Chaplain’s weekly word of encouragement

SIM’s Chaplaincy Lead, Mark Conard, shares a word of encouragement by email each week. To sign up for it, email mark.conard@sim.org.

Good morning SIM,

Finding meaning in adversity is hard. It is the factor that so often causes people to give up the task God has called them to accomplish. Hagar went back to her difficult almost unbearable situation because God gave her meaning in her suffering. “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count” (Genesis 16:10).

This newfound meaning gave her courage to go back to the house of Abram and Sarai and face a great deal of pain and humiliation. How often do Christians walk away from God’s calling because they lose sight of God’s plan?

If they understood the meaning, they might have had the fortitude to endure the difficult times. But unlike Hagar, God doesn’t always spell it out for us. Are we sometimes too quick to run away from our struggles, believing that God could not possibly expect us to carry on?

How many places lie in darkness around the world because those who were called to bring the light of the Gospel gave up too soon? Do we sometimes avoid suffering rather than find the meaning in it and face the cost of what God has called us to accomplish?

Something to think about…

Pastor Mark Conard serves on SIM’s People Development & Care Team. His role is to develop a diverse and skilled team of chaplains and pastoral caregivers, and to train SIM countries directly. Pastor Mark shares a word of encouragement by email each week. Here is a recent one. To sign up for it, email mark.conard@sim.org.