Thank you, Elisabeth Elliot

One of my spiritual mentors died on June 15, 2015: Elisabeth Elliot.

I first “met” her through books years ago when I was a young wife and before children were added to the chaotic mix of my life.

Another Navy wife friend introduced us and I read everything she wrote.

She spoke in pragmatic terms through her books, calling me to a discipleship that forced some backbone into me.

The list of pithy statements is long (See my twitter feed where I retweeted twenty of them on June 15: https://twitter.com/Michelleule

Here are some of my favorites:

“Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we’re not obeying in the thing that lies before us today?” 

“How I treat other people is exactly how I treat Jesus Christ“

“If your goal is purity of the heart, be prepared to be thought very odd.”

See what I mean? Elisabeth Elliot didn’t beat around the bush.

During a four-year period of my life, I listened to her daily radio program, Gateway to Joy.

She regularly nailed me to the wall on my selfishness and my attitude.

I could almost hear her say, “you’re not feeling sorry for yourself, are you?”

Why no, Elisabeth, I wouldn’t dream of it.

  “Self-pity is a death that has no resurrection, a sinkhole from which no rescuing hand can drag you because you have chosen to sink.”

During that period, she spoke at a luncheon in Poulsbo, Washington, which I attended.

Imagine my excitement to actually be able to speak to her.

Did I say anything profound?

Of course not. Tongue tied, I merely thanked her for her radio show.

I got one of these looks, down her nose–though we were both five feet, nine inches tall–and a polite smile.

I’m sure she heard that a lot.

I wish I had written a letter to express how important her example was in my formation as a Christian.

From Elisabeth, I learned the profound lesson for indecisive me, as to how to figure out what to do next:

“When you don’t know what to do next, just do the thing in front of you.”

I don’t know how many times I’ve followed her advice and prayed: “This is the situation, Lord. Show me what to do next.”

It comes.

I learned the value of hymns from Elisabeth Elliot.

She believed the old standards taught theology better than praise choruses, including “It is Well With My Soul.”

She helped me understand the need to accept God’s will even when it was unfathomable.

Jim Elliot’s death at the hands of the Waodani Indians in 1956, along with four others, has been well documented in Elisabeth’s book Through Gates of Splendor and in the recent film End of the Spear. Jim Elliot famously said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose,” in reference to the risks he took as a missionary.

After he died, his widow, toddler daughter and sister became missionaries to the Waodani, forgiving even the man who murdered Jim Elliot, and many Waodoni became Christians. Jim Elliot was not the one who brought the good news, but by laying down his life for the Waodani, he opened the way for Elisabeth to share the forgiveness of sins offered by Jesus’ death on the cross.

World Magazine‘s obituary also had great quotes:

“God never withholds from His child that which His love and wisdom call good. While it is perfectly true that some of my worst fears did, in fact, materialize, I see them now as ‘an abyss and mass of mercies,’ appointed and assigned by a loving and merciful Father who sees the end from the beginning. He asks us to trust him.”

Well done, good and faithful servant Elisabeth Elliot. Enter into the joy of your rest with my thanks.

My world, my life, my faith, are stronger for your example and admonition.

I’ll see you in paradise.

Tweetables

Well done, Elisabeth Elliot; enter into the joy of your rest. Click to Tweet

If in doubt, ask the Lord and do the next thing. ~Elisabeth Elliot Click to Tweet

Thank you for everything, Elisabeth Elliot Click to Tweet

Welcome through the splendid gates, Elisabeth Elliot. Click to Tweet