We hope you enjoy this loving tribute from Valerie Elliot Shepard for her parents, Jim & Elisabeth Elliot…
Today, Oct. 8, 1953, is the anniversary of my parents’ wedding when they joyfully were married in a civil court in Quito, Ecuador. They had waited faithfully and hopefully since June of 1948 when my father confessed that he loved Betty Howard, but he also didn’t know what to do with this love since he had committed to God to be a single missionary. Having only seen each other 5 times in 5 years and the first 6 months in Quito being the last before they went their separate ways to different Indians, their love had grown not only for each other but also for God and His perfect sovereign timing.
I am so deeply grateful for their faith, their example, and their joyful surrender to God and their Savior Jesus Christ. Though I cherished my mother and her determination to obey God, it wasn’t until I read Passion and Purity (her story of their courtship) in my twenties as a young mom that I realized the suffering and long endurance they remained committed to in order to keep the Lord’s will uppermost in their minds and hearts. The godly example they set for many generations of young couples is wonderful and incredible. Yes, their humanness, weakness, sins, and doubts showed when they cried out to God for an answer or wrote scathing things to each other in their many letters which flew back and forth those 5 years. When they wrote in their journals, it is constantly obvious that they obeyed and WAITED on the Lord, and the suffering was real, palpable, and often made me very heartsick for them! If you would like to read more of their story for yourself, I have published a book called Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot which goes into greater detail.
How I long to worship their God and mine, face to face, when I get to Heaven! While I live, I will continually praise Him for their obedience and their desire to glorify Him on this earth. I hope their story of obedience will keep being shared until Christ comes so that more and more people will be inspired and challenged to obey Christ as they did. Only by His grace and power could we obey in the same ways!