INTRO — When the World Feels Too Dark
There are days when the headlines feel heavier than our hearts can hold.
War. Famine. Disaster. Injustice. Children suffering in ways that should never exist in any generation.
It’s easy to feel small in the face of so much need.
It’s easy to feel helpless.
It’s tempting to turn away—numb, overwhelmed, or quietly resigned.
And yet… there is another way.
There is a love that does not run from darkness,
a hope that refuses to stay home,
a light that goes toward the places everyone else avoids.
That is the kind of hope I get to walk in every day through my work with World Vision Canada.
HOPE SHINES BRIGHTEST IN THE DARKEST PLACES
An Excerpt from Book 4 (Coming Soon)- This Little Light Of Mine: Commissioned To Shine
I am constantly humbled—and undeniably energized—by the privilege of working with World Vision Canada. Every day I wake up knowing that I get to step into some of the world’s toughest realities with the love of Jesus as my compass.
In John 13:35, Jesus said,
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
That is the heartbeat of this work. Love that goes. Love that gives. Love that shines.
For more than 75 years, World Vision has carried that light into the darkest, hardest-to-reach corners of the earth. From war-torn countries to communities crushed by famine, disasters, and instability… World Vision has consistently been among the first to arrive and the last to leave. Why? Because love doesn’t run from darkness—it runs toward it.
World Vision was born from the heart of one man: a man who dared to believe that the little he carried could still make a miracle. Bob Pierce didn’t wait for someone else to start. He didn’t wait for a perfect plan, or a full bank account, or a guaranteed outcome. He took ownership of his one light and stepped out in radical obedience—boarding a plane with no return ticket and not even enough money to get all the way to the final destination. Yet he went anyway.
“A God-given light is not a candle to protect—it is a torch to carry.”
One act of obedience became the spark.
One prayer became a movement:
“Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”
And so the light spread—from one heart to another, from one story to another, from one act of compassion to an entire global movement that has now transformed millions of lives in over 100 countries. Sponsored children grew into community leaders, pastors, doctors, teachers, and World Vision staff—carrying the flame forward into their own communities. Light birthing more light. Hope birthing more hope.
That is the thing about fire:
“When we fan the flame together, it becomes a global chorus of light—millions of lives touched, restored, and empowered to shine, each one igniting their own flame to change the world.”
Across seven and a half decades, you can trace the ember of Bob’s original prayer in every child who now has clean water… every mother who no longer fears childbirth… every community rebuilt after disaster… every heart restored through the love of Christ. “What began as a spark grew into a flame, then a roaring blaze—now burning as a global wildfire of hope.”
Bob once said,
“We want to be in the world, what we think Jesus Christ would be, if he were here in the middle of all of these problems and needs.”
That is still our call today.
We go where others hesitate.
We move toward the pain—
the kind of pain most of the world turns away from because it feels too heavy, too heartbreaking, too impossible to face.
We step into places where:
- Children walk miles for unsafe water, praying it won’t make them sick.
- Mothers cradle malnourished babies with trembling hands and tear-stained prayers.
- Families flee warzones, carrying trauma no heart should ever hold.
- Communities sift through the rubble of earthquakes, cyclones, and floods searching for a glimmer of hope.
- Children are vulnerable to exploitation, violence, and a world that has forgotten them.
These are the places where World Vision shows up—
where heartbreak demands action,
where suffering requires courage,
and where love must prove itself real.
But we do not stand in the struggle without purpose.
We do not enter the pain without a plan.
Because transformation begins when you refuse to look away.
We seek solutions at the root.
Not temporary relief—not bandages over deep wounds—
but lasting change that rewrites futures.
We bring healing to those who need love and light most.
The work is tangible:
clean water flowing where disease once reigned,
health care reaching the sick,
education opening doors,
protection shielding the vulnerable,
emergency response restoring lives after catastrophe.
But it is also deeply spiritual—
stepping into the sacred crossroads
of the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
Loving God.
Loving people.
Going into all the world with both compassion and conviction.
This is God’s ministry.
We are God’s people.
And our mission is to follow our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
into the places where His light is needed most.
So let us keep pressing into the miraculous.
Let us keep giving generously, loving boldly, and shining brightly.
Because alone, we shine…
But together, we ignite the world.
QUESTIONS TO PONDER / JOURNAL
- Where is God asking me to carry my light more boldly?
- What breaks my heart that might also break the heart of God?
- How can I practically partner—through prayer, giving, advocacy, or invitation—to bring hope into dark places?