One time I prayed about beds.
During our DTS, we were praying for outreach – the mission field ahead of us. So we took some time to listen to the Holy Spirit and pray the words He put on our hearts. I prayed for beds. I didn’t know why. And never really figured it out during DTS. But I couldn’t help but remember that when this happened…
Twenty-one year old Colani has been to the feeding programs at the Mbonisweni Evangelical Reform Church that Ten Thousand Homes works closely with once or twice, but attends the Alliance Church down the road most of the time. On a walk to the clinic one Friday, he saw flames engulfing a nearby shack. A family’s home, disappearing into vapors and ashes in moments.
My family.
Colani’s community knows pain. Mbonisweni has seen devastation and disaster time and time again. Beyond sickness, poverty and an orphan crisis, the culture has been intoxicated by deeply rooted and dangerous belief systems. Witchcraft. Ancestral worship. And the fruit of these systems -a host of broken ways of thinking and living.
But God still speaks and moves powerfully in Mbonisweni. And when God speaks and moves in a place like Mbonisweni, you can’t help but notice – and be amazed. You can’t help but believe we’re living for something bigger than ourselves.
On that Friday, God spoke to Colani. And Colani listened.
Colani’s family had just saved up and bought him his own bed. Having a bed is a big deal. Families often pile into one bed or sleep on the floor. And Colani had his own new bed.
As he breathed in the fumes of a family’s dreams disintegrating, Colani heard God’s voice telling him to give his bed to this family.
He went home and talked his parents, expressing an overflow of gratitude for giving him such an incredible treasure- his own bed. And wanting them to understand how much he appreciated it… and how compelled he was to give the gift he’d been given. Immediately, he cleared everything off and moved into his brother’s bed with him.
It wasn’t until two weeks later that we could come pick up the bed, but Colani had not spent one more night on it. It wasn’t his anymore. He knew he had heard God and chose to obey.
The family whose home burnt lost everything tangible. They had no assurance that things would be alright. But, in the middle of what looks like a disaster, God is moving. He’s moving in the hearts of the meek and mild. He’s creating Home in community. He’s meeting the needs of His children through children in need.
Colani gets it. And gives it.
It’s not about finding spare change to drop in an offering plate or finding a worthy place for whatever you decided you can do without.
It’s about living for your Home in the Kingdom of God rather than for the comforts of the things you have acquired in your house. It’s about seeing every face and every family as belonging in the Kingdom of God. It’s about hearing God and responding. It’s about moving out of your bed that day because it’s not yours anymore. It’s about believers rallying up together to love others right now with what they have. That’s what family does. That’s what Home is.
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” –John 15:12
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