Pointing to Heaven During Hurt

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose,” Jim Elliot wrote in 1949.

Elliot is well known in the Christian sphere as a missionary who traveled to Ecuador in the early 1950s to minister to the Huaorani (or “Auca”) people. On this mission, he was accompanied by four other missionaries, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, and Roger Youderian.

Leaving behind family and loved ones – including Eliot’s wife Elisabeth and young daughter Valerie, as well as Saint’s sister Rachel – these men were set on ministering to those without God’s love.

However, sharing that message came with a high cost.

In January of 1956, the very people whom they were trying to evangelize murdered all five missionaries. Elliot had lived out his earlier writing. He and his friends had given their lives and gained eternity with their Savior.

At this point, if someone had murdered a father, husband, and brother, it would be easily understandable if these mourning family members and friends held bitterness (and even rage) in their hearts against the murderers until the end of time.

Elisabeth and Rachel made a different decision.

Instead, two years after the murders, these women and young Valerie went back to evangelize to the Huaorani. The result of their faithfulness amid their pain led to many accepting Christ and adding more souls to the kingdom of heaven.

But why, why in the middle of grief did these women choose to go back and serve those who brutally killed their loved ones?

Later, Elisabeth wrote, “The deepest things that I have learned in my own life have come from the deepest suffering. And out of the deepest waters and the hottest fires have come the deepest things I know about God.”

During the middle of her suffering, Elisabeth sought the strength that only the Lord gives and used that strength to minister to those who had wronged her.

Fast forward to September 21, 2025.

This past weekend, America watched as another woman – whose husband was assassinated for speaking the truth – forgave her trespassers.

During the memorial honoring her late husband, Charlie, Erika Kirk offered these words to the more than 100,000 people who came to the service. Not only did she share the gospel, but she went one step further when speaking about the shooter. Fox News transcribed her speech, which said:

He named his organization well, he knew things were not right with America and especially with young people, and they needed a new direction. Charlie passionately wanted to reach and save the Lost Boys of the West, the young men who feel like they have no direction, no purpose, no faith, and no reason to live on the men wasting their lives on distractions and the men consumed with resentment, anger and hate. Charlie wanted to help them. He wanted them to have a home with Turning Point USA, and when he went on to campus, he was looking to show them a better path and a better life. That was right there for the taking. He wanted to show them that.

My husband, Charlie. He wanted to save young men, just like the one who took his life. That young man. That young man on the cross. Our Savior said, “Father, forgive them, for they not know what they do.” That man. That young man. I forgive him. I forgive him because it was what Christ did in his.

As I watched her speak, I was in almost disbelief. She has two young babies, and Charlie was the love of her life.

Yet, in front of the crowd, she chose to do the unthinkable.

She forgave the lost boy with the bullet, and she pointed to the healing love of Jesus in the meantime.

It was the biggest wake-up call I have witnessed in my lifetime. This wasn’t someone who talked badly behind her back, was cruel to her, or physically hurt her – it was the murderer of her husband.

Yet, just like Elisabeth, in the middle of her pain and grief, Erika forgave.

Why?

Because these two women knew something that their spouses’ enemies didn’t – to die is to gain, and no matter the sin of their offender, Christ died for them, too. But more than anything, these godly women wanted to follow through with their husbands’ missions and share the gospel with those who need it most.

We may not face the same heartache as Elisabeth or Erika, but we serve the same God. The question is, will we point others to heaven during our hurting, or will we turn them away?

[A]ccording to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:20-21).

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