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April 29, 2024

In the Company of Elisabeth Elliot

April 29, 2024 by RACHEL MCDONALD YANAC PEACE Contentment Homeschooling Raising kids cross-culturally Trust
In the Company of Elisabeth Elliot
  • by RACHEL MCDONALD YANAC
  • Comment
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19

She was my hero, her story giving me the courage to follow God’s calling overseas. I wanted to be just like Elisabeth Elliot… well, almost like her, since I hoped for her character qualities without having to go through the trials that she faced. 


Recently, however, I found myself wallowing in worry and a lack of peace, problems that I was sure didn’t characterize Elisabeth’s life. Our sons had spent the previous year attending school in Ohio, and they loved it! Now we were back in Peru, slogging through high school classes at home. Did they miss their friends? What about the track team they enjoyed so much? Was I a good enough teacher? Were they learning everything they needed to know for college? 


I felt like the “bad example” of Elisabeth Elliot’s wise words: 


“Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy. Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.” 


Needing to clear my head, I stepped outside, spilling my doubts at Jesus’ feet as I walked. In His gracious way, God whispered into my heart, “I will meet all of Danny and Luis’ needs according to the riches of my glory in Christ Jesus.”


Peace instantly flooded my heart when I heard this verse being directly applied to our boys. And I was pleased to discover, after reading the original devotional with Elisabeth Elliot’s quote, that I could finally count myself in the company of my cross-cultural hero! She wrote those words of wisdom after sleepless nights of worry for her own daughter and grandchildren. It’s not like I was happy that she’d fallen from the pedestal of perfection where I had placed her, but it was comforting to realize that even Elisabeth Elliot sometimes jumped straight to worry instead of trust. 


Even more comforting than the reminder of Elisabeth’s humanity, however, were the words of Jesus Himself that she quoted at the end of her devotional: 


“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” John 14:27 


Thank you, Elisabeth, for your honesty about your own struggles, and for pointing me back to our only source of perfect peace. 

Closing Prayer
Thank you so much, for taking care of our boys, for giving them friends and activities and just the right school options wherever we find ourselves. Thank you for great women of faith, like Elisabeth Elliot, who show us that it’s OK to be human! Thank you for your gentle reminder that you will supply ALL of our needs, including the ones that tend to keep us awake at night. Please help us to live in the promise and the reality of your peace. Amen.
Resources
Article: Waiting by Elisabeth Elliot This is the devotional with Elisabeth Elliot’s encouraging quote about peace while waiting. She wrote it when she was 68 years old!
Song: And My God Will Meet All Your Needs by Beyond a Doubt Here’s a nice musical version of Philippians 4:19
Video: God Will Supply All Your Needs by Desiring God This is a beautiful, short video-devotional posted on the “Desiring God” website.
Question for Reflection

Do you find that it’s the big things or the small circumstances that steal your peace? What do you do to bring yourself back to a place of trusting in God and experiencing his peace?

Comments
Rachel McDonald Yanac
April 29, 2024

I seem to have a much easier time trusting God for the “big things” in life, while worrying over smaller things. When I find myself focusing too much on all of the things that our boys are missing out on by being homeschooled overseas, I take a minute to make a mental list of all of the reasons WHY we have chosen this type of schooling for now. At the top of my list is the fact that God has given us a job to do - right here, right now - and until he changes that, he will give us the ability, the patience, and grace to follow his plan.