Thanking Him for the Hard Thing

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! —1 Corinthians 15:57

Dr. Helen Roseveare, a medical missionary to the Congo, battled fear, discouragement, and feelings of unworthiness amid the tensions of this Central African region, where rebel armies threatened her team’s work and safety.

Then came the night when Helen, along with the other women missionaries, was seized at gunpoint by guerrilla soldiers who took over the hospital compound. The women were savagely beaten, humiliated, and raped by the rebel soldiers.

She has never forgotten that first dark night: “I felt unutterably alone. For a brief moment, I felt God had failed me. He could have stepped in and prevented this rising crescendo of wick- edness and cruelty. He could have saved me. Why didn’t He intervene?” ³

But, as she cried out to the Lord, she sensed Him saying to her, “Helen, can you thank Me?” She knew God was not asking her to thank Him for the evil, but the question that came to her heart was:“Can you thank Me for trusting you with this experience, even if I never tell you why?”

³ Helen Roseveare, Living Sacrifice (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1979), 20–21..