For the past 12 years, pain has been a violent intruder in our family. It began with a torn piece of cartilage in my daughter’s left shoulder, but like a virus it now infects every aspect of our lives. It exhausts us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Our prayers for healing and relief from the pain have ebbed and flowed through seven shoulder surgeries, each one more horrible than the previous. Hundreds of friends have joined us in prayer, encouraging us with their care and compassion. But the weight of prayers unanswered in meaningful ways compounds our pain. I read Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians and admit that I feel crushed, despairing, abandoned, and destroyed.
And in this moment, I feel precisely what millions of others feel throughout their lives: hopelessness.
For most of my life, pain and hopelessness have been theoretical, abstract problems faced by others. Even though I have spent my adult life attempting to bring hope to hopeless people around the world, I had never felt that pain myself—until now.
In this moment, I have a choice that millions do not have. I choose to translate my empathy into action because although I feel hopeless, I am not without hope. I have God’s Word.
Romans 15:4 says, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (NIV).
Pain has made Biblelessness more personal for me and has deepened my sense of urgency for speeding God’s Word to the nations. Hopelessness is a terrible feeling, and it’s precisely the feeling that people without God’s Word have.
But you and I have the remedy in our hands and the opportunity to give hope to the hopeless.
