Reflecting on the past few days, I'm beginning to go deeper in the ministry with the children entrusted to my care and prayers. And things are starting to happen, which is really exciting!
Last Thursday, the Grades 4 and 5 started to tell me a little bit more about their family situations. Every single child in that group have lost their mothers and most probably never knew their fathers. They displayed little emotion in telling me this, merely a 'Washonile' (She's dead) from each child. In a place where this is true for a third of the school population, it's not surprising that they don't display emotion.
One girl has only recently lost her mother, as she's left behind a daughter who is now 1. Their 17 year old sister is caring for the baby, this girl and her twin brother, at the same time studying at a local high school. I love all my children but this girl is particularly endearing and it was touching that she wanted to pray at the end of the session. She prayed in English and gave thanks to her heavenly Father for 'this wonderful life that you have given us.' Considering all that she has probably been through recently, to be able to pray that with such conviction and joy is an inspiration to others and a testimony to God's healing power at work in her life already! It's exciting that the kids want to pray by themselves as well!
And then on Sunday I went up to GGA, the children's home where I used to live and work a few years ago. When I was there before I led the church service every other week with the children. It was a privilege to minister to these kids then and even more so now. For a while now a couple of the teenagers there have been leading the services every Sunday and they asked me to come and help them. Now that I have a little team of helpers (namely, my 3 housemates!), we are keen to minister to these children in whatever way we can.
It has been so encouraging to see these young people leading their 'family' in worship, Bible study and prayer. When I left in 2008, I had given my Bible to N, who stood before us all the Sunday before last and shared confidently about God's love for the children. L, who had often pestered me for worship CDs, now plays the guitar and leads the kids in worship. When I went up the Sunday before last I was struck immediately by the hunger that these children have for more of God. The Holy Spirit was very much in evidence there as the kids prayed and sang and danced!
These 2 teens asked me to come and help them out. It's been a hard year for the organisation with difficult things happening and the children for the most part are unsettled and unsure of their futures. There's a general unease in the atmosphere when you spend time with the children. I wanted them to experience God's peace for themselves in the midst of unsettled times. I spoke on Sunday about where Jesus tells us not to worry, but to seek first the Kingdom of God. And then in 1 Peter where it says 'Cast all your anxieties onto him for He cares for you' and leading onto Philippians about presenting our anxieties to God in exchange for His peace. (Phil 4)
I'd had an idea of how to lead this into ministry, which must have come from God as it was so simple and yet very effective! The children sat comfortably with their eyes closed and hands outstretched and I prayed for them and asked the Holy Spirit to come and show them one thing that was worrying them at that moment. They had to imagine that that worry was in their hands. Then they let their hands drop as if to drop the burden they were carrying and released that worry to Jesus. Then they put their hands out again, this time to receive God's peace and anything that He might want to say to them. We then listened to a worship song of God singing His peace and His promises over them. Try it!
I have never seen these children so engaged and focused. Every single one of them sat entirely quiet and engaged with God at some level. You could see on their faces the release of leaving at least one of their worries with God. Some children repeated the exercise several times as we sat quietly. There was a reverent hush as they did this, some children just sat there smiling peaceful and one or 2 swayed gently as they were filled with God's peace. No-one wanted to share any testimony in front of the whole group as of yet but in chatting with individual children later on they all said that they felt so much better afterwards. There was a noticeable change in the mood in the room as well. I actually think that everyone in that room, from the 1 year old up to a visiting friend from Zimbabwe who must be in his 50's at least, came away with something more of God after that time. I'm so excited as it was all God working, I merely facilitated the idea that came to me and let God work. This is only week one!!
Pray that as I continue to go deeper with these children, teaching them and helping them to encounter God on their level, that He would show me the way forward and teach me what to do to lead best. God loves it when people get desperate for Him, forget about other things in life and seek Him and more of Him. That's what these kids are doing and the experience of God's presence and love can only get deeper and better!! Praise God!
