Elisabeth Elliot's Unique Blend of Grit and Grace

Elisabeth Elliot’s Unique Blend of Grit and Grace and My Review of a New EE Biography

Posted on by Michele Morin

Today I attacked the kind of cleaning chores that I envision other more diligent and domestically devoted women doing all the time: the tidying that requires pulling furniture away from the wall, vacuuming under beds, and applying a ferocious dust cloth to the rungs of chairs and the hidden recesses of bookcases.

Homely household routines are the background music behind everything else I do. Studying and ministry preparation are accompanied by the hum of a washer and the cadence of continual meal preparation. In the winter, a voracious wood stove requires care and feeding; in the summer, there’s a garden that needs attention.

This steady thrum of activity is the glue that holds a home together, and one of the most startling discoveries of my life has been that it is possible to find a fulfilled and meaningful existence in the midst of mind-numbing routine. It turns out that it’s not mainly what you’re doing that makes a life. It’s why you’re doing it. And no one taught me that lesson more powerfully than Elisabeth Elliot.

The ministry of tending and keeping was always part of God’s good plan for humanity.

Author and Housekeeper

Almost thirty years ago, I packed up my favorite coffee mug, my personal files, and a few samples of my work and walked away from my career in human resources. Four babies in eight years, homeschooling, church ministry, and a huge vegetable garden each year left little time for deep study, but early on I dove into Elliot’s writing with zeal and found myself being mentored through her books.

I soon discovered that Elliot was quick to trace the connection between the routines of domesticity and the mysteries of spiritual practice. Although she became a sought-after public speaker, and her words reached (and still reach) literally millions via print and radio ministries, she actually claimed to enjoy housekeeping most of all, for she knew how to do it, and (unlike authoring a book) she knew what the results would be.

Her attention to detail was fostered in part by her boarding school headmistress, who pronounced, “Don’t go around with a Bible under your arm if you haven’t swept under your bed” (Becoming Elisabeth Elliot, 34). She didn’t want a lot of spiritual talk coming from someone with a dirty floor.

With her perfect diction, ironic humor, and crisp, no-nonsense delivery of gospel truth, Elliot has influenced my teaching and my parenting like no one else, but she also has hugely shaped my attitude toward domestic chores.

Blend of Grit and Grace

Although I fall far short of Elliot’s standards, I am motivated by her assertion that self-discipline — in the home or anywhere else — is a glad surrender, a “wholehearted yes to the call of God” that finds its way into a life first of all through the faithful performance of small, unseen tasks (Joyful Surrender, 16).

She helped me see housekeeping as an analogy for our spiritual life in general. Just as the swiping of crumbs off the dining room table will never be a once-and-done affair (at least at my house!), neither are the practices of spiritual formation. In tending to the health and wholeness of our souls, every day there will be “crumbs” that need brushing away, and this is a good thing, for it keeps us mindful of our creaturely dependence on God.

Elliot’s strong gospel underpinnings have helped to keep me from a purely bootstraps mentality, for she reminds me that “discipline is not my claim on Christ, but the evidence of His claim on me” (Joyful Surrender, 28). We embody self-discipline here on the ground by the miracle of grace, according to the guidelines of Scripture, and through the inspiration and enabling of the Spirit of God. What we bring to this equation is our own will as an offering to God, a “living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).

Elliot blended grit and grace so consistently that it is impossible to tell — and pointless to wonder — where one ends and the other begins. She spoke with the certainty of one who had stepped into obedience enough times, who had chosen the way of faith often enough, to learn the secret that the resulting joy and the deepening intimacy with God are priceless, even when the obedience feels small and unseen.

Elisabeth Elliot's Unique Blend of Grit and Grace

Commitment to Daily Faithfulness

In a life marked by huge upheavals and opportunities for both glory and sorrow, it is evident that Elliot became her awe-inspiring self in her commitment to daily faithfulness in the unseen places. A faith both brutally practical and unmistakably mystical carried her into a ministry of bold truth-telling, forged in a crucible of loneliness and puzzlement over the ways of God. Leaning hard into her questions, she found God to be faithful and embraced him as “both the journey and the destination” (Becoming Elisabeth Elliot, 253).

The varied seasons of her life found her analyzing unwritten languages and reducing them to writing, functioning as a single parent, ironing her husbands’ shirts, entertaining guests in her New England home, traveling worldwide as a speaker, and wrestling with technology to produce more than two dozen books. She faithfully poured out her life in service to God, convinced that it was all part of her calling. Her “ministry tasks” were never deemed to be of more consequence than her housekeeping chores.

