American evangelist Franklin Graham is paying tribute to one amazing Christian missionary and author: Elisabeth Elliot.

"Yesterday while I was in the Middle East I was saddened to hear that Elisabeth Elliot—wife of missionary martyr Jim Elliot—passed away," he wrote on his Facebook page. "She was close friends with my parents and visited in our home. She authored numerous books, served on the mission field herself, and blessed many as an inspirational speaker through the years."

After Elisabeth's husband was killed in 1956 while trying to share the Gospel to an unreached tribe in Ecuador, Elisabeth channelled her pain and turned it into something positive. She wrote the book "Through Gates of Splendor," which Graham said has been used "to call thousands to a life of missionary service."

In that book she said, "I have one desire now—to live a life of reckless abandon for the Lord, putting all my energy and strength into it." And she did just that for the next 88 years of her life, said Graham.

"That's a great example for the rest of us," he said. "Now she is with her Savior in eternity. Please keep her family in your prayers as they mourn the loss of this incredible lady."

Another woman and missionary Graham recently recognised is Aileen Coleman, who has dedicated 60 years of her life on the mission field. Graham said Coleman had a great impact on his life, and he hopes that all would be challenged by her testimony to surrender their lives to God.

"Aileen, a nurse, and her friend Dr. Eleanor Soltau (who died several years ago) answered God's call as young women and started a tuberculosis hospital in the desert of Jordan to help nomadic Bedouin tribespeople," he shared. "They faced incredible challenges as they treated the sick through the years and saved an untold number of lives. Aileen calls herself a 'desert rat'—I call her an answer to prayer."