This morning, I got to work and started my daily routine of drinking coffee and responding to emails. But when I sifted through my inbox, my heart wasn’t prepared for the email I received from Mrs. Fatima at Rose of Sharon Home in Zimbabwe. During the night, while we all slept, Rose of Sharon lost one of their baby boys due to sickness and the conflict of an economically unstable region. And with all the bad news happening right at our own doorstep, sometimes it can be simpler to dismiss the suffering happening to our Christian brothers and sisters across the world.
These are violent times. As you turn on the news, it’s plain to see the focus is on the dividing of so many nations across the world. In recent months, Zimbabwe’s government has steered the economy into a severe cash crisis. With public servants unpaid, bans on imports have pushed prices out of the ordinary Zimbabweans’ reach and reduced the quality and availability of goods.
In recent weeks, the usually peaceable Zimbabweans have begun pushing back, demonstrating in the streets and staging stay-aways. Mrs. Fatima and her staff have found themselves on house arrests to avoid the violence, with less and less access to basic human rights. Because of this, they were unable to seek the timely treatment needed to see the survival of this precious baby boy.
What do you say to a child knowing it’s going to be the last time you talk to them? The only comfort I can imagine offering both the child and myself would be the knowledge that he is going home to be with the Lord. He will no longer be hurting.
Please join us in prayer this week for the violent uprisings in Zimbabwe, and that the Lord will protect his children and keep his hand upon them during these perilous times.