Elisabeth Elliot in the Spotlight

A Mentor & Mother to Many

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Several generations of Christian women have been impacted by the writings of this beloved author and speaker. Perhaps you consider Elisabeth Elliot one of your mothers in the Lord, as I do. For fifty years, Elisabeth’s best selling books, timeless teachings, and courageous faith have influenced believers and seekers of Jesus Christ around the globe.

Drawing from her experiences as a daughter, wife, mother, widow, and missionary, Elliot has brought the message of Christ to all those who would listen—and she is still touching the lives of younger women today. For instance, at "Women Living Well" Courtney talks about how Elisabeth Elliot’s book, Through Gates of Splendor influenced her decision to study at Moody Bible Institute. Meanwhile, Barbara H. at "Stray Thoughts" has linked to an interview with Elliot’s daughter, Valerie with an update Elisabeth Elliot’s current health status.

Elliot’s Best Selling Books

If you’re unfamiliar with the author, favorites among Elliot's titles include, Through Gates of Splendor, Passion & Purity, Quest for Love, God’s Guidance, Let Me be a Woman, and The Shaping of a Christian Family. Released in 2006, the movie “End of the Spear” told the story of her missionary work and her husband Jim’s martyrdom in Ecuador. If you haven’t already, encourage you to check a few of these out at Christianbook.com.

A Short Biography

Quoted from “Back to the Bible” website, here’s a brief biography of Elisabeth Elliot’s fascinating and deeply consecrated life.

“Elisabeth was born in Brussels, Belgium, where her parents served as missionaries. She graduated from Wheaton College and later went to Ecuador as a missionary. In 1953 she married a former classmate, Jim Elliot. Together they worked on translating the New Testament into the language of the Quichua Indians. Their daughter, Valerie, was born in 1955. Ten months later, Jim was killed by the Auca Indians while attempting to take the Gospel to that primitive tribe. Elisabeth continued her work among the Quichuas and later lived and worked among the Aucas.

She returned to the United States and remarried. Her second husband, Addison Leitch, a professor at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, died of cancer in 1973. Today, she lives north of Boston, Massachusetts, with her husband, Lars Gren. Her daughter, Valerie, and her husband, Walter, and their eight children live in Simpsonville, SC.”

Elisabeth Elliot’s Popular Daily Devotionals

Elisabeth is no longer traveling and speaking. However her husband, Lars Gren publishes monthly updates about their lives at, “Ramblings from the Cove.” Enormously popular, Elisabeth’s timeless daily devotions can be found here.

Today’s message happens to be directed to older WOTTs (Women of Titus Two) like me:

“In 1948 when I had been at Prairie Bible Institute (a very stark set of wooden buildings on a very bleak prairie in Alberta) for only a few weeks, I was feeling a bit displaced and lonesome one afternoon when there came a knock on my door. I opened it to find a beautiful rosy-cheeked face framed by white hair. She spoke with a charming Scottish burr.

‘You don't know me, but I know you. I've been praying for you, Betty dear. I'm Mrs. Cunningham. If ever you'd like a cup of tea and a Scottish scone, just pop down to my little apartment.’

She told me where she lived and went on to say that my name had been mentioned in a staff meeting (she never said how—was I thought of as a misfit at PBI? I wonder) and the Lord had given her a burden for me. Many were the wintry afternoons when I availed myself of her gracious offer and we sat together in her tiny but very cozy basement apartment while she poured tea for me and I poured my soul out to her. Her radiant face was full of sympathy, love, and understanding as she listened. She would be quiet for a little, then she would pray and, looking up, cheer and strengthen me with words from God. During and after my missionary years she wrote to me until she died…

The apostle Paul tells Titus that older women ought to ‘school the younger women to be loving wives and mothers, temperate, chaste, and kind, busy at home, respecting the authority of their own husband’ (Titus 2:4-5, NEB). My dear ‘Mom Cunningham’ schooled me—not in a class or seminar, or even primarily by her words. It was what she was that taught me. It was her availability to God when He sent her to my door. It was the surrender of her time, an offering to Him for my sake. It was her readiness to ‘get involved,’ to lay down her life for one anxious Bible school girl. Above all, she herself, a simple Scottish woman, was the message…’”

Photos. Top: Botanical Garden, Quito Ecuador by Theodore Scott (Flickr) Bottom: Google Images

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