Elisabeth Elliot — Grateful, yet Grieving
My pastor asked a question recently that made me think, “Who is someone in your life that has a faith worth following?” I immediately thought of Elisabeth Elliot.
When I was in college in the 70s, I attended an InterVarsity Conference where I first heard her speak. She spoke with conviction as she described her faith in God in the first days and months of becoming a widow at age 30. Her husband was killed along with four other missionaries in Ecuador while serving in the jungle of the Amazon. Elisabeth continued to serve the Quichua tribe for two years following the tragic death of her husband. She went on to remarry and became a widow again after several years. She married a third time and died in 2015 at the age of 88.
She was a professor and author of more than 25 books. I’d like to share some of her quotes from two of her books; “A Path Through Suffering” (1990, Servant Publications) and “Suffering is Never for Nothing” (2019, B & H Publishing)
“Every event in our lives provides opportunity to learn the deepest lesson anyone can learn on earth,…When our souls lie barren in a winter which seems hopeless and endless, God has not abandoned us. His work goes on. He asks our acceptance of the painful process and our trust that He will indeed give resurrection life.” (A Path Through Suffering)
“God’s presence did not change the fact of my widowhood. Jim’s absence thrust me, forced me, hurried me to God, my hope and my only refuge. And so I can say to you that suffering is an irreplaceable medium through which I learned an indispensable truth. I AM. I am the Lord. In other words, that God is God. (Suffering is Never for Nothing)
“I kept going back again and again to the promises that God had given me….Day after day God was giving me promises that just enabled me to through. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. I didn’t need to worry about the next fifty years, which is a temptation for anyone who’s lost someone they love. You think, “Well, I guess I could make it through supper tonight but not real sure about tomorrow or next week, let alone the next fifty years.”
My hope in sharing Elisabeth’s quotes here, that you find hope, comfort, and encouragement to continue in the journey that you are on.
