A story of healing

So, this year I spent three months in South Africa.

I was in a rural village called Mkhondo most of the time.

Not a place I would choose myself.

Why I went anyway? I wanted to understand what the impact was of a group of women praying for unity for more than 25 years.

They weekly prayed the prayer that Jesus prayed in John 17:

Do you ever doubt if prayer works? I could tell you 20 stories of healing that I witnessed and many miracles I heard about. But I only have four days and 500 words.

So, I’ll start with one story.

Eli’s story

Eli freely shared his story with me.

He didn’t grow up with his mother and his father was addicted to alcohol. He told me how he grew up being so hurt because he didn’t have the love of a father and mother. He used drugs at a young age and struggled with poverty.

Eli was 12 years old when he was physically abused by people on the street.

Eli told me how it was so painful and how it grew so much anger and bitterness in him. ‘’I walked around, constantly angry.’’

A year later, he was at a remembrance ceremony of a political activist. Out of the blue, people started shooting. His younger sister died in his arms.

Again, he told me: ‘’It grew so much anger in me. I started to hate white people.’’

Because of apartheid, he saw them as the cause of this loss.

Years later, when the prayer group was praying and fasting for 40 days for people to come to faith, Eli had a dream where God told him: You should be born again.’’

It took a while, but he gave his life to Jesus.

God turns pain around

Eli ended up in the prayer group of these women who prayed and fasted.

He told me how it was such a contrast: growing up without a mother and being full of bitterness towards white people. And now this group of mostly women were giving him so much love.

‘’I continued coming for the love that I found here. I never saw this love in the rest of my life. When I came to the Mkhondo prayer team, 90% is woman. It is when I really experienced more love of a mother because all of them are my mothers.’’

These women didn’t just love Eli; because of the pain and hurt that happened in his life, they repented to him while they washed his feet.

Eli told me how he immediately knew he was healed. He said ‘’the people I hated most are the people that helped me most. Because of forgiveness.’’

Our God is a God who loves to turn things around.

What else I learned from this?

We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Remain blessed,

Thirza

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