Every Friday I lead a Bible study at church for the ladies/girls of our church. It is something I love to do. Yesterday we discussed Philippians 4:6-7, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
It is not easy to be a woman living in Kikamba (the slum where our church is located). Violence, divorce, hunger, sickness, drunkenness sweep through, threatening every corner. Women are often faced with a choice of selling their bodies so they can feed their family or standing alone and watching their children try to fall asleep hungry. Many of the women are illiterate. Many face violence in the home. Many watch fevers rage in their children and there is very little they can do about it. Just yesterday, when it was time to take prayer requests, we prayed for a family who almost had their 3 year old kidnapped out of their home at 2am, a family where thieves came in and used a panga to injure their cow (a financial investment and source of livelihood) to the point that the cow died, for a grandmother who is grieving because her grandsons were arrested for raping someone, two different wives who were attacked by their husbands and nearly killed, another mother whose son was severely burned and he needs treatment, two mothers who have children in prison, two mothers who have other children that refuse to obediently stay at home and many who struggle with chronic sickness and troubles. Most of the wayward children mentioned above do not have fathers in their lives. One of the women who is suffering from violence in the home has a family that won't help her at all because she is the only Christian and her family is Muslim. It's not easy to be a woman in Kikamba.
When the women arrived yesterday, they looked heavy with care. They looked tired to me. I actually wondered how Bible study would even go. Are they too tired to listen today? How will God's word speak to them today? Every word that comes out of my mouth must be translated. The frustration of the tower of Babel continues again today in this little corner of the world.
We started to talk about God's word. What can we be thankful for in the midst of all our anxieties? Then something happened that rarely happens in our Bible study...almost every lady wanted a chance to speak about something she was thankful for. Hand after hand raised up asking for a turn, mouth after mouth speaking words of praise. There it is: the Holy Spirit on the move, producing thankfulness instead of anxiety. Peace instead of worry. Peace that is deep and beyond understanding. Peace you wouldn't expect to find in a group of women from Kikamba. Peace that is found where ever Christ is found. These women have troubles almost beyond what I can even begin to wrap my mind around. But they also have Christ.
Their faces changed in that moment. I literally saw the softening, the renewing of strength, the flood of joy. The heaviness lifted and the Spirit rushed in.
"God gave me food this week."
"My neighbors stopped fighting me"
"God healed me so that I could get out of the hospital"
"I have school fees for next term."
"God brought missionaries to Uganda"
"We have a church we can go to that teaches us about God."
"Christ died on the cross for me."
We all clapped and laughed together afterward. What a friend we have in Jesus! All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer.