She knew (and has taught me to see) that the ministry of tending and keeping was always part of God’s good plan for humanity. From the outset, Adam and Eve were God’s appointed co-laborers, and, as a fellow bearer of God’s image, I imitate God when I am faithfully engaged in the work that keeps my family fed, clothed, and in the right location at the right time. Therefore, all the mundane tasks that are stuck on replay in this mothering life have meaning.

The God who works and has worked on our behalf invites us to join him in the Great Work.

In our ordinary chores and in the act of corralling chaos into order, we image God. Organizing a cluttered closet, sanitizing a nasty high-chair tray, distributing clean and folded laundry to the four corners of the house — these are as quietly mundane as the work God does in our time to water his trees with rain or, in history, to arrange for the manna that faithfully fed a generation of Israelites (Exodus 16).

Housework and the Great Work

Mercy, justice, and sandwich-making share the same territory in the values system of heaven, for the God who works and has worked on our behalf invites us to join him in the Great Work.

Let your work be shown to your servants,
     and your glorious power to their children.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
     and establish the work of our hands upon us;
     yes, establish the work of our hands! (Psalm 90:16–17)

Let the work of housekeeping continue, and may we find fulfillment in the smallest task performed with the greatest love in a life focused on gaining what we can never lose.

“Discipline is not my claim on Christ, but the evidence of His claim on me.” Elisabeth Elliot

And Now Let’s Talk Books…

Although I had never met her, when Elisabeth Elliot passed away in 2015, the loss felt very personal. Her voice (on the radio and in her books) was among the most influential factors in my following life, and since I have read just about everything she ever wrote, I didn’t expect to encounter much new information in Elisabeth Elliot: A Life, the new biography from Crossway.

The big surprise I found was Lucy S.R. Austen’s ability to contextualize Elisabeth’s life within the scope of history. Although I tend to think of her still as a “contemporary” voice, we are not the same Body of Christ that we were at her death in 2015–and even less so than when her public ministry ended in 2004. Since then, the #MeToo movement has changed the way the culture at large receives Elisabeth’s teaching on biblical submission. Add to this a prevailing disillusionment with purity culture that has impacted the way millennials and Gen Zs respond to Elisabeth’s teaching on dating relationships and her own courtship with Jim Elliot.

This aerial view of 88 years underscored for me the weight of suffering and disappointment Elliot took in stride and that served as the foundation for the convictions that made her one of the best-known Christians of the 20th and early 21st century. The book demonstrates that she spent her career chiseling a solid theology from the bedrock of God’s character as revealed in the pages of Scripture, a foundation that is undoubtedly the reason she ultimately found grace to face the terror of dementia with a quiet heart.

In the process of writing, Austen has followed Elisabeth Elliot’s own standard for creating biography, “to discover, not to construct,” and to “tell the truth.” Extensive research and scrupulous attention to detail have resulted in a faithful portrayal of an exceptional woman’s walk with God, her growth process, and the great hope of her faith that continues to stand as a challenge and motivation to me.

Holding You in the Light,

In @crossway’s new #ElisabethElliot bio @LucySRAusten’s scrupulous attention to detail yields a faithful portrayal of an exceptional woman’s walk with God and the great hope of her faith that stands as a challenge and motivation to me.

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Many thanks to Crossway for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

The post about EE’s hidden ministry of homemaking appeared first at Desiring God.

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Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four married sons and a growing fleet of adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

42 thoughts on “Elisabeth Elliot’s Unique Blend of Grit and Grace and My Review of a New EE Biography”

  1. I had never heard of this author but lately I feel very unmotivated to clean the house. I’ve reached that breaking point where I just feel like while it is so necessary it seems like such a waste of time since it will just be dirty again by the end of the day! LOL I need to just put in my earbuds and get to work mindlessly cleaning while listening to a good book or some fun music.

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    1. Podcasts encourage me while I am doing mindless, routine work. And I definitely sympathize with your feelings about the futility of it. When all 4 boys and a giant dog were adding to the dirt and clutter, I got discouraged too, and had to remind myself that I was training them (and myself!) to appreciate a peaceful and welcoming space.

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  2. Thank you for your book review. I will definitely want to read this biography of Elisabeth Elliott. Her books, radio programs, and her unwavering faithfulness to God has been a spiritual blessing in my own walk with the Lord.

