Hope For the Hopeless

Malawi has been such a great experience and I can’t believe we’re almost finished here. Crazy! We’ve been able to teach Bible stories and songs to the kids from the villages, we’ve taught classes at an orphanage school, and we’ve even had the opportunity to worship and hear stories from some women at the widow’s ministry.

All these things may seem like simple tasks, but they’ve all had big impacts on my life. Not only does God work when we are doing scheduled ministry, but He also works in amazing ways when we’re at home, when we’re at the market, or even while we’re driving through the villages.

I will never forget the day God broke my heart for the people of Lilongwe, Malawi. We had spent the morning at the widow’s ministry dancing, singing, and praising the Lord. It was the best! The skies started to turn gray and it began to rain outside. And when I say rain I don’t mean a little drizzle, I mean it poured like I have never seen before. After about maybe 10 minutes the streets became flooded. Our minibus pulled up around the time the rain started and we were on our way home passing through the village once more that day.

The ride earlier that day on our way to the widow’s ministry was so much different. The skies were blue, kids were outside playing, and people were out doing their daily routines. The whole village had a peaceful atmosphere. 

This scene was now replaced with children running to keep the only clothes they had dry, adults trying to move their work inside, and the streets were now transformed into rivers. I could not help but have a feeling of guilt as I watched, all this panic unfold, from the safety of the minibus. We came up to a spot in the village where a road was flooded and it was impassable so we had to just sit and wait for the rain to stop.

In this moment I truly got to take in my surroundings. I sat there as I watched this little girl shiver, soaking wet in the rain with nothing to keep her dry. She had nowhere to go because she was surrounded by roads filled with rushing waters. The only word to describe her face was hopeless. 
 

As if my heart wasn’t already broken enough, 2 little girls on the other side of the road were trying to cross the road (river). As they tried to cross they got swept away by the strong current of the waters, and at that moment my world stopped. Everyone gasped. Frozen with fear. All holding our breaths. There was nothing my team or I could do. I felt so helpless.

We all watched with extreme anticipation to see both of the girls’ fates. Luckily a man walking by jumped in to save the girls. I could breath again. The world slowly started moving back into motion. During the 10 minutes of us sitting in that place watching, observing, waiting…felt like a lifetime, and in those short 10 minutes we saw so much. 
 

So many questions filled my mind. God why are these people dealing with this? Why don’t you do something? What can we do?…I was filled with frustration, anger, sadness, and guilt. These people deal with situations like this one every day. And suddenly it hit me. The purpose of me being there in that moment of time was so God could tell me why I was even in Lilongwe. And he told me HOPE. These people need hope. Hope that they won’t have to spend an eternity in this place. Hope that they won’t have to spend days fearful of being swept away by raging rivers. God wants to use me and my team to bring hope to Lilongwe. So now instead of frustration, anger, sadness, and guilt I feel humbled, honored, and extremely blessed that God has chosen me for this mission and I fully accept with a ready and willing heart!

“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not calamity to give you a future and a hope. 

–Jeremiah 29:11