Each week since March of 2020, we’ve been bombarded with bad news of human suffering. I don’t have to list it, you know and have lived it too. Many of us have also suffered. Years ago I ran into an acquaintance out in public. I told her I would be leaving the following week to lead a team to Ethiopia. She proceeded to tell me how I was failing at my greatest ministry to my own children and husband. What she couldn’t have known was that I was already wracked with fear, guilt and what-if’s. Like Peter stepping out of the boat to walk on water toward Jesus when he noticed the waves crashing around him, the days before a trip I always ask myself, “What kind of a mother leaves her children…?” Her words left me feeling like garbage. What would have happened had she asked questions rather than assumed the worst about me? I think she would’ve found that I’m not such a negligent mom and wife after all. (Btw, that trip across the ocean led to 500 more children having the opportunity to become enrolled in Compassion and being rescued from a life of futile cyclical poverty. My kids didn’t mind sacrificing 2 weeks with Mom for that.) But don’t we assume the worst about God too? We languish, "Where is God in the midst of short staffed Covid wards, the war in Ukraine, the increased persecution of Christians in India and China and the overtaking of Afghanistan by the Taliban?" In John 14:12, Jesus told his disciples, “ Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” Think of all the miracles Jesus performed in front of his disciples--healings, feeding thousands with tiny amounts of food, walking on water and raising people from the dead. How could his disciples do even greater things than those? I’ll tell you how! When Jesus left, he sent his Spirit to live IN US. Not in one man, but in EVERY man, woman and child who commits their lives to Him. Multiplication that has spanned across the globe. From Israel 2000 years ago, what Christ alone was doing, now God’s children and His sweet Spirit in them is now active daily—light in dark places, in every single time zone around the world. From Covid units to underground churches in literally every country worldwide, God is actively on the move, right now, today. Week after week, I am literally blown away by the miraculous stories I hear from frontline churches around the world. God often uses tragedy and suffering to awaken souls to what is most real and important. My Pastor friend in Poland recently exclaimed, “This is an exciting time in our country! Everyone is open to the Gospel!” We can either look at suffering with human eyes or with the eyes of God’s Spirit within us. We are living in a time of immense opportunity. Psychologists are calling the current mental health crisis a languishing crisis. I submit to you one way out of languishing is to take up your God given right and responsibility to DO something! Each one of us has gifts, abilities, and ideas. Take some time right now and think about the thing that bothers you most these days. If your heart feels hard or weary, ask Him to break your heart for what breaks His. Then ask Him to show you what He wants you to do about it. Ask Him to show you how to start. And if you need some ideas, I always know of plenty of opportunities to get involved and I’d be happy to have a conversation with you. We live in exciting times! Don’t believe for a second that God isn’t good. He does His best work through His people. People just like YOU.
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