A North Ireland Family living in a small village named Millisle is where she was born. The year was 1867 when Amy joined the Carmichael's. The family's wealth came from the flourmills, which filled the small village. Amy's father died when she was eighteen years old resulting in financial trouble for the family. The family was forced to move to Belfast. God touched Amy there when she began working for city missions. It was not long after that she began her missionary life. She left for Japan in 1883 with the support of the Keswick Convention.

Her initial introduction to missionary life was a disappointment. The main thorn in her side was the fact that the missionaries, in her opinion, were no different then other men and women. "..we are here just what we are at home-not one bit better-and the devil is awfully busy… There are missionary shipwrecks of once fair vessels." Her desire to live a pure life before God and to bring that light to the world pushed her away from her fellow missionaries in Japan. She left for Ceylon without notifying a single person from the Keswick Convention. She returned home, shortly after arriving in Ceylon, to care for a sick family friend.

Her heart for God would not let her stay long and after less than a year she went back to the mission field. This time she went to India, a match ordained by God. She ministered there for fifty five years without a furlough. Her main accomplishment was saving the temple children. This was one of the "secret sin's" of Hinduism and it was Amy who helped expose and save the children from becoming temple prostitutes. She uncovered this sore through the help of converted Indian women. Twelve years after she began the work of finding these children she had one hundred and thirty three children under her care. Her organization became known as the Dohnavur Fellowship. One of the characteristics of the Fellowship was they all wore Indian dress and gave the children Indian names. She cared for the spiritual and physical needs of God's children claiming "…One cannot save and then pitchfork souls into heaven…Souls are more or less securely fashioned to a bodies…and as you cannot get the souls out and deal with them separately, you have to take them both together."

She lived the rest of her life in India. Amy died in 1951 in Dohnavur at the age of eighty three. Amy's compassion for the needy and hurting was powerfully used by God.