Personally speaking, I don't like pain, and I don't always embrace trials.  But God uses difficult seasons in our lives to draw us closer to Himself.  Mark Dever puts it this way: "Trials expose what our hearts truly trust in, and what our hopes are.  Time passing in a fallen world always brings trials.  Trials are key times in discipling relationships, whether the trail is in the life of the one discipling or the one being discipled."(1) 

For just a minute, put yourself in the shoes of a Syrian refugee who has escaped to Germany.  You've traveled about 2000 miles by foot, boat, and train.  You and your family are now living with several thousand other people in a refugee camp.  But, in the midst of your suffering, you discover a helpful app on your smartphone.  It's in your language!  It's from some organization called TWR, and apparently it's Christian.  Because of everything you've been through in your homeland, you're actually questioning the faith you've known all your life, and at the same time, you are a bit curious about Christianity anyway.  So, you begin exploring this TWR app more and more everyday. 

Believe it or not, that scenario is happening in Germany!  According to ERF's Dariush Ghobad, "even from the refugee areas, from refugee camps, a lot of people are accessing that."  May God be praised for the way He is opening the eyes and hearts of many of these refugees in the midst of their pain and suffering and for the way He is using TWR and ERF to disciple them in their new faith in Christ!

Click here for a link to ERF in Germany

Click here for a link to TWR

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(Photo of Dariush Ghobad)

1. Mark Dever, Discipling, as quoted on Grace Quotes, accessed December 20, 2018, https://gracequotes.org/topic/trials-benefits/.