“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers to do this more and more…”
1 Thes 4:9-11
These hands. Hands of sweetness. Joy. Life. I held many of these hands this month in Mozambique.
Hands attached to a two year old Maiena who was too terrified to even look at me the beginning of the month because of the color of my skin, but who by the end allowed me to patch up her infected owies and snuggle her.
Hands of a four year Jolie waving around leading the “Buyaha bamadolla” dance game and then crawling into my lap my last night there and falling asleep.
Hands of four year old Julhio (here) who was so sleepy he fell asleep sitting up until I picked him up and cuddled him to sleep in the main room of our dimly lighted concrete home.
Hands of eight-year-old Judith that always held mine while we walked, not understanding a word coming out of each other’s mouths but enjoying each other’s company anyway.
Hands of the teenage girls that would stand before every meal to wash our hands.
Hands of 17-year-old Samuel leading the younger children in dancing games.
Hands of 19 year old Mashava shooting out to stop me from being hit by a car more than a handful of times and then shaking his head.
Hands of 22-year-old Mishek who joyfully clapped along in church and gave many thumbs ups.
Hands of Peter our host holding his children’s hands laughing as they led him outside to dance because he lost his sight at age 13.
Hands of Peter’s strong and humorous wife Viserna who took care of 15 children not always hers but now more her own than ever.
Hands of Rosa, the woman down the road paralyzed from the waist down waving as we walked up to pray and love her.Hands of the hundreds of sick people we prayed for.
Yes, I held many hands this month. But the most special was Jesus’, Emmanuel, God with Us, who walked with me through this entire month leading me to each of these children of His to encourage or be encouraged, to speak life into and have life spoken into me, to bring them hopefully closer to Him through prayer, bible study, sharing the gospel, teaching and just loving with our Abba’s love.
