Surrendering in Obedience

Sam Hawes, who serves in international projects at Samaritan’s Purse, talked with Kristy Graham about continually staying obedient to the Lord and how God has used everything in his life—even doors that abruptly closed—to teach him to surrender.

Sam and his family moved to Turkey in 2016 to serve at a Samaritan’s Purse field office. Though this transition was hard, they felt that this was where God wanted them, and they were excited to serve in the field. Eventually, the Lord called the Hawes family back to the United States. Though it was a shift in their own plans, Sam learned to surrender to the Lord’s plans.

“So, looking back, it shaped us as a family to trust God. It shaped us as a family to be able to tell our boys why we went and what we did. And part of our hearts are definitely still in the field, but God made it clear we need to be back in Boone.”—Sam Hawes

When an earthquake rocked Turkey in 2023, Sam and the international projects team were able to use their previous connections in the country to immediately help those affected by the disaster. Samaritan’s Purse set up an Emergency Field Hospital where staff were able to treat more than 8,000 patients within the first couple of weeks.

“The relationships that we made on the ground really had an impact when we were able to respond to the earthquake in 2023. We were the only non-government organization to send a field hospital to Turkey.”—Sam Hawes

Sam also shared with Kristy about when he traveled to Liberia to see some of the Samaritan’s Purse programming, including a prison ministry. Sam met with graduates of one of the men's discipleship classes in the prison, and he heard their testimonies. Several of the prisoners shared how this discipleship class influenced them and most importantly, how the Gospel of Jesus Christ had changed their life. Sam talked about a conversation with the deputy superintendent of the program that really stood out and showed how lives are being transformed.

“With our program, he has seen real change in how the men and women talk, and how they behave, and how they treat their fellow prisoners, and how they share and talk about the Gospel, even when they don't realize that prison staff are hearing them. And that's what told me that this program is truly having an authentic and real impact.” —Sam Hawes

As followers of Christ, we can have hope in this dark world because God is the light. Sam implores listeners to remind one another of God's promises when we get overwhelmed by the brokenness on earth.

“And we need to remember that He is always at work. We need to continue listening to teaching and worshiping as a body and proclaiming this truth to each other when we don't feel that way. We need to keep putting ourselves in positions where we can hear God's Word and be encouraged by others, because our mission also lets us see amazing and miraculous ways that God is at work, calling people to Himself, and an eternal hope.”—Sam Hawes

Pray for Sam and our teams serving in international projects. Please pray that the Lord would give them wisdom and discernment as they make decisions and respond to disasters all around the world. If you’d like to keep up to date with more stories from On the Ground, please visit samaritanspurse.org.