Day one of month 6 in South Africa I prayed and asked God if He had any words to speak over me for what the month would bring. I heard, in response, the words “Soul Refreshed.” I thought to myself as I wrote those words in my journal, “Huh, cool. I can always use a good month of refreshment, this will be fun to see how this month turns out.”
I already knew I loved South Africa because I spent month 6 of my own World Race last December 2014 in the beautiful city of Cape Town and it was one of my most cherished months of my race. But just when I think it can’t get any better, God shows me that once again my understanding of Him is much too small and he always has more in store for me than I could ever imagine.
I started the month off by joining a co-ed team that was placed in the city of East London on the Western Coast of South Africa. Upon arrival we were picked up by two of our hosts, Tracy and Kerry, and driven to our own private farm house on the wild coast where we would be staying. Cue instant realizations of how spoiled we were about to be.
Our first official day of ministry I joined the women from the team and our host Tracy in attending a morning Women’s Prayer time at the church. It was a powerful and moving hour and half of prayer. After prayer, some of the girls from our team discovered a jackpot collection of Christian books that the church has available for anyone to borrow and read. Because we travel with such limited luggage space, we rarely get to read a good ol’ classic paperback book. We were ecstatic. After hearing my teammates suggestions I chose the book, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. Little did I know how reading that book would soon fit perfectly into what God was about to begin teaching me throughout my two weeks in East London.
Later on that same day, after choosing our take home paperback books, Tracy took us all back to her house to introduce us to her full time ministry and passion. Tracy and Jonathan King are a God fearing couple who truly operate out of a Kingdom purpose and a Kingdom vision simply through living out their every day lives. Several years ago God laid it on Tracy’s heart to start a safe house for children who have been neglected, abused or abandoned. The safe house is located right in their own backyard and they are currently caring for 27 children between the ages of 2 weeks old through 5 years old.
I will always remember the day we walked over to the safe house to meet the children for the first time. I looked at all of their innocent faces, some smiling, some not, and I couldn’t help but wonder to myself what they each had been through already in their short lives. As we approached them, there were several kids laughing and playing with a inchworm on the pavement that was providing endless amounts of fun and entertainment. Some of the others were simply standing in place with solemn faces observing everything going on around them. Those are the ones who really got me thinking and made me wish I could, for just a moment, be inside of their head and know what they were thinking. There was one little girl in particular who quickly grabbed my gaze and attention. She was standing still, her face robbed of any emotion, next to the wall of the portable storage container that houses the children. I went up to her to try and elicit a smile or a reaction, but her face didn’t even flinch as I pulled out all my tricks to get a response. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that was when *Lindiwe hooked me.
Later that day I spoke to Tracy and asked about Lindiwe’s story and background before being brought to the safe house. She explained to me that Lindiwe and her baby brother had been at the safe house for 5 months and throughout that entire time not once had Tracy or the nannies seen her show an ounce of emotion on her face besides an occasional cry. Lindiwe and her brother both witnessed their father attempt to stab their own mother to death and afterwards attempt to kill them as well. Her mother survived the stabbing and was being cared for in a local hospital. Her baby brother had a skull fracture when they were first brought to Tracy and the safe house. Lindiwe was mostly injury free when they were found, but it wasn’t hard to see that the emotional trauma she had witnessed and experienced was beyond what her 2 1/2 year old mind could comprehend. In 5 months Tracy had never once witnessed her smile. She rarely played and spent the majority of her day just standing in one place and observing.
My heart broke and tears filled my eyes as Tracy talked and I looked at the beautiful little girl standing a few feet from me who had experienced more pain in her few years of life than most do in a lifetime. All I wanted to do was wrap her in my arms and take away everything she had been through and witnessed. I wanted to love her as much and as well as I possibly could.
As a squad leader I usually visit two different teams during our month stay in a country. Understanding that my time with Lindiwe was going to be short, I started making it my daily hope and prayer that God would soften her heart with His redeeming love and that I would get to see her smile before my two weeks in East London were expired. That became my big prayer for the month.
Meanwhile, I was still reading through the book Redeeming Love. The book is essentially a fictional depiction set in the 19th century of the story of Hosea and Gomer from the book of Hosea in the Bible. For those of you who may not know the story, Hosea was called by God to pursue, love and marry a prostitute named Gomer. Gomer left Hosea several times to go back into prostitution with other men, but through the power of God’s love Hosea always chased after Gomer to bring her back home and at one point even paid money to get his wife back.
As I am reading this book while also giving everything I could to loving Lindewe well, I couldn’t help but see the connections God was making. Although Lindewe’s and Amanda’s (the main character from the book) stories seem completely different at first, they both come point back to the same character of God, His redeeming love. God used a man after His own heart in the book to pursue and romance the heart of Amanda, the prostitute. He loved her well; he was patient with her, he showed her much grace, and throughout all of the trials that occurred he never turns his back on her.
Although I was only going to be with Lindiwe for 2 weeks, I believe God called me to love her well and to be a display of His Redeeming Love for her. He called me to be patient with her and continue to pursue her even though 99% of the time I spent with her I didn’t even receive a facial expression or reaction in return. He called me to show her His love for her and to show her that He would never give up on her and neither would I.
God’s love redeems. His love has the power to bring the dead to life, the power to revive and restore the parts of us that have been hurt, forgotten or destroyed. His love DESIRES to redeem, to free, to bring new life. His love redeemed the life of a prostitute.
And 3 days before I left East London, His love gave Lindiwe back her smile and it was more beautiful than I had imagined. The first smile in 5+ months and one that I believe, in some way, set her small heart free and let joy back into life.
**For her protection, I am not able to use Lindiwe’s real name or post a photo of her**