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  3. This post almost motivates me to want to clean and do household chores. I feel a little like Joanne when it comes to doing the routine work. I do love Elisabeth’s quotes about doing God’s work though.

    I know a little about Elisabeth Elliot but am wondering what book you would suggest of hers for me to read first.

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  4. Great post. Very inspiring. I have heard of Elisabeth Elliot. And I am adding these books to my book list.
    I’m in the beginning stages of homemaking and need some direction but biblical truth as to my role.
    This has helped so much. I love her quotes.

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  5. Elisabeth Elliot is not forgotten. Her influence is among the Gen Z and Millennials.
    In fact, the world may seem in chaos but God still is sovereign. And His gospel is touching hearts more than ever before.

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  6. I just heard of this book this week and ordered it since it was half-off. But I did wonder why it was written since Ellen Vaughn just wrote an “official” biography. Still, it’s Elisabeth–like you, I think I’ve read almost everything she has written, and she has been my mentor-from-afar all my adult life, so I can’t pass up a biography about her.

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    1. Ellen’s bio is the “authorized” version and she is working with the family. Lucy Austen’s version I would describe as having a more scholarly feel, and although she met Elisabeth and Lars late in Elisabeth’s life, she drew from primary documents including journals and correspondence. I really enjoyed it and,as usual, was inspired by her faithfulness.

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  7. I have read a few of her books. I admired her for her devotion to the work of God. I need to make a list of her books and try to read more of them. Thank you for this informative post.

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  8. I am hoping to love this book! Elisabeth’s life and legacy has meant so much to me. I truly enjoyed the “Devotedly” which was compiled in recent years by her daughter Valerie. It was so beautifully and faithfully done. A fitting tribute to these faithful servants of God.

    The first part of Ellen Vaughn’s biography on the other hand, was hard for me to enjoy. I think it was written for a different audience than myself. Ellen practically admitted that she found Elisabeth Elliot too blunt and off putting. It seemed as if she was trying to find reasons to like her and emphasize any struggle and worldliness in her youth to bring her down to a modern audiences level. I don’t feel as if she ever got to the essence of EE.

    I truly hope that this biography is written by someone who personally deeply appreciates EE’s life of rare insight And experience. I truly hope this author’s biography does her justice.

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    1. Austen writes about Elisabeth with respect and sensitivity while also placing her within the context of her years on the earth—which was something new to my thinking about Elisabeth. Frankly, you might struggle with the book for that reason alone—but I think it’s important for us to understand and to learn from our spiritual “hero’s” mistakes as well as their triumphs. If you do decide to read the book I hope you will let me know what you think!

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  10. Michele, I have loved Elisabeth Elliot’s writings for many years, including those as a young mother of 3. After our call to the mission field I couldn’t get enough of her zeal for even the smallest of chores done for the Lord. I even corresponded with her from the mission field!

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  11. I too have admired Elisabeth Elliot from afar for her spiritual maturity, wisdom, self-discipline, and more. And with you, Michele, I much-appreciated her book, These Strange Ashes that chronicled the years after college and before marrying Jim. I loved the way she highlighted how God’s ways can be greatly puzzling. And though she didn’t hesitate to voice her questions, her faith never wavered.

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    1. Yes, and I think this latest bio did a great job in chronicling the maturing process as Elisabeth became comfortable with asking God why and with a messier path of guidance than she had been expecting in her early walk with God.

      Liked by 1 person

  12. Michelle, I any new to Elizabeth Elliot. But my curiosity for her writing is growing. I love seeing our ministry and daily tasks on equal footing. The closer I draw to God, the more discipline I am.💖💐

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    1. I hope you get the opportunity to read some of her work. I have found her to be so important in the formation of my “theology of work” and my acceptance of God’s sovereignty as the last word.

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  14. Elizabeth’s life & experience inspired me in my early Christian walk, especially when I was in Bible College going through missionary training Michele.

    And like Elizabeth I enjoy housework too! 😊
    Blessings,
    Jennifer

    Liked by 1 person

  15. This lesson is so valuable: “It turns out that it’s not mainly what you’re doing that makes a life. It’s why you’re doing it.” Yes a thousand times over! Thanks, Michele.

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  16. Michele, this is a very moving review and tenderhearted comparison of homemaking and ministry. You’ve got me pausing and reflecting on this.
    Thank you so very much for sharing this wonderful review with Sweet Tea & Friends this month sweet friend.

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