Embrace the Grace Ministries

God Will Never Leave You nor Forsake You

2/27/2014

We have a great testimony to share! The Lord spoke to Anita to pray over the car and be careful for accidents one morning when she was driving Bella to school. So she prayed. The next day the same thing. She prayed. On the third day the same thing and she prayed again. On the fourth day she had no urge to pray. In the morning she drove to school with Bella and her Nanny Jane in the car... Here is her account:

“I was signalling and starting to turn into the school driveway, as I hear a roaring noise from behind… A Hilux truck was coming with such a high speed from behind, trying to overtake before my turn, cut me off, and crashed into my right front side, the horrific sound of metal ripped from metal filled the cabin, as my car was slammed to the left. In front of my eyes I watched like in slow motion the truck lose control, was catapulted into the air, overturned and landed on its roof. Bodies began to fall out of the truck. Jane was screaming... Oh No! It looked horrible, not like it could be possible for any of the passengers to survive... Jane and I begin to pray loud in the Spirit. Chaos evolved, as many people emerged from the bush, screaming, blocking the road, pointing fingers, accusing me to be guilty, a dangerous moment! I was still holding the steering wheel with white knuckles, praying. Like an angel, a witness on a bicycle appeared and said: “Madam I saw everything, it was not your fault” Thank God! Finally, the police arrived and the chaos lifted. Gladly Bella, Jane and I were not hurt, nor was anyone in the other vehicle. Later I learned there were illegally 11 passengers in the Hilux, and the man driving the truck was ironically from Road Safety Division! As I looked in his eyes at the police station, I saw he did not show a care in the world... Heiko and I prayed with him right there and then for forgiveness...”

On the ride home the nanny Jane told Anita about the dream she had: She said she dreamt of Anita, Bella and herself driving to school and suddenly the car turned the colour black and she got fearful of the car falling in a ditch, but as they drove on there was a white small bridge in front of them, but it was too small to fit the car on. Suddenly, the car turned bright white and somehow made it to safety across the small narrow bridge. She awoke from the dream and for the next 3 days went into the bush in the mornings to pray before she came to work. On the fourth day, the day of the accident, like Anita, she didn’t feel the need to pray. She said she now knew why she had the dream, it was God to warn her so she could pray - and there is power in prayer!

God will never leave us nor forsake us. He is our shield and our deliverer. He will show us great things in advance if we seek Him. His sheep know His voice and He is always with us to bring us only good and not harm. He is a loving Father and knows every hair on our heads. The Lord has a purpose and a plan for your life and as you follow it, no weapon or fiery darts from the enemy can prosper. We are so thankful to Jesus that we can walk with Him and always be in the presence of our Heavenly Father and how much His love for us is able to keep us safe from all harm...

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Let the Children Come

3/16/2013

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The rain poured through Livingstone with fierce determination. We began to pray for it to stop at around 5pm. This was our first night to show the Jesus movie for children in Ngwenya. The rain wouldn’t let up. At 6pm it finally died down. We drove to the compound praying it was finished for the night so our movie could progress. As we drove, amongst the clouds, a glimpse of a rainbow appeared as if just for us to see. It hung in the sky beaming its glorious colours amongst the grey sky, as if to say as a reminder…”My promise to you…” Heiko and I both spoke the scripture in unison…as Jesus said, ”Let the little children come onto me.”

We arrive in the compound, park the car and are greeted by a dozen little hands reaching to help us carry our equipment. We set up under Peters giant Baobab tree and Jane disappears to gather the children from the streets. The children begin to flock in and sit on a tarp and mealy bags we laid out. I go in search of Jane and tell her to get more children. We begin to walk the streets and call out to the mothers for their children to come. The children come carrying babies on their hips. As I return back to the tree the children are shouting "lift Jesus higher, lower satan lower" and more are coming to the sound.

Darkness is filling the sky and we are all set up for our first premier. Our excitement resembles the children in front of us, beaming with expectation for something great. They all sit down, all are silent, we hit play on our mini, but powerful projector. The story begins. The life of Jesus told through the eyes of children. As He grows in stature their understanding and excitement grows. Then His crucifixion is shown. The children gasp as well as their parents sitting next to us, no one moves their eyes from the screen. His body is placed behind the stone and three days later…alive once more! The movie finishes and the children surround us in the dark. Only the outlines of their little bodies and the glistening of sweat can be seen in the moonlight. I stand to speak into the darkness and explain how Christ died for each one of them. I ask who wants Jesus to forgive them for the bad things they have done or thought about doing…they all stand. One hundred little bodies etched out in the moonlight. Then the children come forth to be prayed for individually and anointed with oil. We pray a mothers and fathers blessing over each one and they run off giggling into the darkness back to their homes.

The darkness may have surrounded them, hiding their faces, but Father God knows each one by name, and saw their willingness for Jesus to enter. They now carry a light in their hearts that no darkness can extinguish. John1.4

This night will not be forgotten, it was written on their tiny little hearts for their lifetime and eternity, as well as ours.

