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Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2016)

“There is nothing worth living for, unless it is worth dying for.”


I was first introduced to Elisabeth Elliot the summer after my freshman year of college. Incidentally it was through another blog called "Desiring God". John Piper described her unique smile along with the steadfast character that made her who she was. Elisabeth Elliot was a missionary in the 1950's and wife of the famous and late Jim Elliot. They lived and were married in Ecuador for about three years. They were young and desperately in love, while also spreading the gospel of Christ with all that they had. It was the day in January 1956, that Elisabeth was not expecting. Her husband Jim was speared to death by fearful natives that had so carefully tried to reach. She was left with Valerie, her daughter, less than a year old and widow at the age of thirty along with the four other wives there.However, this did not diminish her desire to share the gospel. This extraordinary woman stayed in Ecuador, and two years later she was able to live with the very same tribe that had slaughtered her husband and the other missionaries that were with him. This is one of the greatest stories of forgiveness that I have ever witnessed, and I will never forget it. If she was able to forgive the very people that killed her husband through the peace of Christ and his gospel, what more can we too forgive in our own lives? 

Read of the Week:"Through Gates of Splendor"  

More info: http://www.elisabethelliot.org/about.html



Comments

  1. UnknownJuly 16, 2017 at 8:14 AM

    I like how these posts feature women going through things many others wouldn't be able to accomplish. It's pretty difficult to imagine what Elisabeth Elliot went through. I don't think I could have done what she did. I am wondering why more people don't know of this woman and others here as well. Incidentally, wasn't her story made into a movie? Also, what made you choose these four and not the myriad others that lots of others don't know?

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