Elisabeth Elliot wrote of her husband Jim and the other four missionaries' work in Ecuador in 1956. Read full quote...

"The other wives and I talked together one night about the possibility of becoming widows. What would we do? God gave us peace of heart, and confidence that whatever might happen, His word would hold. We knew that "when He puttheth forth His sheep, He goeth before them." God's leading was unmistakable up to this point. Each of us knew when we married our husbands that there would never be any question who came first - God and His work held first place in each life. It was the condition of true discipleship; it became devastatingly meaningful now.

It was a time for soul searching, a time for counting the possible cost. Was it the thrill of adventure that drew our husbands on? Their letters and journals make it abundantly clear that these men did not go out as some men go out to shoot a lion or climb a mountain. Their compulsion was from a different source. Each had made a personal transaction with God, recognizing he belonged to God, first of all by creation, and secondly by redemption through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. This double claim on his life settled once and for all the question of allegiance. It was not a matter of striving to follow the example of a great Teacher. To conform to the perfect life of Jesus was impossible for a human being. To these men, Jesus was God, and had actually taken upon Himself human form, in order that He might die, and, by His death, provide not only escape from the punishment which their sin merited, but also a new kind of life, eternal in both length and quality. This meant that Christ was to be obeyed, and more than that, that he would provide the power to obey. The point of decision had been reached. God's command "Go ye, and preach the gospel to every creature" was the categorical imperative. The question of personal safety was wholly irrelevant."

from Through Gates of Splendor  p. 175 paperback edition