Be Joyful Always

I met a friend today who I had not seen for eighteen years. The first time we met in 1989 she had come to Zimbabwe from America with a handful of people as missionaries. Over the years she became one of my very best friends. We studied the bible with people and watched as many people gave their lives to Christ. We fell in and out of love with various brothers lol! We forged friendships that would last a life time.

She decided to return to the USA after four years primarily because she was unwell but did not know what the problem was. Back in the States they discovered that she had Multiple Sclerosis. Over the years she lost her ability to walk and is now in a wheel chair. She faces challenges with her speech and her sight.

Seeing her and spending time with her today was incredible. The Joy that exudes from her is overwhelming. The friend i saw today is the same friend I knew all those many years ago. Her disability does not define her at all. She keeps in touch with people over the internet and has made us all come together. No one has impacted me like the way my friend impacted me today. Surely this level of joy and gratitude could not have been achieved without Christ and without the love of Christians.

I asked her how she learned to cope with her condition and she said that she is grateful for having gone through this because it has taught her compassion for others. So today I learned to be grateful for everything that I go through. I learned to be grateful for all I have and what I don't have. I learned today what the bible means when it talks about being joyful in all circumstances and also that we are over comers.

My friend once again has impacted my life and not just impacted it but changed it. Holy Father help us to have this same impact on peoples lives. Let our lives touch others not by the words we speak but by the lives we live.

He is Risen!

Around this time two years ago I climbed the Domboshava Mountains with a group of friends and I received a revelation, an understanding of the cross that I had never had. I wrote down what I had learned in a journal and continued to do that for the rest of the year every time we went up the mountain. This eventually culminated in my first book "On The Mountain".

Today I saw a copy of my book for the first time and I was overwhelmed. Overwhelmed that God could bless me with this and allow me to touch millions even billions of people with these words.

So many times I feel like I fall short and am so undeserving of God's love. Sometimes I feel like He should just forget all about me because I always mess up somewhere. Thank goodness that our salvation is not based on our worthiness but on the grace of God. I always have an image in my minds eye of God running and searching through crowds of people and then laying his eyes on me and running with open arms, sparkling eyes and wide smile. I imagine God lifting me up in his arms and saying " Tsitsi I have been looking for you. I love you!" What a welcome for someone who knows that they do not deserve it. It's the prodigal son and his father all over again.

Does that not make you want to do the right thing? Would a welcome like that not make you want to be the very best that you can be? It's the chance to start all over again. I was speaking to a friend earlier, we became friends when our children were really tiny and we were both raising them as single mothers. She went through many challenges and made many sacrifices for the kids as is expected of a mother. She was telling me how her twenty year old shouted at her about what a bad mother she is and how she does not love her. And I was like wow does she know what her mother has been through.

It's so easy to judge this twenty year old and yet many times that is how we act with God. We throw tantrums, we are willingly disobedient, we think God loves others more than us. And yet His love for us is so great. Its amazing that nothing that you can do can make him love you less. Wow.

I grew up thinking that I was not loved in my family. It's been a long road learning to get over a sense of rejection and I am still working on it on a daily basis. Many times I did not understand the sacrifices that my parents made for me. I did not understand that no matter what I did they would love me. They were the ones that would stand by me and they did. I know not everyone had that but I did but somehow it was not enough. I was always looking for something more, I thought that there was more out there. The bible says that there is no greater love that a man can have than laying down his life for a friend. My mum and dad would have laid down their lives for me just as I would do it for my children.

Jesus already did it for all of us. It's not something that we have to reminisce about He did it. He became a living sacrifice taking on all our sins and died. Not only did He die but He resurrected. He conquered death in fact he destroyed it. So now you and I can have eternal life. We will live with him for ever and ever in joy and happiness for eternity, praising God.

Thank God that He is Risen!