victory// week6

I think as I continue to ask God to mold my heart after his, I am feeling deeper than ever. I’m basking in the joy of the Lord at the sound of 60 kids reciting his Word. And I am despairing at the losses of others.

This past week has been a time of loss for people in Paarl. Last weekend a white Afrikaner girl died in a tragic motor accident. The car slammed into a pillar and she was killed immediately. Her death took place in the same spot where her father, a friend of the ministry, had prayed the week before against all the accidents lately that have been killing young people in Paarl. Please keep her family in your prayers.

That same weekend a shack in Paarl East, a community we work in, caught on fire next to a 3-story apartment building. The fire spread up all 3 flights, forcing people to jump out the windows, landing through the roofs of surrounding shacks, which meant unaffordable hospital visits for many. Trapped inside was a 4-year-old girl, who suffocated. In addition, there were two separate shack fires this week in Mbekweni, the other community we work in. 10 or so families lost their homes. Each week, my eyes are opened more to the realities of life here and my heart aches. God knows how many conversations we’ve had about the “unfairness” of life.

But here’s what makes this all beautiful. I was in the community center on Thursday playing with a precious 18-month-old girl and talking with her drunken unmarried mother. I sat there feeling broken for these people. But then a chorus of beautiful voices interrupted my thoughts of hopelessness. One of the girls small groups started singing, “In Jesus I am a victory.” The blood of Jesus has made each of us victories. No matter our circumstances, we will overcome. Isaiah 40:31 says, “those who wait on the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not grow weary.”

Later that day as I sat on the curb next to children eating the soup we had just passed out, I was reminded that at the end of the day, God has the victory. No matter how bleak things look, we have a hope and peace in the Lord that is unexplainable, A line of one of my favorite worship songs says, “we believe that God is bigger than the air I breathe… and God will save the day and all will say my Glorious.”

And that’s what I’m learning this week; God’s glory prevails. Amidst the depravity of this world, God is there. And day-by-day, I’m learning to sing praises of victory to my Glorious.

humbly,

jenna