As a schoolgirl, Karen Hicks would’ve liked to have been adventurous, brave, and fearless, but was told by her teachers that she’d no sense of adventure.
“I was the only one in my class who didn’t want to live in an upturned boat on a beach!” she recalls. “However, a Bible verse that I learned at school has stayed with me ever since – as well as the boat! ‘It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.’ Deut. 31.8
Karen didn’t know that years later, God would take her on an adventurous experience to serve a least-reached people group in South Asia for more than 40 years.
“After coming to faith, I told God I’d follow him anywhere – as long as I didn’t have to fly in a plane, go to Bible college, or live abroad! I wasn’t so keen on being obedient to God when it meant travelling into the unknown, but all three were to be part of my SIM adventure!” she reveals.
In September 2024, Karen retired as SIM UK’s longest-serving member, exactly 47 years since she stepped on a plane as a short-termer for a two-year assignment!
“I was on the plane, delayed and stuck on the runway, thinking it was a sign I should stay at home,” she recalls. “I wasn’t allowed off the plane and was travel sick, however, by the time we finally landed, I knew this was the place I should be.”
However her doubts resurfaced while travelling on a narrow road with 72 hairpin bends to the remote mission school, where she was due to begin her teaching ministry!
“I said to God, ‘If I’d known this school was up a mountainside, I wouldn’t have come and maybe the upturned beach boat would have been preferable!’”
Praise God that Karen’s passion for the gospel led to many years of faithful service, during which she endured constant water shortages, power cuts, freezing winters, limited heating and heavy monsoon rains.
She also survived after the old Morris Minor she was travelling in, careered over the side of the road: “God answered my short prayer of, ‘Help Lord’ as we tumbled about 100 feet and landed on a small piece of ground before a sheer drop. The good hand of the Lord was upon us.”
Karen enjoyed many happy times at the school, spent with the ‘amazing’ children and staff. She also found the mountain people friendly, generous, and remarkably resilient.
“I’d been told it would take more than 12 years to learn about the country’s rich culture, but even after living there for so long, there was still so much more to learn!”
Karen moved to the plains in 2001 to teach adult refugees and many challenging years followed after 9/11, including a terrorist attack on the mission school and her church, local bombings, and a devastating earthquake.
“We cried out to God for his mercy, healing, help and protection many times during these years and both staff and students cried together when our refugee centre had to close,” she says.
“But all the challenges never took away from the privilege of serving the Lord and the peace of knowing I was where God wanted me to be. I also learned to trust a wonderful, creative God, knowing he was with me and going before me in all situations. He’s led, forgiven, restored, picked up the pieces, and protected me.”
While serving in relief and refugee ministries Karen was evacuated back to the UK and for the past 13 years supported the South Asian leadership from afar.
“Now as I retire, I’m so thankful to Stopsley Baptist Church; SIM; friends; and family for the tremendous support and prayer I received during all the unusual, challenging and amazing situations!” she says.
“God’s ways may not have been my ways, but they were definitely the best ways.”
Please pray:
- Give thanks as we celebrate Karen’s 47 years of faithful, prayerful service.
- Praise God for all that he’s done in and through her life.
- That God will continue to guide Karen as she continues to serve as an Active Retiree with SIM.