when.” -Paul Simon
Life is a crazy journey and I never in a million years ever thought that I
would be in a place called Swaziland 2 months after I graduated college. I don’t think I had ever heard of Swaziland
until 7 months ago when I felt the Lord telling me to leave the country for 3
months. Then I found AIM and the
opportunity to go to Swaziland was presented. I think that is one of the reasons I decided to come here. I figured that if the Lord wanted me out of
the country, He also wanted me out of my comfort zone. This is a great place for that and to
experience God’s power.
So how have I been able to experience the power of God in Swaziland? I have many, but the number one is that love
does not have a native tongue. The
language barrier here is tough. I know 6
words and our translators are not around. However, love is what wins out.
I experienced that Thursday on my visit to the hospital in Manzini. I visit the hospital every Thursday. On my last visit, I had decided that my
ministry was going to be the men’s ward; I thought that I could go deeper with
them and enjoy conversation in English, as opposed to holding babies or talking
to the kid’s moms. Plus, most of the
group that goes likes going to the children’s ward better anyway. I thought it was only natural that I spend my
time in the men’s
We got to the men’s ward and there were 3 men, total, in places that we
could visit. 2 of them were not in the
shape for visitors and the other’s family/friends weren’t having any
conversation. We prayed over one of them
and had to leave for the children’s ward. It was oddly apparent that I wasn’t supposed to be there that day.
So here I am, in the children’s ward with no idea what to do. I played with a few babies and prayed over a
few kids, but found myself bored with about an hour left. I had no idea what I was going to do. Then I peaked my head out and all of sudden a
kid caught my eye. I grabbed Titi, our
translator, and initiated the conversation. It turns out that she was bitten by a black mamba and barely made it to
the hospital in time to survive. Crazy. I figured I would spend a
few minutes with her. I started goofing
off and making funny faces, and trying to ask questions through Titi. Eventually Titi left and it was just the
little girl and me.
I know a few songs from church, one of them is in Siswati. I spent a huge chunk of our time singing
those songs with her. I really don’t
know where the hour went, but at least half of it was spent singing the three
songs that we both knew. It was really a
blast.
I’m learning that quality time does not require quality conversation. Here I am, with no language in common and 3
songs that we both knew, spending over an hour together as our smiles widened
as our time progressed. I had love to
give and I did not have a clue how I was going to offer it in a place that I
felt unsuited for.
This shows that everywhere God presents ways to show love to others, even
in places that we feel we don’t belong or don’t even think we like. What a blessing it was to just be available
to the Lord instead of turning sour over the fact that what I wanted to do
wasn’t available. All it took was one
glance around for the Lord to point out where He wanted me to go and I just
went.
Why I don’t do this everywhere I go baffles me. It surprises me that many of us, God’s people
can make ourselves so unavailable to God in our everyday lives. Whether it is giving someone an encouraging
word or sharing Christ’s love with someone, we so often ignore the Holy
Spirit’s urging because we don’t feel comfortable. Everyone needs the love of Jesus in their
lives, and it needs to be communicated by His followers.
