My name is Lois Burrell, and very early in life, the Lord impressed upon my heart to be a missionary. I grew up with this desire planted deep within my soul. Being saved as a young teen aged girl, I wanted nothing more than to shine for Jesus Christ and be a testimony and a witness wherever I found myself in life. Such a desire and a zeal comes at quite a cost. I didn't know it would, and I just stumbled along the best I could, wondering why it was so hard to serve the Lord. Service for the Lord always brings persecution from those that would stop you. I didn't understand the molding and the making at the Potter's wheel, or the pruning of the branches. I just saw the pain and the heartache, and little joy. It wasn't until I was a much older Christian that I realized how the trials that we go through make us who we are. Those trials either push us away from the source of our strength or pull us up close to our loving Saviour, Jesus Christ. Some of my deepest, darkest moments were times when I thought that I had been forsaken, but I hadn't. I only had to open my Bible again and read the words in that blessed Book and see the promises of His faithfulness to me. Those sorrows, pains, and agonies in life that I have gone through are also the ones of which my Lord suffered. All of it has pulled me close to Him. He is my Strength, and my Shield. What more can I do for Him? If He wants to use my life in grief, then let it be so for I am acquainted with it.