One of Jan's friends who also has breast cancer has been so ill she has missed the last four meetings, and Jan felt too weak to go in the evening herself. I sat next to an older lady who kindly asked how Jan was doing. It turns out her sister died of breast cancer about ten years ago. That's two encouragements in one day!
The guy from Nigeria worked for African Enterprise - encouraging stories about what is happening to bring reconciliation to Africa. They had recently organised a mission in Nigeria, 11,000 people joining the church in just one week of mission, held in something over 700 meetings, so presumably many small house type meetings. He didn't seem to be the type to exaggerate. He had an insight to background of the political leaders around Zimbabwe which made it far easier to understand the current situation which he described as the verge of civil war. He said it was the churches bringing water and food to prison inmates nowadays in Zimbabwe, as the government don't feed their prisoners!
We joined hin in prayer afterwards for Africa. He prayed just like any UK Christian, no more tears or strange languages!
I bought two books brought by African Enterprise. One shows the amazing power of God. It deals with how God converted a freedom fighter in Zimbabwe. He was Stephen Lungu who by the age of 11 had run away, preferring life on the streets. As a teenager, he was recruited into an urban gang, the Black Shadows, which burgled and mugged with a half-focused dream of revolution. When an evangelist came to town, Stephen was sent to fire bomb the event, carrying his bag of bombs and mingling with the crowd. Instead he stayed to listen...Today, Stephen is Africa's Billy Graham, an international evangelist who regularly speaks in UK, US and Europe. I like his smile on his web page!
The book is entitled "Out of the Black Shadows: The Amazing Transformation of Stephen Lungu"
I spent the day concentrating on God rather than cancer, which maybe has somewhat overtaken me as I search for a cure. Strangely I switched tha car radio on three times that day to listen to the BBC and Premier Radio, probably totaling 7 minutes listening in all, as it is not a long drive to church. Returning from church I heard the testimony of a UK cancer sufferer who after surgery had refused further treatment, but had gone out to an African church which had prayed for his healing.......resulting in a remission of 5 years so far, or am I showing a lack of trust in God to not just call it a permanent miraculous healing. He also said he still had to almost "claim" his healing from God each day in trust, as his UK medical diagnosis had not been encouraging, and he was well aware in human terms of the dangers of remission ór return of the cancer.
I struggle. I believe God can guide by many means including chance circumstances. In the last 8 days there have been three such incidents at church,
- introduction to work of Jane Plant
- introduction to an elderly lady whose sister died of cancer 10 years ago, I am sure she could open up on their path of faith, prayer, yet eventual death.
- hearing this talk about the church and power of prayer experienced in Africa.
Yet God also calls me to a sound mind, I need to discern. I want to learn from others experience. I cannot see that God is so limited that we need to visit Africa to see his work.
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