Gold Cord

"The Dohnavur Fellowship is a group of Indian and European men and women who work together in the South of India. Its friends wanted to know how it began and they asked for something that would link up the stories already written; the beads should be strung on some sort of cord, they said. Others asked for another kind of cord. "What holds you together?" they asked; and we answered, "A gold cord."

Thus came the inspiration for Amy Carmichael's book, Gold Cord. This book, originally published in 1932 in the middle of Amy Carmichael's ministry, has been republished by Christian Literature Crusade and is available through many Christian book catalogues.

This book recounts the beginning and the growth of the Dohnavur Fellowship of India. It's foundation was "gold, silver, and precious stones" (chapter 1). God used that verse and many others to encourage Amy to commit her life to service for the Lord. An encounter with a runaway temple girl named Pearleyes made Amy and her fellow workers aware of the atrocities done to children in the Hindu temples of India, and launched their mission to rescue children from the temples and dramas of Southern India. As the fellowship struggled to grow, the Lord brought them through deep lessons to teach them to trust Him completely, and over and over again He showed them His power and grace in amazing ways.

Gold Cord is much more than such a collection of stories. It is a display of the grace of God and an amazing challenge to the readers to seek God with their whole hearts. In Miss Carmichael's words, "we are not here...for trivial purposes. We are here to prove to angels and to men

That life is not as idle ore,
But iron dug from central gloom,
And heated hot with burning fears
And dipped in baths of hissing tears,
And battered with the shocks of doom
To shape and use.

"We are not here to be overcome, but to rise unvanquished after every knockout blow, and laugh the laugh of faith, not fear." She also reminds us, in the words of another author, "It matters nothing at all what we are, provided we are entirely willing to be made the instruments of His will, His agents in this world. I do not think we know the meaning of the word strength until we have fathomed our utter weakness." Through recounts of times that God intervened and answered prayers and blessed, Miss Carmichael shows to us the struggles and yet the subsequent joys of Christian life, the blessing of knowing Christ, and the importance of reaching others for Him, to give as Jesus gave, "holding nothing back".

This is no lazy read. It took me several months to read through it, as I preferred to take only one or two chapters at a time to let her words sink in. I must say, as I have read, I have been so challenged and encouraged to not live a complaisant life. Our time on earth is too short and too trivial to live for, but that which is done for Christ will last, the "gold, silver, and precious stones"-- those are the works that will abide.

If you are seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus and desiring to "climb" in your walk with Him, read Gold Cord! If you are happy with the way you are and aren't interested in being told to move forward in your walk with Christ, well, you might not be interested.