Whispers of His Power – Amy Carmichael
[Note: each year I aim to post a Daily Blog of quotes from faithful Christians to help encourage us on our journey. In previous year these have been compendiums of mostly Victorian Christians. During 2026 I aim to publish daily reflections on Scripture from Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur.[i] A missionary from Northern Ireland who lived out her life and call in India. Her life and words have inspired me for many years. I pray that they will help you also – Andrew Dotchin]
Introduction
Amy Carmichael was a British missionary who arrived in India in 1895 and stayed there till her death in 1951. At first she worked in the villages of South India. Then in 1901 she began to make a home for children in need of protection and care. Others came to help her, and the Dohnavur Fellowship was born, named after the village in Tamil Nadu in which it is situated. For fifty years she was Mother to an ever-increasing family and saw many of her children grow up to serve the Lord by serving others.
An accident in 1931 led to illness which confined her almost entirely to her room for the remaining years of her life. During that time she continued to counsel and encourage all who came to see her and wrote many books and innumerable letters. She also wrote notes to her family almost daily, in which she shared the thoughts the Lord had given her. They were intended only for her ‘children’, but a selection has already been published as daily meditations, called Edges of His Ways, and the following notes are from some of the remaining material. She wrote to her family:
‘It is a great cheer to know that these notes are sometimes a help. There are so many of you, and your needs are so various and your ages so different, that it is impossible any one word should be for everybody. No archer ever shot several hundred targets with one arrow. But if any arrow finds its target I am content – and grateful.’
‘I don’t want you to be spoon-fed children, but to get your food direct from your Heavenly Father. But this is my only way to reach you, my own dear children, and I often read things I long to share with you, and sometimes our Lord Jesus speaks a word to my heart which I think would speak to yours.’
It has been necessary to edit the notes and remove many purely topical allusions. A few written to young children have been included, together with many to older members of her family and especially to those taking part in the many branches of the work – caring for children, teaching, helping the sick in our hospital, and doing routine work such as cooking and sewing and housework.
The work at Dohnavur and its various outposts continues today, and in addition many hundreds of Old Boys and Old Girls are scattered throughout India and in other countries.
As you read these notes, will you pray that Amy’s children may continue to follow the teaching and example she gave them, and live to serve and glorify the Lord and make His love known to others.
B. M. G. TREHANE
Dohnavur Fellowship
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These words are from ‘Whispers of His Power’ a collection of writings that Amy Carmichael wrote for her ‘children’ and others associated with the Dohnavur Fellowship. and are Copyright © The Dohnavur Fellowship 1982
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