Children of Ithemba, Grow
Children of Ithemba stand!
Children of Ithemba eat!
Children of Ithemba grow!
Children of Ithemba play!
Children of Ithemba learn!
Children of Ithemba blossom!
Children of Ithemba love!
Children of Ithemba be loved!
Children of Ithemba pray!
Children of Ithemba rise up!
I’m overwhelmed right now by a myriad of things that our Gracious Father is showing me. I can say this will definitely only be the first blog I write tonight/this morning. (Whatever you wanna call 4:30 am, since I haven’t been to bed yet.)
This blog is dedicated to an update about the children of the town my heart cries for. But more than that, this is about what God’s doing there and a praise for how much more is YET to come! The beginning of this blog is my prayer for each and every child that attends Ithemba. It is also what I see currently happening as God raises up His Kingdom in Jbay. I was speaking with a couple of my teammates via the internet a few days back and I asked for an update on the children, especially on Allulutho and Victor. I know that one of the benefits of me being here in the states is that I can see from the outside in, I have a different perspective now that I’m standing “a few steps back.”
I almost feel like I can’t even put all that is welling up inside of me into words. Oh how beautiful to be so overwhelmed by the work of our Father! Hearing reports of Allulutho and Victor, of things that may seem so minimal in “every day” context, I fell in love all over again with God. A God who cares for each and every child in the world. A God who sees fit to care for even the smile on the faces of children everywhere. A God that delights in the service of one to another is the same God that must smile so big when he looks down on Allulutho and Victor, when He sees the beautiful changes in them!
This was Allulutho (on the right) between October and December
This is Allulutho now!!!
In case you can’t fully grasp how BIG the difference is, for those of you will never meet this little girl let me try and put this one thing into words. I’m brought to tears now as I type this, looking at her face, her beautiful smile and the joy in her eyes. The little girl I met when I arrived in Jeffreys had such sad eyes, she stood against a wall every single day, alone. She never spoke to anyone, not even the Xhosa women. For reasons I still don’t know, she had an accident almost every single day. She held her head down in shame and refused eye contact. But the girl before you now, look at her. Stop reading for a moment and take thirty seconds and just look into her eyes.
Do you see it? Do you feel her joy? Can you see the change that radiates in her smile? God has done a good work in her! I only wish I had pictures of Victor. What I do have though, are accounts of his progress. The very first day we arrived at Ithemba Victor’s story was told. He was one of the only children whose full story they felt we needed to know. We were told that Victor suffered abuse on a regular basis, as did the other members of his family. We were told that Victor’s mother was an alcoholic. We were also given examples of the behavior we could see from him. It was said that the year before he had been in much worse condition. That after a weekend of abuse he would come in on a Monday only to act out his pain by beating his head against the wall until he bled. They said he was doing better this semester but that we would have our hands full. They weren’t exaggerating and if you’ve kept up with my blog you may remember a few tales of Victor. I saw changes when I was there but even now I’m seeing more. While my teammates say that he is still a handful, he’s doing better in class, a place he couldn’t stand to be before. He’s learning to be calm around the other children. He’s learning. That beautiful, hurt, emotionally abandoned little boy is learning and he’s growing. That is huge! That is God!
As I sit here writing this, still so moved to tears as God continues to remind me of what He’s done and what He’s doing…I’m enthralled with the love of our God!!
19Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the
Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the
Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also
does in like manner.
20For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
21“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
John 5:19-21
If God can raise from literal death whomever He pleases and from emotional death the heart of so many children, what can He not do? What thing is too small or too large for our God? Nothing! It occurs to me how easy it is to return from a mission field, a retreat, a revival with the idea that there was no fruit. How often we decide what fruit looks like! When we don’t see the results we desire maybe we decide we should’ve prayed harder or done something differently. I’m not saying sometimes that isn’t the case but, how often do we miss out on the fact that some beautiful fruit began to ripen infront of our eyes? And why? Because we were so sure we knew what it was supposed to look like?
I look at the smile on Allulutho’s face and I hear of the beginning of Victor’s journey to peace and I tell you, that is fruit too! Maybe you didn’t come back home with 1,000 souls led to Christ. Maybe you didn’t have your world turned upside down. Maybe the isles weren’t filled with every person on their knees. But maybe even five people in a remote village came to know Christ and will go on to spread the good news. Maybe that weekend retreat God spent reminding you of His truths because you’re going to need them soon when the bottom falls out. And maybe, just maybe one person came forward at the alter-call or even made a decision in their seat!
There is a change happening! There is fruit! And there will come a time when, “..EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phil 2:10-11
“..EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Amen to that! Also amen to the fact that these children are now being conditioned in the love of Christ. When God enters a person’s life, it’s all about transformation and change and He will make you into a person that you will love. I’m happy to see these 2 kids progress and now brings smiles onto their faces. Though I’m not part of the team but I do remember from your earlier blogs that these kids were troubled little ones but man, that smile alone can speak a thousand words. Awesome. Just awesome stuff from the guy upstairs :D.