Sowing

Two weeks ago she was thrown out of her home.

Her husband had taken the children and gone to the village - disgusted that she kept falling sick. His own HIV status did not seem to matter. She had then gone to stay with her mother and father.

The scene did not improve much. Her brother and sister-in-law were so upset with her and afraid that she would infect their small children that they moved out. Her father was enraged and kicked her and her mother out of the home. He is a notorious drunkard.

The mother and sick daughter spent the night with neighbours. The rains had just started pouring in buckets. She kept getting diarrhoea.

When they came the next day to us it all seemed so hopeless.

We pondered finding a shelter. Looking for a church to put her up. We talked with her and her mother about the options. They decided that her mother would look for a roomfor them both to stay in for some months and try to be reconciled with the family.

We prayed with them.

Flash forward to today.

She is still sick. Yesterday night we admitted her at the JSK centre for in-patient care.

But things have changed at home. Her father is looking after her with love - she says.

How is it possible for the human heart to change? How are forgiveness and reconcilliation still alive in such harsh times?

We will find a full and complete cure for HIV one of these days. It is just a matter of time. There will be a set of medications to fully and completely treat the virus.

But for the broken heart? The greatest miracle is when a crooked hateful heart is changed. When a person forgives. When a wrong is righted. Not possible alone, but oh-so-possible with help from our loving Father.

We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the ground,
But it is God who waters, by His almighty hand...