As a little girl, she thought the calling of overseas missions work to be the highest possible. Her parents had a deep passion for missionary work and in her home in New Jersey (just over the river from the city of Philadelphia) the children grew up on news of overseas missionaries, prayer for missionaries, and interest in the cause of the gospel all over the world. Her background ⤒ 🔗Įlisabeth was born in Brussels to American missionaries serving on a short-term assignment in Europe in the 1920s. Soon I discovered that I was being shown the story of her whole life, glimpse by glimpse, as she revealed, through her words of wisdom to others, what God had taught her in the crucible of her own sufferings. Being the type of reader who tends to ‘binge” on finding a good author, I quickly read most of the rest of Elisabeth’s books. Yes, I had a treat in store for me when someone urged me to read Through Gates of Splendour, Elisabeth’s first book. And her writings have quietened, encouraged and instructed many fellow believers weathering the storms of life for over forty years. Among Christian women of the late twentieth century she deserves special honour for the witness of her life. We must trust God *Himself*, as He reveals Himself in His Word, in our circumstances.not the God we often remake in our own image.I don’t know why I never read Elisabeth Elliott’s books until a few months ago. He begins to teach her that if she is to trust Him, she must trust Him as He is, not as she wishes Him to be. The spiritual journey Margaret takes is one on which God will probably lead every one of His people at least once in their lifetime. Many who read No Graven Image might be tempted to 'remonstrate,' as Elisabeth Elliot said, about the lack of a happy ending, but I don't think she could have or should have written it any other way. It's an important realization, and one I'd not thought seriously about before. 'Is this really the way it's supposed to work?' 'This isn't how missionaries reported their work back home.' 'What am I really supposed to be doing?' Margaret, though young, began to see straight through the trite and euphemistic, and slightly deceiving language that are the signs of becoming a politician-missionary, a danger of fixing our gaze on the results of our work, rather than on the God who called us to the work, and Whose responsibility it really is to produce results. And as she becomes more realistic, the author didn't shrink from describing her doubts and questions. I liked Margaret's freshness and enthusiasm at the beginning of her spiritual journey, and then, of course, life happens.

Missionary or not, we each have at least watershed encounter in our life that is a turning point in our relationship with the Lord we come face to face with who we *thought* God was, and with who He now reveals Himself to be. The setting is completely different from our own, and the attendant difficulties look quite different, but underneath, there is something in her that would probably resonate with most women. Due to our ministry, and the direction God has led in what I've taught over the past three years, I've focused a lot on unexplainable or 'unacceptable' circumstances, and I was interested to see how she'd handle it in fiction.

As it turned out, many readers would have preferred a happily-ever-after ending and they have remonstrated with me about the plot, saying 'I just can't believe that God would allow things like this to happen.' Sorry, folks, He does.' That alone intrigued me enough to put my other reading (even Agatha Christie!) aside. In her preface to this edition, the author says, 'When I wrote, I felt that the implications of my message would best be conveyed in the garb of fiction. Just over 250 pages, it was a quick and engrossing read. While wandering through a discount bookstore, I found one copy on the shelf, so of course I picked it up, and read it over the course of one day. It's written by Elisabeth Elliot (one of my favorite women *ever*), it's about missions, and it's fiction. This book has been on my wishlist since before I had a wishlist.

No graven image elisabeth elliot