Saturday Selections from Our Bookshelf: If

"If the moment I am conscious of the

shadow of self crossing the

threshold,

I do not shut the door,

and in the power of Him who

works in us to will and to do,

keep that door shut,

then I know nothing of Calvary love."

When my Grandmother asked me for a Christmas wish list, I sat at Amazon's website and stared. I, who needed absolutely nothing, was at a complete loss. Somehow, Amy Carmichael crossed my mind, and I decided to search for some of her books. If was near the top of the list, so I decided to add it to mine. 

If you've never heard of Amy Carmichael, she was a missionary in India for fifty-six years. At a young age she left everything behind to follow the call of Christ, rescuing orphans from temple prostitution and beginning a community for them that still exists today. What I admire most about Amy was that she was completely dead to self and alive to Christ- she was in love with Jesus, and she let Him be everything in her life. That was what set her apart to Him, and why her life was such a beautiful picture of selflessness. 

If is an incredibly short book. In fact, I read the whole thing in less than an hour. Still, it's life-changing. Amy's beautiful, short descriptions of what Calvary love really is are powerful and full of bold truth- she's not afraid of being honest. 

Since there are too many wonderful things about this book to tell you about in one little post, I'll just finish this off with a quote that sums up Amy's walk with Christ and her implicit trust in Him.

"Trust Me, My child," He says. "Trust Me with a humbler heart and fuller abandon to My will than ever thou didst before. Trust Me to pour My love trough thee, as minute suceeds minute. And if thou shouldst be conscious of anything hindering the flow, do not hurt My love by going away from Me in discouragement, for nothing can hurt love so much as that. Draw all the closer to Me; come, flee unto Me to hide thee, even from thyself. Tell Me about the trouble. Trust Me to turn My hand upon thee and throughly to remove the boulder that has choked thy riverbed, and take away all the sand that has silted up the channel. I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. I will perfect that which concerneth thee. Fear thou not, O child of My love; fear not."