“Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2–4 (NASB)
Why does life get so rough sometimes? After listening to the plight of many, I am certain that we all have suffered disappointment and trial. We can look at those challenges with tears, heartache, disappointment, and despair. Or we can choose to be positive, using them as growing experiences.
Suffering is inescapable in this life because of the freedom of choice. According to the Bible, it is through difficulty that we are strengthened. Jesus said to expect difficulties in this life but not to be discouraged because He has overcome them. Also, our Savior walks beside us on our journey through hardships. (See John 16:33 and Hebrews 13:5.) We need to traverse this path despite the suffering because it leads to a life eternal with our Savior.
Consider Eve. She must have been devastated when one son murdered another, knowing that it was because of her choice to eat the fruit.
Sarah, Rachel, Hannah, and Elisabeth: year after year, they suffered childlessness. In 1 Samuel 1:10, we read that Hannah “was in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the Lord and wept in anguish.1
Then there was Naomi. She and her family had to go to a foreign land just to eat. Her husband died. After her two sons married, they died too!
Once Naomi returned home, people started asking her questions. In Ruth 1:20, she responded, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.”2 Naomi was so disappointed in her life experience.
Nevertheless, we have hope. Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.”3
All of these ladies found joy and went on to lead productive lives, leaning on the Lord. Eve gave birth to Seth, Sarah to Isaac, Rachel to Joseph and Benjamin, Hannah to Samuel, and Elisabeth to John the Baptist. Naomi’s daughter-in-law Ruth, the Moabitess, married Boaz, whose descendants include Jesus Christ Himself.
Mara Vision Heartaches and Joys
Hardship comes in many ways, even for ministries such as Mara Vision Outreach. However, with unmistakable power, God continues to lead Mara Vision to populate His kingdom of heaven. In spite of the heartaches that come, God is still in the business of working miracles. Be inspired by each of the following miracles that happened to Mara Vision Outreach team members.
Miracle #1
Anita, Mara Vision Outreach president and her husband Barry recently made a trek to our mission stations in Kenya. Anita left on Monday, October 21, 2024, and through an unfortunate series of events, she lost her computer in Dubai. Barry was scheduled to leave two days later and fly through Dubai as well. Miraculously, after much prayer, her laptop was waiting in lost-and-found. As he changed planes for the finally flight to Nairobi, he picked up the missing laptop and carried it with him to a very happy wife.
Miracle #2
In the last couple of years, Mara Vision has received hundreds of solar-powered, audio-Bible donations from Adventist World Radio (AWR). Often, these devices are referred to as “Godpods.” Many souls around the world are being won for Christ through these devices, including in Kenya.
Just before she left for Kenya, Anita learned from AWR that unless the Godpods are charged within six months’ time, they will be permanently nonchargeable and useless. This was a big problem because, for nearly a year, Mara Vision had hundreds of yet-to-be-distributed Godpods in the Maasai language. These Godpods had not been charged. However, from the stash of 1,200 Godpods, Maasai men and women from Kajiado County received some, and they work just fine.
West Pokot County, home to the Pokot tribe in northwest Kenya, is situated next to the Ugandan border. The Pokot are the most feared tribe in Kenya. Since the Pokot do not speak the Maasai language, Mara Vision ordered Swahili Godpods for them, and they shipped on October 17, 2024, but as of the original writing of this article in early November 2024, they had not yet to arrived in Nairobi.
During the last week of October 2024, we learned that the new Godpods had been held up in Tokyo for more than a week before they finally arrived in Ethiopia on Thursday, October 31. After that, they appeared to have vanished altogether. Hefty taxes could have been applied when they do show up.
At last, I received word on November 8 from Anita that the Godpods were delivered in Nairobi. Even better, the high tax that could have been charged did not materialize.
Isaiah 55:8–9: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”4
Miracle #3
In the spring/summer of 2024, Mara Vision launched a warrior literacy school for the Pokot Moran warriors. These young men learn to read from the Bible. Because of the years-long war between the Pokot and Samburu tribes, prior to opening, we received assurance that our pastors/teachers would be protected, even though they are Samburu.
In the early autumn of 2024, a second literacy school launched. In this remote region, bandits and murderers lurk in the shadows.
On Friday, November 1, 2024, the Mara Vision team, including Barry, Anita, and the Kenyan directors, visited both of MVO’s Pokot literacy schools. After visiting the first school, they moved on to the other, the newest of the two schools.
Riding four motorcycles, eight Pokot literacy students escorted the land cruiser through the far-flung dangerous, marauder territory to the newest school. Many Pokot assassins (and I’m not exaggerating) met them with great joy, not for a human trophy, but for the gift of eternal life because they have discovered their Savior.
What the Bible Says about Trial
In addition to the missing Godpods, Satan is on a rampage with our group. Around the time of the October visit, Pastor Isaac, Mara Vision’s senior director in Kenya, was admitted to the hospital with malaria. Then, Pastor Daniel, Mara Vision’s Samburu director, was diagnosed with contagious typhoid.
Through all of these challenges, with utmost certainty, we can rejoice in the hardship that we encounter with the work God is doing through His Mara Vision team. The apostle James draws our attention to the various trials we have in this life and why we have them.
What should our attitude be when we encounter the oppression that life throws at us? Joy! (See James 1: 2–4.)
Why? Because as we walk through these fires of life, God grows and matures our characters. In reality, the Master Himself allows us to be refined as we walk through the trials of life.
Isaiah 43:2 contains one of the most beautiful Bible promises:
“When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”5
When we go through the calamities of this life, we need not fear. We must trek through them to grow, but we will survive the flood and the fire. Furthermore, when we look at the stories of the fiery furnace (Daniel 3) and Daniel in the lions’ den (Daniel 6), we see that God is in the trenches with us.
Call to Action
James’ comments are just one place in the Bible where we learn that we have challenges to refine our characters. While never easy, hard things will always have a purpose. (See James 1:12; Romans 5:3–5; 1 Peter 1:6–7.)
Will you count it all joy when you endure the trials of this life? Will you lean on Jesus when you suffer through these trials?
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman \ Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org
- Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
- New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
