Plowed Under

This book is a re-publication of a book originally published in 1934 as 'Ploughed Under: The story of a little lover'. I have always enjoyed Amy Carmichael's books and re-reading this was, for me, a feast of good things.

It tells the story of Star, a high-caste Hindu child in Southern India over a hundred years ago. Star was only ten but she was full of questions which not even her beloved father could answer. Questions such as 'Who of all the gods was the God of gods, the Sovereign God, the Creator? Who was the greatest of the many gods they worshipped? Was it Siva?' She longed for a God who would change her disposition and who she could love and adore.

Then, one day, in March 1899, a group of missionaries, came to preach the gospel in her village and as Star visited the well to draw water she heard one sentence which transformed her life: 'There is a living God: he turned me, a lion, into a lamb.' She sensed immediately that He was the one she was seeking and when she returned home she refused to worship Siva or any of the other gods.

From this remarkable beginning, we go on to read the story of her childhood and teen years, her growth in grace and her protection and preservation through much opposition and many trials. Amy Carmichael's writing style is unique and somewhat old-fashioned. Sometimes it is rather opaque but reading it is well worth the effort.

It has encouraged me to keep trusting God in hard times and to keep on praying even when the answer seems a long time coming.