The work is in the pain...

When we think of the word missionary, we typically generate positive ideas of the person and the work he or she is doing. People who “give up everything” (material that is) because of a calling. How glorious. I never understood that a missionary could be hurt, attacked spiritually, even by the same members of the church with which she is working: that we experience pain. Deep pain. What I’ve come to understand is that the work is in the pain. Let’s say a brother or sister has done something injurious for which it would be easy to avoid that person, refuse to work or commune with that person, or simply be indifferent toward the person, but the Lord calls us to something higher, something infinitely more purposeful. He calls us to struggle with people. He calls us to not give up on people. They may even hurt us again. Is there an end to forgiveness? In a place where the concept of grace is not grasped by the average church going person, even at its most basic level, it is all the more important to consistently show it. Because of the dynamic, the grace-giver has the highest potential of being hurt but also the greatest likelihood of making an impact. Though the wounds take time to heal, they do heal. Anything that is healing, though it is time-consuming, never leads to despair.
In Spanish there is a saying that has encouraged me on various occasions: Las cosas pasan porque tienen que pasar. Hay que aprender de ellas. It translates: Things happen because they have to happen. One must learn from them. Lord, teach me the full extent of the lessons that you have allowed me to encounter, always reminding me that my ability to experience the heights of joy are directly related to the depth of the pain that I have previously walked through.