“Wow! Oh my gosh!! Did you just see that?!”
Amie and I erupted with laughter as we collapsed to the ground.
Two weeks earlier…
The cool breeze brushed through my hair as I dangled weightlessly from my hammock. As I stared up into the ebony sky I watched little diamonds that looked like glitter dust flicker and twinkle. Just one, I thought, just give me one shooting star. Night after night I waited and nothing…not one shooting star fell from the sky.
“God, you can hear me, right?” I asked. “Yes.” “Then just give me one.”
Still nothing.
I continued to ask for a shooting star and I continually saw not one. I wasn’t defeated, I think I became more determined.
It was any other normal day a couple of weeks later, I mean as normal as living in Africa (which is awesome, by the way) can get. Amie and I were walking down the dirt road to catch a kombi into Manzini for ministry. As we walked, we prayed out loud for our day and for The Lord’s will to be done.
Over the past couple of weeks I had noticed one of the kombi “financial advisors” (the guy who takes my money) always had a grumpy look on his face. So, I decided to make friends with him. Every time I saw him, I would get in the van and say “Hi, friend”, and almost every time I would just get a frown back. Well, this led me to pray for him continually. I wasn’t exactly sure why I felt the need to see him smile, but I continued to show him the joy of The Lord the only way I knew how.
So, as Amie and I were walking I prayed, “And God, please let my grumpy friend be in the kombi today.” Right as I prayed that, a kombi came and, unfortunately, grumpy friend wasn’t on it. “Well, maybe next time,” I thought.
We started off down the bumpy road. Amie and I continued to chat as we lingered at each bus stop for more passengers. Suddenly, I saw a flash of green and felt the brakes as the van came to a stop. I bobbed my head up and down as I started to peer out of the windows over the passengers heads…wait, I thought…”Amie!! It’s him!!” Suddenly, my grumpy friend entered the bus, his green shirt and blue jeans casually donned him and a surge of joy ran through my body. Like a true middle schooler, I frantically began to tap his shoulder as he sat down in front of me.
Soon enough, he turned his face and his all familiar frown caught my seemingly annoying white girl smile. His dark eyes saw mine and for a moment I saw a flicker of peace. “Hi, friend”, I said, all too joyful for his frown, “how are you today?” To my surprise he responded, “Hi my friend, I am fine today.” I was so shocked I didn’t really know what to say, honestly I hadn’t thought it through because I never thought he’d respond. He didn’t smile, but those seven words were precious to my ears after being relentless with him for the past two weeks.
I was so joyful. “You heard me Jesus!”
Fast forward to that same evening.
“Guess what I saw the other night, Hannah…” James said as we sat around the dining room table. I looked at him curiously…”A shooting star.”
“What?!” I thought. “But God, I wanted to see a shooting star!! I’ve been praying for one!”
After some more small talk I decided where I was headed. Sleeping bag and pillow in hand, I headed for the hill into the darkness to watch the stars. Amie came along once I explained what I was doing, “I’m going to sit under the stars and pray to see a shooting one, Jam saw one, I want to see one too.”
The breeze was cool and the sky was big and dark. I looked into the night and prayed, “Daddy, please let me see a shooting star…pause…I’m going to come and sit out here every night until you give me a shooting star.” And as soon as the words left my mouth there it was, streaming across the night sky right in front of me…orange tail and all!!
“Wow! Oh my gosh!! Did you just see that?!”
He answered my prayer instantly. “I hear you.” He said.
It wasn’t until a few days later that I realized the whole time I was asking for a shooting star and in my head what I thought a shooting star looked like is actually what a comet looks like. So not only did God answer my prayer, but He knew that even though I was asking for a shooting star I really wanted to see a comet. And He gave me just that. He gave me a comet.
“Yes I hear you, yes I know your thoughts, yes I love you, yes I have you, yes, daughter, you can trust me.”
Wow, talk about an amazing God. On that day He proved to me how much He hears me and how much He desires to answer my prayers…from my grumpy friend to my shooting star/comet. He hears me, He knows my thoughts, and He longs to answer my prayers.
As I lay in my hammock and think back on these moments I can’t help but smile.
As for my grumpy friend, I saw him again at the bus rank for a split second in which God gave me a SMILE! For the next three days I prayed to be in the same kombi with him so I could get his information and stay in contact with him. On my last day in Swaziland and my last kombi ride I still hadn’t seen him. I was disappointed but I prayed and I said, “Lord, I know there’s a reason I didn’t see my friend-I don’t know what that reason is but I trust you. Please, Lord, I pray that somebody saw him today and asked for his name and information.”
I rode home trying my hardest not to feel sad and disappointed. When I got home, I laid down on my bed next to Amie and said, “I really wish I would’ve just seen him today.” Suddenly, Amie smiled at my and said “hold on, I have something for you-I didn’t know whether or not I should do this but I felt The Lord telling me to…”
She then handed me a little slip of paper with the name Sifiso Dlamini scratch across it with his phone number written below it. I said “What is this?”, knowing exactly what it was and Amie just smiled. I was so excited! Sifiso! “God, how could you love me this much?!” I thought.
So this is how the story ends, or begins, I suppose. On my last day in Swaziland I texted my friend and he called me, after some Siswati translating from my favorite Xolani, my ministry contact this month, it was decided that Xolani was going to keep in contact with Sifiso and get to know him better. Xolani said he’d EEG up with him and then give him my facebook info.
I don’t know what God’s plan is for Sifiso’s life but I’m praying that I’ll be able to continue to be a part of Sifiso’s story. If nothing else, though, I’ll always be “that crazy white girl who always smiled”, and I’m okay with that.
In all of this, my prayer is that you start to actually believe that God hears your prayers…His timing is perfect & His plan for your life is perfect….Trust Him.
