For over a hundred years the flour mill in the seaside village of Millisle in Northern Ireland was wehre many of the villagers worked. Others farmed and fished, but they too were involved with the flour mill because the farmers took their grain there to be made into flour, and the fishermen's wives bought their bread flour at the mill. For all of that time the mill belonged to the Carmichael family.
1867 was an exciting year for the young Carmichael couple because they were expecting their first child. She was born just nine dayse before Christmas, and they called the little girl Amy Beatrice.
Amy ws not to be the only child of the mill owners; six others were born over the years that followed.
It was a very busy household. There were probably only three times in the day when the house was quiet. One was when the children were all tucked up in bed and asleep and the other two were when the family met round the table to have morning and evening prayers.
Amy had a special time each night. "After the nursery light was turned low and i was quite alone," she told a friend once, "I used to smooth a little place on the sheet and say aloud, but softly, to our Father, "Please come and sit with me". Amy was not talking about her dad, she was talking about her heavenly Father.
One day Amy and Mrs. Carmichael had gone out shopping in Belfast where they also had tea. That night Amy sat down by the fire with her family to tell of her day in Belfast. "A little girl came and stood near the door and looked through the window of the tea-shop," she told the other children, "delicious cakes and sweets were set out in the window. As we left we saw the little girl with her face pressed close to the glass. She was looking at all the cakes and sweets. She was a poor little girl in a thin ragged dress. It was raining, and her bare feet on the wet pavement looked very cold."
When Father called the family to have worshop, Amy was not the only one who prayed for that poor little girl. And when her brothers and sisters were tucked up in bed that night, Amy sat on by the nursery fire. She couldn't get that poor girl out of her mind, so much so that she wrote a poem about her.
-When I grow up and money have,
I know what I will do,
I'll build a great big lovely place,
For little girls like you.
~It is just amazing to me that she had such a caring heart and a heart willing to work for God at such and early age. This is a precious thing to have. And it is even more special when your reach that at a young age. She cared so deeply for that one little girl, that she wrote a poem about her. She cared enough about the welfare of the other girls like that ONE little girl in the window, to know thats what she wanted to do for her lifes work.
We need to have that willing heart for God. Come on! There are souls burning in Hell right now and we arent doing anything about it! We need to forget about our own personal needs and our many comforts and go out, and teach the Gospel. Show people Christs love! We need to have a Servants Heart to do Gods will.
A song that I learned just this year has become my favorite song. The words are so powerful! The key part of the song is - Lord Send me anywhere. Only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me.
This song is just AMAZING and so convicting. Are we really willing for the Lord to send us anywhere? Amy had that heart. She was willing to go where the Lord sent her. Are we?
~God Bless
