So my favorite experience on the race thus far was the day I met January and his wife. We were doing village evangelism in Zimbabwe and had driven 15 minutes through the forest and then walked another 10 minutes through more forest and corn fields until we came upon a house. January’s house!
January is a 98 year old man who was a witch doctor for 78 years. People would go see him when they found out that their spouses were seeing someone else on the side. He would then give them something from the spirits to aid them in killing that other person. This is how January was known. He continued to tell us about the things he had done and how the spirits were now angry with him because he couldn’t do the required rituals. He said he started having bad dreams, seeing things that weren’t there and hearing things. As he told us this he started crying uncontrollably, my heart broke so much in that moment. It was then the Lord showed me the compassion that He has for His people and just how much He loves January. The next thing January said to us was that he was ready to leave his old life behind entirely.
We shared with them the story of Jesus and explained what it means to follow Jesus and have a relationship with Him. He said he wanted that and he was ready to give his life to the Lord. Both January and his wife asked Jesus into their hearts and we prayed over them. January cried tears of joy the entire time, which of course made Madison and I cry as well. It was such an incredible and powerful God filled moment and I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to witness it. We ended up praying over January’s bad dreams and praying over their house as well, that their place would be filled with His light and Holy Spirit.
Two days later, on Sunday morning, we ended up going back to their house before church because January wanted to take the next step and burn all of the things he used when he was a traditional healer. He had so many things and they explained to us what each one of them was used for, it was pretty unsettling. We prayed over them and then he burned them all! He also told us that his bad dreams had stopped and that he was no longer hearing or seeing things. After that January just started walking through the corn field and we asked where he was going and he said to church! Now it was a far and rough walk but he was insistent on going. So he and his wife went to church with us and it was just such a celebratory moment. We celebrated their victory in church and welcomed them to the family!
It was so amazing seeing their journey to the Lord and the joy and peace they now had. It was like night and day and a good reminder of just how good God truly is and how He is our ultimate healer!
About 2 weeks after we left Zimbabwe I got a message from one of our hosts. He told me that January and his wife were wanting to further their faith even more and were getting baptized! 3 days later they both did get baptized and had several people there to celebrate with them. How amazing it’s been seeing them go from death to life.
Getting to witness the change that God made in their hearts and how hard they were now following after Him was a miracle I will never forget. Our God is a big God, and nothing we could ever do would make Him stop loving us or chasing after us. He will always go after the one and this is just further proof of that! 78 years of darkness, hurt, and sin and the Lord never stopped pursuing His precious son and daughter. God is so good!
How could you not want to know someone who gave everything for you, loves so unconditionally, and never stops looking for you?
“Through the wind and rain my debt was paid,
God has set me free and resides in me.
So to the depths of the sea,
Lord I will follow Thee,
I will follow Thee!”
