They were called the "lost boys" of Sudan. Thousands of them fled the civil war in that country and sought refuge from the chaos and killing. Many had been taught the gospel in churches founded by missionaries, but they knew little of the world beyond their villages.

A National Geographic article profiled one of these "lost boys" who is now resettled in the United States. He told a church congregation that he is grateful for the comforts of the US, but also for the faith he learned through hardship. "Americans believe in God," he told them, "but they don't know what God can do."

In the crucible of testing, we move from theory to reality as we experience God's power. When there seems to be no hope, we may share Paul's feeling of being "burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we [despair] even of life" (2 Corinthians 1:8). But we can also learn, as Paul did, that in the darkest times "we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead" (v.9).

If God has allowed you to be in a desperate situation today, why not reconsider all that the Almighty has done and can still do. By trusting God in hardship we learn what He can do in our lives.
  — David C. McCasland