Weeds, Thorns, and Hope in Jesus

Mollie is a TEAM global worker who has been serving the Lord with her family in Chad for 15 years. She reflects on how it feels to follow Him into the lives of those who are surrounded by weeds and thorns, sharing the hope of Jesus.

Mollie is a TEAM global worker who has been serving the Lord and sharing the hope of Jesus in Chad for 15 years. Her husband is a physician who focuses on the medical side of missions, while Mollie focused on homeschooling their three sons.  

Her primary ministry outside the home is to love her neighbors well and to share with them the Hope that is within her. She does this through “mat time” with her friends, a Chadian custom where you welcome your guests to sit outside on a mat spread in the dirt to share quality time and conversation with them. 

Recently, Mollie shared with us about what the Lord is teaching her through her work in her community:  

“Unfortunately, that day, I had no thorns to give her.” 

One of the natural circumstances we find ourselves in, living among those who are especially poor in Chad, is that people come to us asking for things, many different things: food, empty bottles, water, visas to the United States, money, medicine, clothes, and so on. 

One day I found my heart aching from two specific requests. First, a young neighbor came asking for Amm Laban (“mother of milk”). To my eyes, it is a weed, to others it is medicine. 

Then, my friend Z came for a visit. She is my poorest friend, searching daily for odd jobs with hopes to feed her family. As we chatted, I kept asking God to fill my mouth with spiritual food to give her. Nothing. My mind was totally blank. At the end of our hour visit, she had a request. She asked for thorns. Yes, thorns. Rainy season had begun, and people are preparing their fields. Thorn branches are used as a natural fence to keep animals out. Unfortunately, that day, I had no thorns to give her. While I understood this need of hers, as she left, I found myself troubled. These two requests suddenly hit me hard: weeds and thorns!  

The more I reflected on this, I realized that weeds and thorns entered our world as a result of sin. They are reminders that this world is not how it should be: extreme poverty, murder, rape, slander, racism, abuse of all kinds…. the list goes on. My mind returned to Z and was flooded with things I wanted my Muslim friend to know. I wanted to cry out, “I have something so much greater than weeds and thorns to give you!” Jesus saw and grieved the same long list of thorns and injustices of this world. He understands. And He wants it to end, for eternity. Yet He knew He needed to forge a new way to address and overturn the effects of sin in our world. Symbolically — and in reality — it was through a crown of thorns and the cross.

And He calls us to follow.

To follow Him into the lives of those who are surrounded by weeds and thorns and offer hope in Jesus. To tell people like Z about the One who wore a crown of thorns and who offers a treasure in heaven that will not be destroyed.

TEAM supports missionaries across the globe with resources, member care, training, and much more. Please consider partnering with these missionaries to share the hope of Jesus in places with little access to the Gospel.