The community of Katembe is located in the mountains, several hours from any medical facilities. By God’s grace, Lina’s mother, with support from strangers, managed to get to a clinic where they did an emergency caesarean section. Though Lina survived, her mother did not have the capacity to care for her daughter on her own, resulting in a quick decline in Lina’s health….
“Everything may be different and yet, stepping out of our van into the community of Maranatha, I was greeted by faces I knew and people I could greet by name. I even recognised some of the kids and greeted them by name, even though it has been four years since I saw them last. I felt joy in seeing them again and, by the faces, I believe this was mutual….”
The Watchword brings a sense of unity, knowing that the verse being shared is being shared across Africa and around the world. We know that whilst we are here in South Africa, other people are sharing the same Watchword in other countries. There is power in being a part of something way bigger than just where we are.
The two of us who had previously gone to Africa through Hands at Work shared stories of what we might have experienced while there — stories of Holy Home Visits, attending local churches, and building relationships with long-term volunteers. At the end of the two weeks, the team realised that we would have arrived home. We agreed that we did not want to stop meeting.
As the years quickly went by, early retirement became an option for us in September 2014. At that point we began to earnestly seek God about what our next steps would be. With many ups and downs, questions, concerns and conversations with our family about this big decision to make, we knew that God was calling us to Africa.
It is a prayer asking God to stir us up! As such, the words now point me to something much deeper than stirring puddings. In Hands at Work, we talk about ‘making it personal’ and fighting for the children of our communities as if they were our own. But it is so easy for our hearts to become indifferent or worse still, hardened, to the injustice and pain we see around us.
When I first came to Africa, I think that I subconsciously associated the word ‘brokenness’ with weakness. I was fearful of sharing the broken areas of my heart because I was embarrassed by my past and ultimately feared rejection and judgement. I struggled to share because I didn’t fully understand and recognise the depth to which the brokenness and pain in my heart had spilled over into many different areas of my life.
“I find that often people think of discipleship as something that needs to be taught in a course but from what I can see in the Bible and from personal experience, discipleship is being with people and walking through life with them. If I think back to the people who have discipled me, I think about the people who have spent time with me and have been a part of my life. It is the act of being together.”
Jesus was born to die and, in doing that, won for me a life that He desires to be lived in all its fullness. Easter also helps me to surrender myself afresh to living a life that honours Christ and seeks to serve those around me. For me, it’s a time of thankfulness, self-reflection and recommitment.
