Carmichael writes about missions work in India at the turn of the 20th century with conviction and uncomfortable honesty. She strips the veneer of vainglory from missions and shows, as the title says, things as they are. Paul did the same when he wrote, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.”
We can be too quick to look at the second half of each of Paul’s couplets. Carmichael forces us to see the first. We see the agony in the form of of a daughter who dies because her mother will not send her to a doctor from a lower caste. We see the machinations of evil in keeping souls from seeing the glory of Jesus. We see the daily sorrows of offering light in the darkness.
As I read this book I found myself wondering when missionaries fell from their positions as heroes of the church. It seems to me that interest in missions declines as hell seems less real to Christians, as conversions seem less miraculous, and as human life seem less precious. Reading this book proved a helpful corrective for me and I imagine many others as well.