Give Me This Mountain by Helen Roseveare

Helen Roseveare was an English medical missionary in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire) from 1953 to 1973, but her stories reach a much broader audience than most missionary biographies.  I have long thought that Roseveare's four other books (Living Sacrifice, Living Faith, Living Holiness, and Living Fellowship) should be required reading for every Christian.  In spite of the silly subtitles (which somebody added later), these are serious books about what it means to be an earnest follower of Christ.  Give Me This Mountain covers her first tumultuous years in Africa (from 1953 to 1965). He Gave Us a Valley is the sequel.

When Helen became a Christian, a pastor wrote Phillipians 3:10 in her Bible: "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." The words were prophetic.  Through all her years in Congo Helen learned to know the fellowship of his sufferings.  But instead of being defeated by troubles, she grew in her knowledge of God and his faithfulness.  She learned the power of his resurrection as she was delivered from death many times.

Roseveare is disarmingly honest about her struggles and weaknesses. And she is very quick to give God all the credit for enabling her to do what he called her to do.  Her example will inspire you, too, to have a tender, obedient heart.