Why I started the "Gateways to joy" talks

My first gateway to joy experience and my first encounter with Elisabeth Elliot are two different experiences which I will share with you next week.  Today, I would like to share with you why I added "s" to "gateway," and why I wanted to start this link up.

  I added the "s" to gateway because it has been my experience that God uses many "gateways" to lead us to points in our lives of where He wants us to be. As I shared with you in yesterday's post: God purposely led the children of Isreal "by the way of the wilderness."  His gateways are always meant to direct us and get us onto His path by whatever means He deems necessary.

The other reason I added the "s" is because I didn't know if legally I could use "Gateway to joy."  Gateways may not even be legal as it is still so closely named to "Gateway to Joy."  I will just wait and see what happens.  If the name changes you know why.

Oh guys, I miss Elisabeth so much.  Sometimes it makes me cry because I can't pick up the phone and call or send a letter {hopefully she would have been more into email by now :)} and talk the way we use too.  I just miss her so much.  I was one of the faithful ones who would be up at 5:15 a.m, with tablet, pen and coffee to hear her and soak up her teaching.  Then I would stop what I was doing to listen to her again at 9:45 am on KHCB here in Houston.  Her teachings kept me SANE.  I have not come across her style of teaching since.  Are others qualified to teach ... sure they are, and I have met some of the great ones, but in my opinion there has not been anyone who teaches like Elisabeth.  Yes, others have the knowledge, but her experiences ... her gateways are what made her who she is.  Her life experiences along with her upbringing molded and shaped her into a one of a kind lady in my opinion.

I am sadden when I get emails from young mothers {30ish} asking, "Who is Elisabeth Elliot?"  Elisabeth Elliot is to me what Amy Carmichael was to her, and it is my goal to continue to pass along her torch. 

The same is true of the five missionaries {Elisabeth's husband Jim Elliot and the other men}. Elisabeth, her husband and the other missionaries along with many of the men family members paved the way in teaching us about "gateways to joy."  They are examples of how a life given over to Christ can be used to touch lives literally around the world.  Everyday, I get traffic from around the world of people wanting to know about Elisabeth ... just stop for a moment and think about how she and the martyred missionaries and their families{the Saints} have touched our souls.  Here it is some 50 years later and we are still talking about them—searching ... yearning to hear their stores. 
I think it is time for those of us who know her and experienced her regardless of in person or not to continue sharing her with others, not only for the next generation, but to share her with those who don't know of her or about her. She has a lot to offer a soul. She believed that "Everything if given to God can become our gateway to joy."  Let's share what that looks like by telling our "gateways" stories.

So I ask you to join me in sharing your "gateways to joy story."  Stories of tragedy used triumphantly by God.  Circumstances where had you not gone through your own unique set of trials — you wouldn't be who you are today.  As I shared in an earlier post, for Ann Voskamp it was the death of her sister.  For Elisabeth Elliot there were many things, but the one most significant event was the killing of her husband, and her staying in that foreign country to bring the gospel to the very people who had killed him.  But not only did she stay, but she stayed with her young daughter Valerie ... this was a story that the world took notice of.  And even more touching is how the Saint family was called to live among these people.  The very people who had killed their loved one.

As I stated earlier, next week I will share my first "gateway" experience with you.  It was my first because it was one of the first tragedies that happen  right after I became saved.  And had I not experience these set of events I would not had met Elisabeth.  I would not have seven children, and I certainly would not be a mother who homeschools.

"Make friends with your trials as though you were always to live together; You will see that when you cease to take thought for your own deliverance, God will take thought of you; and when you cease to help yourself eagerly, He will help you." ~ St. Francis de Sales, 1567- 1622

To hear about some of Elisabeth gateways stories click on the youtube video to the right with her picture on it, or just click here.  To pause the music, please scroll down and click on the large button.



Please copy & paste the gateway button {that's to your right} at the end of your post.  I will redo the button.  That was my first try at it.