Do you ever have moments when you feel like giving up what you’re doing? Moments when you want to walk away and do something completely different? We do! At such times scenes of the English countryside float through our minds, beckoning us to some imagined idyllic life where all is well with the world. Of course, this side of heaven no such place exists.

Returning to reality, we take stock. Life is hard. We have struggles. Our friends have struggles. But we have choices. We can choose to live cautiously, hiding behind the challenges or we can embrace them and live courageously. Although godly courage doesn’t always look like the courage we see depicted in the movies.

We recently watched some Christian friends, who’d taken courageous risks in ministry, suffer a fall. Having spent ten or eleven years sharing the gospel, helping the poor, preaching and pastoring a church, our friends had over-extended themselves and lost their way.

What had started out as a genuine desire to help those in need had gone awry. Even though they tried, they couldn’t meet the all-consuming needs of those around them. Their big vision was unravelling but their desire to fulfil it diverted their attention away from God. There was no time for rest. No time for essential relationships. Flaws surfaced, causing them to cling to the ministry more fiercely, until the very ministry that God had entrusted into their care became their god.

It was, and is, a sobering reminder of how easy it is to take just one step away from God, and then another, and before we know it our well-intended human courage and determination has distanced us from God and His best.

‘But, how do we walk courageously, aright with God?’

Jargal has recently been demonstrating this to us. Petite with huge glasses, she has a bright smile and a burning passion for Jesus that touches everyone who meets her.

For the last ten years she has been travelling in and out of North Korea. More recently God has given her opportunities to stay for longer periods, befriend locals and share gospel truths. She is naturally discreet, few of us know all her stories but every now and then we hear more and realise that God has given this lady an open door into people’s lives.

In July she returned to Ulaanbaatar in great pain. After surgery to remove a blockage the doctor announced that she has stage four pancreatic cancer.

‘Is this right Lord?’ we asked.

Jargal was due to move to North Korea in the autumn. God had finally opened a door which would enable her to make North Korea her home. Yet the cancer has halted her. Initially she was confused, but then she came before the Lord, opened her hands and surrendered herself and her ministry to God. ‘I am not offended,’ she said. ‘Because my Father knows best.’

Jargal’s obedience touches our lives. Her daily courage urges us not to give up, but to be daring with our faith. To choose to obey God and keep doing what we’re doing, for He is the one who equips us with courage.