Moonless Nights: A Vignette of Amy Carmichael, Missionary to Asia

Amy Carmichael crossed inky blue waters by steamboat on a moonless night. She grieved as the Japanese landscape faded into mist. Gliding southward, the ship cut through the sea. Amy reclined in the window seat of her cabin and blinked at the darkness.

Ceylon, the island we know as Sri Lanka, seemed reasonably close, the passage affordable. Amy wrote in the flyleaf of her Bible, Psalm 77:19.

“Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters, yet your footprints were unseen” (ESV).

Did she trust God to steady her feet on an unknown path?

Again, she unfolded and read, by candlelight, the letter from Misaki San, her friend and interpreter in Japan, before an illness had drained and uprooted Amy.

“I know you will miss me,” Misaki San had written, “but Christ is sitting by you now, so please talk with Him . . ..”

Although Amy felt alone amid the expansive sky and deep waters, she turned her thoughts again toward the God of the universe. In her Bible she wrote, “And only heaven is sweeter than to walk with Christ at midnight over moonless seas.”

Misaki San’s words encouraged Amy beyond that night at sea, the summer of 1894, to later—when Amy lived in India and established a home for orphans. Today, the orphanage thrives along with an adjacent church and hospital.

Her work required strength beyond herself. Amy talked and walked with Christ as she encountered the suffering around her. And she personally knew suffering after an accident rendered her disabled. Amy would repeat the words “I know,” and “Fear not,” both phrases from Revelation 2, painted on wood and mounted as wall hangings in her bedroom. These were words a friend once shared with Amy. Like Misaki San, this friend reminded Amy of God’s nearness.

Most of us will never experience cross-cultural missions like Amy did during her lifetime (1867-1951) and yet, in our sphere of influence, the words we speak have the capacity to travel.

Do your words help others see and treasure Christ Jesus?

New to reading my blog? Sign up for free monthly posts, delivered to your inbox.

This story is part of a series on the global church. I’m writing short pieces about people and happenings around the world. Stories to increase your love for the global church and for Christ—who loves people from every tribe, language, and nation.

I read about the Irish-born missionary, Amy Carmichael, in Epic: An Around-the-World Journey through Christian History by Tim Challies, (Zondervan Reflective) and in Amy Carmichael: A Life Abandoned to God, by Sam Wellman, (Barbour Publishing).

(Photo on Unsplash by Mahesh Ranaweera)