An old woman lives deep in the village in a small house. Both of her daughters, and their husbands, have died leaving her to care for five children. For the past four years, she has been scraping together whatever she can in an effort to support herself and her grandchildren.
And... she has been praying. Praying that the Lord would send help for the children.
The children call her Jaja... grandmother. She teaches them how to work hard and how to trust in the Lord. She
believes that the Lord will send help.
About a month or so ago, Joseph, one of our administrators, went out to identify children for SUUBI that were in need of help. After a very long day, and on the verge of exhaustion, he was ready to go home. Looking over his list, he realized that he had more children than we had room for in the house and justified his reasoning to go home.
But, the Spirit compelled him to make the journey deep into the village, to a place he had been told were children who needed help. There... he met Jaja and three of her five grandchildren.
Several days later, I received an email with pictures and profiles of children I was to pray over and choose to come into our SUUBI home. Over the next couple of weeks, Gary, Mindy and I, individually prayed over these children and compiled a list of twelve children that would be the first SUUBI children.
Three, of the twelve children we chose, were Jaja's grandchildren. At that time, we did not know they were related.
Today, I had the pleasure of meeting Jaja and her grandchildren. When we arrived she disappeared into her small house, only to bring out a small wooden sofa, with the help of her grandson, for us to sit on. While we were visiting with her, she told us a story.
The night before Joseph arrived at her house, to talk to her about the children, she had a dream. She said that in her dream she saw a muzungu (white person) coming to help the children. She said that in the dream she thought to herself, "Where will the muzungu sit?". She decided then to bring out the sofa when the muzungu came to visit. Today she praised God, that indeed, the muzungu came.
Once we explained what we were doing there and what SUUBI was about, she praised God for His faithfulness. She said, "I know that God has brought you here because of all the houses that were passed in order for you to come and help us."
This is what SUUBI was created for... to restore HOPE!
I cannot put into words the overwhelming, joyous, humble, feeling of being right where God had directed me to be! I will never forget Jaja's amazing love for her grandchildren and her steadfast faith in the Lord.
To HIM be the GLORY!!!
