Her unresolved sufferings-and the God she came to know intimately in the midst of them-laid the bedrock of her lifelong message that captivated millions around the world. high-achieving new missionary” into a seasoned woman of tenacious faith who didn’t mind asking the tough questions. Vaughn shows how the cumulative loss and death and “unfruitfulness” of Elliot’s 20s transformed her from the once “dutiful, devout. Not only was Elliot well acquainted with weakness, she was also on a first-name basis with mystery. It is God and nothing less than God, for the work is God’s and the call is God’s and everything is summoned by Him and to His purposes, our bravery and cowardice, our love and our selfishness, our strengths and our weaknesses.”
“It is not the level of our spirituality that we can depend on.
She too wrestled with depression, a flawed personality, broken relationships, and weariness. I wept through words that painted Elliot so human-so like me. I felt her agonies and ecstasies, her terrific triumphs and heart-wrenching failures. I vividly saw, smelled, heard, and even tasted Elliot’s world-from her scrupulous East Coast childhood home to the perilous jungles of her 20s. Thanks to Vaughn’s writing prowess, laborious legwork, and extensive use of Elliot’s personal journals, I felt as if I were shadowing Elliot from her birth to her early 30s (Vaughn is writing a second volume to tell the story of Elliot’s later years). Last month I picked up a copy of Ellen Vaughn’s new authorized biography, Becoming Elisabeth Elliot-a captivating look at the woman behind the best-selling books, the lauded story, and the global speaking engagements-as well as the criticisms. Although there had been seasons when I’d tired of her crisp-and-conventional style (after all, she was from my grandparents’ generation, not mine)-and I’d let her books collect dust on my shelves-I looked at the picture with a heart full of love and gratitude, feeling that I’d known her well. When Elliot passed in 2015, I dug up an old picture I’d taken with her at a speaking engagement 20 years before. And I spent the summer I was 42-recovering from chemotherapy and major surgery-savoring every last word of Suffering is Never for Nothing. In my 30s, I clung to Elliot’s mantra, “Do the next thing,” as chronic illness made a home in my body and altered my life ambitions. In my 20s I often read from Keep A Quiet Heart as I wrestled with both depression and singleness. As a teenager, I read her book Passion and Purity, convinced that my own Jim Elliot was right around the corner.
When I was a child, my mother passed along to me a deep appreciation for the life and writings of Elisabeth Elliot.
0 kommentar(er)
