Last week, I introduced a book about Amy Carmichael. As I neared the end of the book, I found another segment I'd like to share with you. Usually, the parts of a book that stand out to me are things I can relate to immediately. While I've been in this position before, I'm not currently in the position of feeling criticized by others around me. So I can only assume that God is prompting me to share this for the sake of one of my readers. Please pass it on, if you feel it can bless someone else.
"There was a day" writes Carmichael, "when Walker (a leader in their ministry) sat alone in his study reading the copy of a document addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury. It was a petition against him and one or two other true men who had stood by him in his efforts to cut certain cankers out of this South Indian Church. It was an amazing composition, cruel and false because [it was] so ignorant. He came out from his study that day looking very white, and his eyes were like dark fires. But he went straight on like a man walking through cobwebs stretched across his path. And what does it matter now? He has seen his Lord's face. All that troubles is only for a moment. Nothing is important but that which is eternal."
The phrase Carmichael uses here, "What does it matter now? He has seen his Lord's face" struck me when I read it. As I said, for those suffering unfair accusations, perhaps this will be an encouragement. Even in my own current situation, I can readily accept the wisdom of this phrase. What does it matter that she was incapacitated for xx years? What does it matter that she couldn't attend such or such an event because of illness? She has seen her Lord's face.
My prayer is first of all that, in this world, those around me will be able to see this truth in my life. I pray that my children, my loved ones, and even my sisters and brothers in Christ, will be able to say, "What does that illness matter? It is drawing her closer to Christ, so blessing has come from her illness."
More importantly, though, I long to leave a legacy beyond my own fragile years on this earth. A hundred years from now, anyone who reads my journal should be able to say, "What does it matter that God took her through this trial or that hardship? She has seen her Lord's face." The most important thing I can show as a result of whatever I face on a given day, whether illness or health, whether poverty or riches, whether discouragement or pleasure, is that God's glory trumps all else. Those trials were but a drop in the larger bucket of His care for me.
Rachel was called to motherhood when she married a widowed father of seven. She also has two biological children, and desires to honor the Lord with her writings. She holds a Master's degree in Secondary Christian Education and has educated her children at home since 2003.
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