no one is ever alone

the book of 1 Peter speaks a lot about suffering. in 1 Peter 5:9, the apostle says to resist the enemy and remain steadfast in the faith, "knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world." being a missionary in Sudan, my tendency is to feel isolated because no one else i know is a missionary in Sudan, so how could anyone understand the challenges, hardships, and pains of daily life and ministry here? i have come to see that this is a lie of the enemy. he makes you believe no one else can relate and thereby traps you in the snare of isolation. in talking to my friends since i've been here, my eyes have been opened. i have seen that even though our lives are completely different, our struggles are surprisingly and uncannily similar. they are just blanketed in a different environment, a different life, a different calling. we all battle loneliness, to some extent, because all of us are strangers in the earth, pilgrims, longing for Home and being unsatisfied until we get there. we all struggle to trust God whole-heartedly, to believe He is who He says He is and His ways with us are completely good. we learn these lessons and experience these struggles in ways specific to our natures and our callings. God is a genius. He fashioned each person so uniquely and placed callings on their lives so specifically, and yet He is forming the same truths in us. we are all so unique but feel the same longings and pains, the same joys. it's because we are headed towards the same goal. we are pressing for the same prize of the same upward call...separately but together. He is forming the same Christ in all of us. there is one God and one Spirit residing in us. we are united by the thread of our common faith, our common Love.

when one suffers, not only is Jesus with him, but the brotherhood of the saints is with him too, for they endure the same things. no one is every alone.