Grace Amidst Heartbreak

Grace in the midst of heartbreak jumped out in two stories from my recent trip to Africa. One of our Kenyan friends told how he carried his father into hiding in a corn field for safety amid tribal violence.

And God used a Rock Ugandan university student to win 13 souls for Jesus spontaneously in a desperately poor village where his hopes of finding even the smallest shred of information about a mother he has never known failed.

Daniel Mwangi, featured in a Rock documentary film based on Psalm 40 which I coordinated with a professional film crew on the trip, told a terrifying story of the tribal violence that took place after Kenya’s last presidential election.

He was in his village hiding with his family when all the men were told not to sleep but stand guard all night. “I never have fought and I didn’t know how to use the weapons but I had to defend my family,” he said. He was loaded down with large rocks and arrows. The shouts began and the waves of attack began by trained enemies. He heard screaming as houses were looted. Then the second wave came behind to burn the homes.

Quickly Daniel thought of his father who was old, sick and unable to move. He ran to the house with some friends and carried the dad who was screaming in pain to a nearby maize field to hide him. All the time Daniel prayed for the Lord to protect his father and family. “Be very quiet my father or you will be killed,” Daniel told his father.

Then he left his father and joined the other men to defend the village. The burning and looting continued up until his father’s house then it stopped. After the intruders retreated, Daniel ran to the field to check on his father, finding him safe and unharmed. This was just one of the many miracles told by Daniel as part of the testimony of what God has done in his life.

After spending a few days in Kenya we moved on to Uganda to film John Mugowa’s testimony. As we traveled from the bustling border town of Busia, past Jinja to the small village in the middle of a sugar cane plantation, we discussed with anticipation what we would discover. John so desired to find out more about his mother and we thought if I asked some questions possibly the villagers would be able to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately we went away without the answers. No one remembered her or even her name. His grandmother didn’t even know how to find out where she was buried.

It was so sad for John and he even said, “it makes me want to cry to go back to the past but somehow it can heal when you face it.” His extended family was so happy to see him because it had been ten years since his last visit. His younger sister clung to him and it broke his heart to leave her behind. He wanted to help her so bad and promised to try to help as he could. She had no shoes and her little feet were eaten with giggers (like our chiggers). Her clothes were dirty and torn. It was a picture of what John’s life had been like before as a child and my heart really felt for him as I could no longer hold back my tears.

I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me that some people listening to us wanted to hear the Gospel. I mentioned it to John and together we shared our faith and hope in Jesus and how they could be restored also. First I shared how being “born-again” was accepting and believing that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead and all we had to do was accept what he did for us and consent to follow Him. Three older ladies agreed and I lead them in prayer as they gave their lives to Christ.

John noticed several of the children raised their hands wanting to get saved so he explained the Gospel to them. One thing impressed me about what he said: “Do not agree to do this just because of your friends doing it. Do this because it is in your heart and you are serious about Jesus.” Ten children came to him and prayed together to follow Jesus.

As I looked at their innocent little faces, their bare feet and torn clothes I knew God had amazing things ahead of them and tears of joy formed in my eyes. We didn’t find out about John’s mom but God had a different purpose for our visit. He wanted us to bless the villagers who wanted to be born again. So we were blessed beyond what we expected as we just obeyed what the Lord wanted to accomplish that day.

“This is one of the most memorable days of my life,” said a member of our film crew.

Watch for the Nov. 19 premiere of the documentary at the Hill Performance Hall at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, Texas, preceded by a free concert by Steve Green.

-- Margaret