Gateway to Joy: Reflections That Draw Us Nearer to God

by Elisabeth Elliot

Gateway to Joy is a collection of reflections and quotations penned or chosen by Elisabeth Elliot affirming the connection between suffering and joy and showing that joy is not dependent on circumstances but upon deliberate choice.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian Living

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

From the Author's Web Site: My parents were missionaries in Belgium where I was born. When I was a few months old, we came to the U.S. and lived in Germantown, not far from Philadelphia, where my father became an editor of the Sunday School Times. Some of my contemporaries may remember the publication which was used by hundreds of churches for their weekly unified Sunday School teaching materials.

Our family continued to live in Philadelphia and then in New Jersey until I left home to attend Wheaton College. By that time, the family had increased to four brothers and one sister. My studies in classical Greek would one day enable me to work in the area of unwritten languages to develop a form of writing.

A year after I went to Ecuador, Jim Elliot, whom I had met at Wheaton, also entered tribal areas with the Quichua Indians. In nineteen fifty three we were married in the city of Quito and continued our work together. Jim had always hoped to have the opportunity to enter the territory of an unreached tribe. The Aucas were in that category -- a fierce group whom no one had succeeded in meeting without being killed. After the discovery of their whereabouts, Jim and four other missionaries entered Auca territory. After a friendly contact with three of the tribe, they were speared to death.

Our daughter Valerie was 10 months old when Jim was killed. I continued working with the Quichua Indians when, through a remarkable providence, I met two Auca women who lived with me for one year. They were the key to my going in to live with the tribe that had killed the five missionaries. I remained there for two years.

After having worked for two years with the Aucas, I returned to the Quichua work and remained there until 1963 when Valerie and I returned to the U.S.

Since then, my life has been one of writing and speaking. It also included, in 1969, a marriage to Addison Leitch, professor of theology at Gordon Conwell Seminary in Massachusetts. He died in 1973. After his death I had two lodgers in my home. One of them married my daughter, the other one, Lars Gren, married me. Since then we have worked together.

Reviews

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I know it was put together by editors, I like to think of this as Elisabeth's commonplace book of passages that she picked. I've found it particularly helpful in my quiet time this week.

[Miranda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Normally I love Elizabeth Elliot's works, but this one seemed to be mostly fluff.

[David Dunlap · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is something of a scrapbook -- the elements are drawn from old hymns, the writings of Christians of the past (Phillips Brooks, Hannah Whitall Smith, Amy Carmichael, et al), and books by Elisabeth Eliot herself. There are five entries for each letter of the alphabet (except X and Z), exhorting the reader to commit, give thanks, meditate, obey, repent, and so on. -- A book to be dipped into and savored!

[Rebekah]

This is a collection of excerpts from various Elisabeth Elliot books as well as hymns & poems and possibly a few quotes from her radio show. It's not my favorite as most of this is quoting books she has written. I'd rather just read her other books instead of getting snippets from them.