A Happier Ending

You can all (all 5 of you) stop reading now.... I'm still on the biography kick. The kids and I just finished reading Amy Carmichael. She was another awesome missionary who made a difference wherever she went. After Japan and China, and working for a Christian organization in England, she felt called to India. This was in the late 1800s. It doesn't seem that long ago, but they had some really awful practices (I know they still do).

Amy didn't know about many of them when she got there and had to learn first hand. Some of the things she encountered were caste rules (not mixing with people of different socioeconomic standing), child sacrifice, and slavery, among other things. Those alone were bad enough, but as children and adults began to accept Christ, they were greatly persecuted. One child was tied to a pole for 3 days for making a decision to follow Christ. His faith did not waiver. People were beaten, children were mistreated... it broke Amy's heart.

So she decided to write home and let her supporters know what she was experiencing there. She just highlighted a few of the stories that she was personally involved in. She wanted the book to be published, but the manuscript was returned.

The reason for the rejection was that the story didn't have a happy ending.

Her Christian supporters suggested she lighten it up a little. They didn't like hearing that babies were given to Hindu temples by their parents to be raised up to be temple prostitutes and that they were rarely allowed to leave the temple walls... They didn't like hearing that children were going blind and nearing death from treatable symptoms (even back then) just because it would be a shame to the family to get help from someone in a different caste. Amy couldn't believe it.

In almost every case there was no happy ending...

She was disappointed but she saved her manuscript. Then a while later two of her friends from England came to help out for a while on a short term mission trip. They were equally appalled at what they saw and asked Amy why they hadn't heard about these things before. They urged her to write a book of stories to let people back home know what was happening. Amy showed them the book she had already written. They took it with them when they left and somehow got it published.

Today it is easy to pretend that things aren't that bad... especially if we are a world away or aren't directly working with a certain problem. But I am increasingly convicted to figure out a way to be directly involved in standing up to some of the problems I have been ignoring myself: child sex-trafficking, homelessness, etc. I think I err way too far on the side of family safety than I should.

I love Corrie ten Boom's quote: "There are no 'if's' in God's world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety - let us pray that we may always know it!"
— Corrie ten Boom (The Hiding Place)

I have also been encouraged with a song that has recently hit the airwaves. (If you're still reading, hit the pause button on the songs below and listen to this one).