"Becoming Elisabeth Elliot"

The late missionary Elisabeth Elliot is one of my all-time favorite authors, and her writings, particularly about singleness and godliness, made quite an impression on me during my years as a young (and then not-so-young) single woman. I still quote her to this day, and here are just a few of her jewels:

• "Action that is clearly right needs no justification."

• “The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian makes me a different kind of woman.”

• “Remind me that not everything needs to be said, and that there are very few things that need to be said by me.” (One of her pleas to God)

Many people know Elisabeth's name simply because her husband, Jim Elliot, was one of the five missionaries speared to death by the Ecuadorian Indians they were trying to evangelize in 1956. I'm told the story made headlines around the world and inspired many others to go into the mission field. The part of that story that has always stuck with me most, however, is that after her husband was killed, Elisabeth went back and spent two years ministering to the very people who had killed her husband. I don't believe I could have done it! Could you? 

She's one of the few authors whose every book I own, and I even had the privilege of hearing her speak on a couple of occasions, so when I learned an authorized biography of her was coming out, I was thrilled that NetGalley sent me a copy. But what I did not expect was to find quite a few tea references! Author Ellen Vaughn tells of researching the book: "I knew, standing in Elisabeth Elliot's home, with her favorite books, her piano, her teacups, and the wild ocean she loved just beyond the picture window, that those long-ago deaths were just part of her story."

In one part of the book, Vaughn writes of the time Elisabeth and a fellow missionary traveled a few hours away from their post in Ecuador and were invited to lunch by two Brits, and Elisabeth and her friend were served spinach soup, rice, fried eggs, and tea. "There was a proper pitcher of cooled boiled milk for the tea, covered with a scalloped doily weighted around the edges with glass beads. Civilization, in the jungle." Doesn't that image just make you smile?

Any of you who are also Elisabeth Elliot fans will no doubt want to read this book, too, and finding tea within its pages—while certainly not a focus at all—was nevertheless a delightful surprise!