Monday, 20 April 2009

  • Bomake Camp Update & A Story about someone who inspires me!

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    Nelly & I, and the two of us with Karabo at one of the Care Points to meet with the cooks

     

    PRAYER FOR THE BOMAKE CAMP: 

    I, along with my Cook’s Discipleship Team (Karabo & Nelly) are gearing up for Children’s Cup first ever Bomake (Women’s) Camp, next week April 28-30th!  And it’s been quite a faith ride! (- see last 2 blog entries below)  Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 21st, we’re having a day of prayer & fasting for this camp.  At the beginning of this year, we sensed the Lord placing on our hearts the deeper work He wants to do in these almost 110 women’s lives that we disciple – healing of deep wounds in their hearts & freedom from strongholds that keep them from living the fullness of life that Christ intends for them.  We’re not saying that it’s all going to happen in just 3 days, but we are believing & asking for the Lord to do a powerful work in their lives that He will continue to build on.  – And that ground that the enemy has stolen in their lives would be taken back!  Please join us in prayer for this!  We believe that things happen in the spiritual before we see them in the physical (2 Corinthians 5:7; Ephesians 6:12)

    ANSWERS TO PRAYERS FOR THE CAMP IN THE LAST WEEK:
    * Just last week (only 2 weeks out) our speaker was confirmed - WHEW!  Our speaker, is my "African mama", Elizabeth, who I've known since I lived in Pretoria, South Africa.  She is originally from Botswana but has spent much of her life in S. Africa - and more importantly, she is a mighty women of God!  For weeks I had been trying to get a hold of her & when I finally did, she told me she'd pray about it.  Then last week she said yes, that the Lord had released her to come! I'm so looking forward to her coming.  I learned much from her when I would go and minister with her in the squatter camps in Pretoria... about how the Lord works here in southern Africa & about what the Africans believe about spiritual things.  
    * I    n just the past couple weeks, the exchange rate has gone from 10 to 8.5 thus making the donations we’re receiving from the U.S. less than what we’ve budgeted.  BUT, the Lord in HIS faithfulness had already seen to this detail and laid it on my home church’s heart to take an offering for the camp - thus placing us above our budget, in spite of the loss due to the exchange rate!! 
    These are just TWO of the many answers to prayer we’ve seen the Lord come through on... at just the right time! 

     

    A STORY ABOUT SOMEONE WHO I'M ON THE "FRONT LINES" WITH:
    I’m learning what it is like for people who have HIV/AIDS from people who are close to me – one in particular, my dear friend and co-worker, Nelly.  She is definitely a woman of faith, who challenges me to take hold of Jesus more and more everyday! She shared this with me, and with her permission, I’m sharing it with you:

    The other day I received a text from her that read: “Just thinking JZ, I’m grateful for the people God has sent in my life.  You guys are great (meaning also our co-worker, KB.)  I love you and appreciate you.” 

     

    Then a few days later, after a meeting together, she told me: “You know, Jacci, when I sent you all that text I had been thinking how hard it is to be HIV positive.  Having HIV…it’s a war everyday, a war day by day but when I’m with you and KB, I’m alive!  I feel like I belong somewhere.  Everyday for people with HIV is a struggle. You don’t wake up feeling like, “Í’m so glad to have this disease!”, because I could wake up with a lump [or who knows what as an effect of this chronic disease.]  When I’m with you two, I feel a sense of warmth…like I have life!  [I feel] like I don’t have AIDS!  I feel like I’m well, like I’m not sick.” 

     

    Praise the Lord!  Nelly is a woman who loves the Lord, a woman with purpose!  I told her that I believe the Lord is raising her up to become a beacon to the women in Swaziland of what it means to come thru adversity, strong in the Lord!  Her life, by her own testimony is a story of redemption.  She has walked through some extremely difficult situations, and has chosen to place her faith in the Lord.  And she continues to grow stronger in Christ each day. 

     

    As I’ve walked along side  Nelly, as I’ve listened to her and witnessed her faith, I’m reminded of the verse in Jeremiah 17:7-8: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord and whose trust is the Lord.  For He will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes; but its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in a year of drought nor cease to yield fruit.” – This is the kind of woman that Jesus is making Nelly into!

     

    Please pray for her, as well as KB and myself as we press on in this discipleship ministry to the cooks.  Pray for wisdom, love, strength, protection and unity as we work together on the “front lines” of the spiritual battle here in Swaziland, and as we serve the women at the upcoming Bomake Camp! 


    For His glory,  JZ 

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