Thanks to Vaughn’s writing prowess, laborious legwork, and extensive use of Elliot’s personal journals, I felt as if I were shadowing Elliot from her birth to her early 30s (Vaughn is writing a second volume to tell the story of Elliot’s later years). Last month I picked up a copy of Ellen Vaughn’s new authorized biography, Becoming Elisabeth Elliot-a captivating look at the woman behind the best-selling books, the lauded story, and the global speaking engagements-as well as the criticisms. Although there had been seasons when I’d tired of her crisp-and-conventional style (after all, she was from my grandparents’ generation, not mine)-and I’d let her books collect dust on my shelves-I looked at the picture with a heart full of love and gratitude, feeling that I’d known her well. When Elliot passed in 2015, I dug up an old picture I’d taken with her at a speaking engagement 20 years before. And I spent the summer I was 42-recovering from chemotherapy and major surgery-savoring every last word of Suffering is Never for Nothing. In my 30s, I clung to Elliot’s mantra, “Do the next thing,” as chronic illness made a home in my body and altered my life ambitions. In my 20s I often read from Keep A Quiet Heart as I wrestled with both depression and singleness. As a teenager, I read her book Passion and Purity, convinced that my own Jim Elliot was right around the corner. When I was a child, my mother passed along to me a deep appreciation for the life and writings of Elisabeth Elliot.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |