A Tribute to Elisabeth Elliot

As I returned to scripture today after a long hiatus, I was reminded of God's faithfulness, specifically in the times when things have been uncertain and uncomfortable. I found myself looking back at old journal entries and being amazed at how much God has carried me through. I was reminded, as well, of the faithfulness of Elisabeth Elliot. I remember praying for just half of Elisabeth Elliot's strength and faithfulness.

The first book of hers I read was "Passion and Purity" and it changed me. For those of you who have not been privileged to hear her story, it is one worth reading about. The book is centered around her journals and struggles during her courtship with Jim Elliot. It was a long courtship, full of waiting, uncertainty and many difficult emotions. When I read her journal entries included in the book, I was overtaken by unbelief. She was incredibly willing to do the hard thing. To wait. To yield. To die to herself....sometimes many times a day.

This book has a different meaning to me as a married woman than it did when I was young and single. I do, however, still have moments of waiting and opportunities to yield to Christ and die to myself each day. It sometimes seems that I am actually given more opportunities to do this as a married woman than I was as a single woman, with no one else to put before myself. Everyday I face "little deaths" when I am given the chance to say no to myself and yes to God. These opportunities show up in all shapes and sizes. They can be obvious or go unnoticed. They can involve others or remain between God and myself. They can involve the way I spend my money, what I am entertained by, my attitude, the way I speak to my husband, the way I spend my time and energy, and sometimes they can even involve what I eat. Every struggle must be offered up. It takes faith to die these little deaths--faith to believe that I must die in order to live.

"It takes faith to live by it, faith to act on it, faith to keep looking at the joyful end of it all." Elisabeth Elliot