, and fruitfulness in Christ!
 

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