I recently heard Carrie McDonnall speak. Her testimony has deeply impacted me. Carrie’s story is a tremendous example of sacrificial love and a fierce faith in God. Here is a summary of what she shared with us.
Carrie met her husband, David, at a basketball game while they were both serving the Lord in the Middle East. They built a friendship and fell in love. They returned to the states for seminary and were married, but they both felt called by God to return to an Arabic nation.
After they had been married a year, David and Carrie went on a short-term mission trip to Northern Iraq. After this trip, they started praying about the possibility of returning to Iraq for long-term missions work, and a few weeks later they were asked to join a team in Iraq doing relief and development work.
David and Carrie were thrilled to return to the part of the world that they loved most. They fasted and prayed that God would use them to show the Iraqi people the love and freedom that comes from knowing Christ. They demonstrated this love by providing basic needs for displaced people. They would give heaters and blanket to people in mud huts during the winter months. They would assist widows and those who couldn’t care for themselves, and they worked to provide water needs to those who had no water supply.
On March 15, 2004, Carrie and David went to check on the water supply of a displaced people group with three teammates- Larry and Jean Elliot and Karen Watson. They found the people and visited with them while assessing their needs. They eventually left so that they could return home by nightfall.
While traveling through the town of Mosul, the team’s SUV was stopped by traffic. Carrie winced in pain as something hit her ear, and a moment later she and her team were surrounded by incessant gunfire. Some men with automatic weapons mercilessly shot at the team.
When the gunfire stopped, Larry and Jean Elliot and Karen Watson were dead. David and Carrie were both hit, but David valiantly worked to get his wife to a hospital. Carrie was rushed into emergency surgery (she had been hit by bullets and shrapnel 22 times). She woke up 8 days later in Dallas, TX.
When Carrie woke up, she asked for David. Sadly, her father had to tell his 26-year-old daughter that her husband hadn’t made it. All at once, Carrie had to deal with the loss of her friends, the devastating loss of her husband and the extreme pain of her physical injuries. Through all of this, Carrie leaned hard on her heavenly father and was surrounded by his peace.
As Carrie told us her story, she constantly talked about the Lord’s goodness and the joy that he has given her through her life. Her testimony had a deep impact on me. Carrie isn’t just a character out of a book or some out-there missionary I have nothing in common with. She is a very real girl from Texas with a very real love for the Aggies, David and mostly the Lord. The Bible commands us to love God more than our earthly relationships (Matt. 10:37), and that is exactly what she did. If Carrie McDonnall can sacrifice her friends, her husband and her health for Jesus, why can’t I? Why can’t you?
I highly recommend Carrie’s book, Facing Terror. It only takes a few days to read, and the message will change your life.
I just read this story in a magazine this month. This is such a sad but awesome story. I think that it is wonderful how she has kept her faith so strong.
God Bless
Posted by: Cindy | May 23, 2006 at 08:43 AM