Tikvah spent the last few weeks in Africa in the countries of Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa. We travelled for many hours, a lot of buses and waiting. A lot of peanut butter sandwiches. We set out from Lilongwe heading for Lusaka, Zambia. We were there for a week and a half, visited an HIV clinic, a hospice, and the ERC (Expanded Church Response, to HIV/AIDS in Zambia). The time spent there opened our eyes further to not only the effects of the pandemic, but also the steps necessary to battle it. There are so many root causes and issues that need to be dealt with and often times HIV can be a symptom of something more. Ignorance, poor health care, poor nutrition, broken families and infidelity, and lies all fuel the spread of HIV in Africa. Please pray for clarity and knowledge about HIV and for a renewal of people’s hearts and lives in Africa through Jesus; because, after all, the real root of the issue is the heart condition of people.
You might say that Africa is a world away. You might say that China and Eastern Europe are a world away. They are. They are different places with different cultures and people. But there if you can cut through all that you will see that people in all these places are the same. We all deal with so many of the same things. People everywhere experience loneliness, anger, frustration, sadness, bitterness, unforgiveness, happiness, joy, laughter, and tears. There are people in the village we are in now here in Romania, and you can see from the wrinkles on their faces, the way they walk slowly down the sidewalk, their hard and tanned hands, and their quick tempers, that they have had a hard life; that they have experienced the human condition of sin. Life isn’t easy and cutting through language barriers and cultural barriers is no picnic, but we are the same. I know what it is like to be lonely. I know what it is like to have unforgiveness in my heart. Please pray for us that we can do this, that the Holy Spirit will cut to their hearts. We have seen this already in only 3 days here. I know that there is hurt in this place, and I know the one who can heal that hurt is Jesus.
The same root issues that help spread HIV in Africa help spread bitterness and unforgivness in Ville Tecci, Romania. There is infidelity, ignorance, a lack of clarity, pride, and violence. These things are so present in America as well. How many middle and upper class Americans are lonely and depressed? How many are on meds for stuff like this? How many Americans are unfaithful? Divorce rates in the church are just as high if not higher than those outside of it.
I can tell you this, I need Jesus every day of my life. I need him when I wake up, when I’m on the bus, when I’m ministering to someone or playing soccer, after dinner when we’re hanging out and laughing, and when I go to bed. He is my Savior, my Lord, and my Friend. He is my strength, which I need so often because I am weak. He is the only reason I can claim to come to God. He is Life and when I am not walking with Him I feel it: emptiness, lack of purpose, death. He heals me, and he can and wants to heal all of us. The world’s problems can seem overwhelming, but God is so much bigger than our problems and our mistakes. He loves us as we are. He has already forgiven us. We don’t have to impress Him. You can bring your brokenness to Him, your loneliness, your insecurity, your hurt, your past. If you’ve been burned by the church in America, you can bring that to Him too, he loves you no matter what you’ve done or what’s been done to you. He loves you and forgives you and there’s nothing you have to do except accept Him and let it all go!
“My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loves by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it.”
-Brennan Manning, Ragamuffin Gospel
