Almost two years ago, the world lost a tenacious heroine of the Christian faith. Elisabeth Elliot was a prolific author, radio host, speaker, and missionary to an unreached tribe in the remote rainforest of East Ecuador.
But despite her long list of accomplishments, Elliot is most remembered for her display of forgiveness, faith, and persistence through grief for the sake of the Gospel.
Two years after her husband Jim and four other missionaries were killed attempting to make contact with a fierce Indian tribe, the Huaorani, also known as the Auca, God’s providence allowed Elliot to move in and minister to that same tribe. According to her official biography, Elliot’s daughter was a toddler at the time. Despite being a young widow and mother, Elliot obedy God’s calling and ministered to the Huaorani for two years before returning to her previous missionary work with the Quichua Indians.
March marks Women’s History Month, a time to look back at the remarkable women who helped shape our history. Not only did Elliot leave behind an inspiring legacy, her obedience to God in the midst of tragedy helped transform the spiritual lives of women, men, and countless generations to come.
So in honor of Women’s History Month, we commemorate the legacy of Elisabeth Elliot by looking back at seven of her inspiring quotes on steadfast obedience to the Almighty.
1.) To be a follower of the Crucified means, sooner or later, a personal encounter with the cross. And the cross always entails loss.
2.) Christ is sufficient. We do not need “support groups” for each and every separate tribulation. The most widely divergent sorrows may all be taken to the foot of the same old rugged cross and find there cleansing, peace, and joy.
3.) Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship ”in spirit and in truth.” Never mind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.
4.) God is God. Because he is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what he is up to.
5.) Where does your security lie? Is God your refuge, your hiding place, your stronghold, your shepherd, your counselor, your friend, your redeemer, your savior, your guide? If He is, you don’t need to search any further for security.
6.) We are not meant to die merely in order to be dead. God could not want that for the creatures to whom He has given the breath of life. We die in order to live.
7.) When obedience to God contradicts what I think will give me pleasure, let me ask myself if I love him.
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