Synopsis
For over half a century, Elisabeth Elliot, has been one of the leading spokeswomen for a deep-seated commitment to Christ. While this is a novel, and not autobiographical, she certainly drew from her own life-experience to create a realistic and moving adventure that raises many questions about missions work, and about what true faith really is.
Lars Gren, Elisabeth’s current husband, acknowledges that this is his favorite of all of her books. Recommended reading for any Christian, this should be a “must read” for anyone considering mission’s work.
Full of enthusiasm and ideals, Margaret Sparhawk goes as a missionary to the Quichua people of Ecuador. But from the beginning, nothing is as she pictured it. Not the Ecuadorians, not the work, not her fellow missionaries. Not even God.
In clean, evocative prose, Elisabeth Elliot opens a window onto Ecuador, the high Andes, and the missionary vocation. Through the specifics of Margaret’s experience, Elliot shows something of what it means—for each of us—to take up a cross and follow Jesus.
In the introduction to her biography of Amy Carmichael, Elliot wrote: “She showed me the shape of godliness. For a time, I suppose, I thought she must have been perfect . . . . As I grew up I knew she could not have been perfect, and that was better, for it meant that I might possibly walk in her footprints.” There are many who can say the same of Elliot herself. In her writing we see, as she saw in Carmichael’s, “that the chance to die, to be crucified with Christ, [is] not a morbid thing, but the very gateway to Life.”
With an unanticipated ending, you’ll be left, along with Margaret Sparhawk, wondering where God is in your struggles, what is true success, and how God operates. Any book that can accomplish that is well worth the read.
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