“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.”
~Amy Carmichael

The last sentences in the book read, “The family had promised not to mark her grave with a headstone, but they hoped she would forgive them for placing a stone birdbath over her grave. It bore a single word: Amma.” Amma stands for mother in the Hindu culture and Amy Carmichael had become an Amma to hundreds of girls and boys, something she didn’t welcome at first. Her hesitation came from an old saying in the Tamil language, “Children tie the mother’s feet.” It means that when a woman becomes a mother she is no longer free to do all the things she had done before. It is as though her feet are tied together and she cannot go far from home. Amy’s heart was to minister to the people of India and she didn’t know how she would be able to carry out that call with kids, but God did!

As you plan for your upcoming homeschool year, I highly recommend the Christian Heroes: Then & Now. They are inspiring true stories of men and women who answered God’s call. I choose one or two a year to read aloud to the kids. We have completed George Muller, The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans, Gladys Aylward, The Adventure of a Lifetime, and today finished Amy Carmichael, Rescuer of Precious Gems. These stories will make you laugh and cry. Your children will learn about different cultures, countries, and the hardships many faced aboard. Chapter after chapter you will read about ordinary men and women whose trust in God accomplished extraordinary exploits for His kingdom and glory.

You can purchase these at Christianbookstore.com or YWAM Publishing.