Dear Friends,
Growing up in a
Christian home, going to church, attending Sunday school and as I personally
accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour I came across a lot of miracles
and faith enhancers. Always being prayerful and wanting to always being
connected to my Maker and align my life to God’s will and purpose for my
existence on earth has been my one and single most important journey. As I
reflect on various events in my life, I share today one of the most interesting
events that created new relationships, partnerships and a deeper measure
of faith and love for our Lord.
As the journey
of my life continued in 2012, I was on a path of rediscovery after some of the
most disturbing ordeals in my professional life had occurred in the 2 years
prior to 2012. In From December 2011 to January 2012 I was vigilantly praying,
seeking the face of God and praying for a more clearer picture of what He
intended me to do since the events in the two years mentioned above had left me
very confused. The Spirit of God continued to impress in my heart that I had to
work with children, youth and communities that were vulnerable and to bring
about peace, hope and encouragement through deeds and the word of God. That was
easier said than done. As I worked with close friends and the Board of Trustees
of Nhaka Foundation to model the organization and continue doing the work we
had begun in 2008, it became clearer that we had to ensure that God was at the
forefront of the work we did. Herein lay the problem. With over ten years
experience working for both local and international non profit organizations,
it was always difficult to secure funding for organizations deemed to be
religiously based or put more clearly, organizations whose leadership and way
of operation was aligned to a particular set of beliefs etc and in our case
being Christian. The more we sought funding in 2011 as a Christian organization
the more “your proposal is technically
good, solid and a clear sustainable model to implement but unfortunately….”
email rejections for funding we received. During this time I would continue
praying to God seeking a clear answer and indication that this was the way to
continue. I reached a point in December 2011 that I had had enough of these
rejections, was in a terrible mental state and was as always trying to figure
everything out, when I decided to set a challenge with my Maker to really be
sure that this was what I was supposed to be doing. One morning I decided to
ask God for a very simple thing “ if this
is what you want me to do, can you please show me through some way that there
are people out there, specifically Christians that you are raising up to
support the work we are doing and also for Christians to rise up and take our
role as Christians and support orphans, widows and those in distress.” This
became the prayer on my heart for months to come.
On the 7th
of March 2012, I was driving from Mutare, a city about 250 kilometres east of
Harare where I had gone to do a bit of research on organizations working in the
early childhood development sector. Just before I got to the junction that
leads to our home, I got a call from my friend Karl and this call led to a
chain of events that forever changed my life. He had just welcomed “a young bunch of Americans” and wanted
me to meet with them because he thought I could be of some assistance to them.
Driving to meet with them I was saying Lord I am tired I just need to rest, can
I just phone them and turn back and meet them tomorrow? No, keep driving! As I
drove I was thinking about all the things God had placed on my heart about the
work we were to do as an organization and the promises that seemed far-fetched.
Meeting with Kelsey Hare, Christie Heimbach and Daniel Vaichus was such a God
planned, organized and executed appointment. As these 3 narrated their story
and how God had told them to go to Zimbabwe because there was some work for
them I just couldn’t stop the tears streaming down my cheeks…As Kelsey and
Christie excitedly spoke about the events of the past two weeks prior to their
departure for Zimbabwe, I felt God saying to me “you wanted a confirmation? Here is your confirmation!” The rest as
they say is history.
I am writing
this blog today just to help someone out there, God does hear our prayers and
knows what we desire each and everyday. We need to be persistent in our
prayers. Like Apostle Paul said “we
should pray without ceasing”. That meeting led to us spending a busy few
days, moving them out to our house for accommodation, setting up appointments
and meetings with various non profits, showing them Harare and going to church
together. All this did not make sense to me because they arrived on a Thursday
afternoon towards end of day and on a Friday most organizations close off at
1pm so it didn’t make sense why they had chosen to arrive at that time and not
have much time to see and talk to a lot of other people. They only had Monday
as the full working day before leaving for the US on the Tuesday. I realised
months later that because it was orchestrated and planned by God, it really did
not have to make sense to my human mind. In hindsight everything started making
sense and the will of God to this day continues to be revealed. This is really just
an abridged version of this life changing experience.
Exactly a year
later Nhaka Foundation and 2 Seconds or Less (2SOL) has a remarkable relationship
based on trust, accountability, integrity and our faith in God. We are working in 2 schools now changing
the lives of hundreds of children through our programming and belief in the
Word and power of God. Though we are thousands of miles apart with our
counterparts the divine connection and link makes this distance seemingly
small. We are preparing for the third visit by Team 2SOL and proud of the
partnership that is growing.
God has been
faithful all the way since then, 90% of our current funding is coming from
Christian funders both individual and organizational. A sharp contrast to
funding experiences I have had. God must really have a funny sense of humour!
Friends,
be encouraged and may God meet you at your point of need. We pray not to obtain our
will in heaven, but to effect God’s will on earth.
Blessings,
Patrick
