Serve Blog — January 2025

Life lessons serving in a dangerous place

The darkest—and most surprisingly beautiful—time of my life.

This month’s Serve was written by a missionary who shares the gospel of Christ with marginalized children in a Creative Access Nation. Her experiences illustrate that some ministries bring exceptional challenges, but the grace that God provides is always equal to, or greater than, those challenges. He gives His children everything they need to serve Him, along with the amazing privilege of experiencing His awesome power and goodness.

Suddenly the rumors, which had been circulating for months, became a reality. War had been declared and turmoil started.

All foreigners working for the big international agencies were evacuated. I was offered this opportunity as well. It was tempting, as our human response to danger is to flee and get out of harm’s way. But I had to decided between my calling—the responsibility of many children that God had put in my care—and the desire to run to safety. I just could not bear the thought of leaving 42 children with the risk that their caregivers would run for their own lives, so I knew that God was calling me to stay.

Going into two years of a war that spiraled out of control, we saw genocide happen, along with the most horrific violation of women and torture of men. Bombs fell around us, communication was blacked out, banks were closed, and the army invaded and looted our compound. We had to navigate military checkpoints with aggressive soldiers who threatened to shoot us, and often we were not sure if we would make it through another day. I would be justified to say that this was the darkest time of my life.

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But in the midst of everything that was happening, God showed Himself in such a powerful way that I can honestly say that this season became the most beautiful time of my life. God showed His love, His care, and His protection for His children in such an awesome way. He provided money and food we needed. No bomb fell on our land, and no one was killed or injured among the children and workers. We went from miracle to miracle. Even toward the end of the war when we had given up all hope of survival, God gave us peace and we were looking forward to going to heaven.

Psalm 121 became my anchor. God never let us down. He is so close in the darkest times of our lives. My biggest lesson was that when God allows things to happen in our lives, I have a choice on how to deal with it. I decided to not start questioning God or pondering the hard questions like, “Why did He protect us?” and “Why are others suffering?” I decided that I needed to continue to look up to the Lord, count my blessings, and praise Him for what He was doing in my life, and ask Him to use me for His Glory. This gave peace in the midst of chaos, and He carried me through.

Would I do it again? Yes, I would, as I long as I know that this is what God wants me to do. Twenty-five years ago, the Lord called me with the verse from 1 Thess. 5:24—“He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” God kept His promise. He called me, and it is not my work here. It is His work, and He has been faithful to me. I feel humbled that He saw me worthy of walking this road with Him.

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This month’s Serve is written by a creative access missionary.


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