Soul Vision: Make Your Life CountSample

Thousands of needs surround us. We can’t do much about most of them, but that doesn’t mean that we should do nothing about any of them. How do you discern strategic priorities for your ministry vision? Look closely at the gifts and resources God has given to you. Also, remember that our sensitivities to particular kinds of needs often arise from those dark nights we spent tasting the salt in our tears. It is no wonder that converted drug addicts pursue those caught in the locked vices of addiction despite a million other needs surrounding them. Be certain, however, that you have been “trained” by suffering before you turn weakness into service.

Look to my father-in-law as an example. He turned a terminal disease into a personal ministry vision. He lived the last five years of his life struggling with cancer. He functioned as a hospital chaplain in the latter period of his life after serving for decades in the pastorate. An ardent personal evangelist, he brought many in hospitals to the Savior. A hero of the first kind to the rest of our family, he introduced people on sickbeds to the Lord Jesus.

He never missed work until his final week. When we went to visit him, he would take me along on his chaplain rounds. I remember one particular meeting with a man also suffering from a terminal illness. My father-in-law asked me to pray at the end of the visit. My prayer rang hollow because I didn’t know the full extent of his reality—cancer. The man accepted my pious prayer graciously, but he and my father-in-law connected on a deeper level. Why? My father-in-law carried focused death in his own body. No one dared to say to him, “But you don’t know what it is to feel pain, anticipate death, or experience grief.” My father-in-law would tell his own story. It was no wonder so many trusted Christ from their hospital beds. A personal vision arising from the scar of deep illness turned into ministry.

With God’s help, you too can be open to the scars-to-ministry opportunities in your life.