Lisa Barry: As we look back over our lives, there are always a few real-life stories that have so gripped us that our lives take a different direction as a result--stories of heroism, sacrifice, faith and obedience.

Elisabeth Elliot has many such stories and each one has made an indelible mark on her life. All this week on Gateway To Joy, we're going to have the privilege of hearing about those life-changing accounts. So if you're going though a dry spell in your spiritual life or you just love to hear about what God is doing, you'll love today's program. Let's get started with this Monday edition of Gateway To Joy.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says, "and underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend, Elisabeth Elliot, talking with you today about what I call stories of passion. The first story is by Amy Carmichael. It was the very first book that she wrote when she lived in India, way back in the 1890's, and this is a tremendously powerful story.

"The tom-toms thumped straight on through the night, and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked and I saw as it seemed, this:

"That I stood on a grassy sword and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked but saw no bottom--only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled; and great shadowed, shrouded hollows and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.

"Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding onto her dress; she was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step; it trod air. She was over and the children over with her. Oh, the cry as they went over.

"Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters--all were blind, stone blind. All made straight for the precipice edge. There were shrieks, as they suddenly knew themselves falling and a tossing up of helpless arms catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over quietly and fell without a sound.

"Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped them at the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground. And I could not call; though I strained and tried only a whisper would come. Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals, but the intervals were far too great. There were great wide unguarded gaps between and over these gaps the people fell in their blindness quite unwarned. And the green grass seemed blood red to me and the gulf yawned like the mouth of hell.

"Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned towards the gulf. They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them, it disturbed them and they thought it a rather vulgar noise. And if one of their numbers started up and wanted to go do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down. 'Why should you get so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go. You haven't finished your daisy chains yet. It would be really selfish,' they said, 'to leave us to finish the work alone.'

"There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out. But they found that very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries set for miles and miles of the edge. Once a girl stood alone in her place waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called, reminded her that her furlough was due. She must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for a while. But no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over the people fell like a waterfall of souls.

"Once a child caught at a tuft of grass that grew at the very brink of the gulf. It clung convulsively and it called, but nobody seemed to hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass. And the girl who longed to be back at her gap thought she heard the little one cry. She sprang up and wanted to go, at which they reproved her reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere. The gap would be well taken care of they knew, and then they sang a hymn.

"Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts rung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me for I knew what it was--the cry of the blood. Then thundered a voice, the voice of the Lord, and He said, 'What has thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground.'

"The tom-toms still beat heavily. The darkness still shuddered and shivered about me. I heard the yells of the devil dancers and the weird, wild shriek of the devil-possessed just outside the gate. What does it matter after all? It has gone on for years. It will go on for years. I make such a fuss about it. God forgive us. God arouse us. Shame us out of our callousness, shame out of our sin."

Talking of this dream that she had, of the people falling over the cliff and no one paying any attention--it was very difficult for her to get people back in England to take any action. But several women came out to visit her, and they discovered the manuscript of this book, which was called Things as They Are, a book which had been turned down by other publishers. And they asked her if they could use this. And so the word was then propagated and people began to pray and wonderful things happened. And the Dohnavur Fellowship, the work that Amy Carmichael spent the rest of her life in, was established.

The tom-toms still beat heavily; the darkness still shudders and shivers in many places in India. Amy Carmichael heard the yells of the devil dancers. That practice has been outlawed today.

But the Dohnvur Fellowship still exists.

I would ask you to pray for the Dohnavur Fellowship. God bless you. Thank you for praying for them.

Lisa Barry: And hopefully you have your journal sitting right by the radio so you can write that down as a prayer request. What a powerful story!

I think we've all spent time in a daisy chain camp, avoiding the cries of the dying. And if we happen to be there right now, let's make a decision to pull up stakes and move to the front lines. I have to be honest when I admit that that is part of the reason for this program. Though it's true that you are encouraged when you're here and there's practical advice on marriage and family, it's only part of the picture. The reason most of you come back week after week is because Gateway To Joy is not a Christian clique where we just smile and nod at each other in blind acceptance. We would prefer to be thought of as an arsenal, a hospital and a launching pad.

Is that the kind of program you want to invest in? We're praying that it is. Your prayers and financial support keep the energy in this ministry. We're looking for a team of people who will uplift Gateway To Joy so that more and more people will have the chance to be launched into a life of service to Christ. Will you join the team? Let us know. Here's our address:

Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, NE 68501. Or call toll free 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. You can also find us on the Internet at gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

Tomorrow, we'll hear the life-changing story of Gladys Aylward. So make it a point to join us then for the next Gateway To Joy.