Unexpected Opportunity in Troubling Times

For many, the difficulties of last year have called into question a lot of previously held beliefs. It has made us evaluate how we spend our time and our money. It has driven us to examine our leaders and educate ourselves in areas we’d passively ignored. 2020 was a time of awakening as much as it was a time of concern.

While most of us are hopeful for a fresh start, in our hearts we know that the world has truly changed forever. We can look at that with a somber feeling of loss or we can examine some of the ways this year has opened opportunities and growth in unexpected places.

Relief in East Africa

As we all deal with our own individual outcomes from the coronavirus, it’s important to remember that people all over the world have suffered in this time. When tragedy strikes, the areas that were already vulnerable often suffer the most.

In East Africa, Nadia had embraced her local church and was eager to include her family. Her husband and her children, however, were resistant to join.

When the country went into lockdown, food availability and job opportunity plummeted, thrusting millions further into poverty and near starvation. With the help of our patrons, Mission ONE was able to deliver food rations to those most in need. This included Nadia and her family who had been hesitant to embrace the church. The arrival of rations opened her husband’s mind and heart to the potential within God’s love. It took only this act of kindness to spark his interest in the local church. Today, he is facing this world as a Christian alongside Nadia and their children volunteer and contribute to the community. While the circumstances that led to this outcome have been tragic, the miracle within this family (and many others around the globe) cannot be ignored.

We’ve seen this in many places that Mission ONE works through the Global Church like Kenya, Nepal, and Pakistan. Opportunity and love have had a chance to blossom in the most dire of circumstances and bring Christ into the hearts of people all over the world.

Bringing Light into Darkness

There is one thing that becomes apparent in every corner of the world the longer we partner with the local churches. Hope can happen anywhere. And it’s the most powerful emotion there is. Hope is bigger than fear, anger, pain, and suffering.

As you face your own set of challenges and struggles, seek hope. God’s greatest gift to us is  that of hope. We can embrace it in our own lives and we can introduce it in other’s. We have a choice when it comes to time such as these. We can allow ourselves to be spiritually degraded as the difficulty around us swells. Or we can choose to do as Jesus would, and offer light in dark places. It isn’t the easy choice. It isn’t what the media will tell you to do. It isn’t what you’ll see when you take a look around you. But it is what God wishes for you. And your willingness to see it even when it’s difficult can get you through.