We dedicated this night to our dear friend Imogene New, one of the greatest evangelists we know. Because of her passion and provision may the multitudes be saved throughout Africa. We love you!

Heiko, Anita & Bella

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How do you explain God's love to an orphan in Africa

1/28/2012

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Here we sit in a bible school class room on Christmas day. The sun is pounding down on the corrugated tin roof above, nearly 102 degrees of pure African heat with 30 little faces shining up at us from around a table where a Christmas tree sits surrounded by 30 presents.

The ice cream is scooped out, melting before it can get to the receivers little hand. No one, no sibling, no other child, no hungry elder will rob them of their blessing, because here they are safe! And then it happens, for a brief moment, when the world completely stops, when circumstances and challenges of life are suddenly put to the sideline, for a moment of complete and utter bliss. It is the moment of the very first lick of an ice cream cone in a six year olds hand…the all consuming aroma of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, the cold cream dripping down their little chins. A giggle takes hold and the world seems a bit brighter as the children’s eyes widen in pleasant excitement for this new embarked on experience, of yes, merely ice cream.

As they giggle down their first cone we share with them the reason for the season, God’s shining light into the world, our Lord Jesus Christ. A very small child in tattered clothes gazes up as she holds her tiny one year old sister on her hip, listening to the story, trying to understand this love we talk about. My world stops for a moment as I look at her and think to myself, as I hold my own daughter, where is her mother and isn’t she wondering where her babies are and if they are alright? My heart just breaks. These children live in complete poverty, daily hunger, and lack of basic needs, trust, and even parental love. So how do we explain to these children what God’s love is like? “God’s love tastes like that ice cream cone,” and their tiny eyes widen, “it is delicious and refreshing, it brings hope and excitement for more to come, it is sweet and there is always enough for everyone.”

Then we watch as the children are handed a gift, their first toy, their eyes light up brightly as they open their very first toy truck or Barbie doll. They quickly open it and stuff it in their little paper bag they had been given with goodies, so no one else will grab it. “God’s love is abundantly more than we could ever hope or imagine and he has not forgotten a single one of you. Jesus came so you may have hope and light in your darkness, so no matter what your circumstance you will know He is there for you” we tell them, as their tiny faces light up with unspeakable joy. “God’s love is abundantly more than we could have imagined, just like this day for you, and just like the day when He sent His only Son to die on a cross and be raised back to life so that each one of you could have the gift of eternal life and a new hope for your future and your very own light shining in your hearts to light your way.”

Christ commanded us to go into all the world and share the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have been deeply humbled to see those He has placed before us and we stand astonished at the great Love He has for each one of us, not forgetting a single one, no matter how far hidden away we may seem on this vast earth. He sent a saviour to be a light into every corner and crevice of this dark world.

May we encourage you this New Year to shine His light into someone’s darkness. You are not called according to your qualifications, but according to your willingness to go wherever and to whomever He sends you to. So we encourage you to be a part of this great commission and watch as God fulfils His purpose on this earth to bring His children back into fellowship with Himself while you discover the same deeper love that He has for you.

Heiko and I would like to thank the German couple for their generous gift sent to us for these children this Christmas and say what a blessing it was to be your hands and feet and deliver this message. Thank You and God Bless!

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Living Stones

1/1/2012

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About a 20 minute drive from our house is a place called Ngwenya Compound. Many local people I know live in this community of small cement houses, or should I say tiny rooms, with no electricity, no running water, and no sewage system. This is city living verses the poverty of the village where many of them had come from. Just in their backyard is the place many of the people here go each day to try and make a living, or just enough money to buy a small bit of food to keep alive. It is a shocking place that haunts my mind and each time I visit here breaks my heart. It is the rock quarry, this massive landscape of rock and water that spans as far as the eye can see.

As I pull in and find a small open space where piles of crushed rock do not yet
encompass, I see dozens of children running towards me screaming “mazungu”, the local word for white person. I bring my visitors here with me to experience another part of our world that words alone could not explain, a place that reminds us of the solemn truth that the majority of the world resides in
conditions like this, while we are the exception in our western world and
mind-sets. I jokingly point to my visitor and chant along with the children
“mazungu, mazungu” as the locals look at me and break into laughter.

Today the quarry has shifted from the last time I was here. The pile of stones my local friend breaks has shifted to another location to move along with the receding rock as it is chipped away by the men. The women sit in the blazing sun and heat from early morning until the end of the long day, on top of their pile of stone that they have been pounding by hand with only a small tool carved from the rock. Their new born babies lie on some clear ground next to the rock while their other small children run around and play with friends. Their hands are hard, callused, and aged from the years of pounding this stone and many are only in their early twenties. The corporate pounding of stone echoes through the quarry like a choir chanting of how hard this life is with little hope of a different future. The children are raised to see this as the only way of life, preparing them for their turn to inherit the pile of stone and area in the quarry where their family sits. The family patiently wait for a buyer to pull up in their vehicle and load a wheel barrel of stones for just $1.50, while dozens of people quarrel as to whose pile will be bought this day. This is a hard life, one not many can imagine.

But then there was a saviour… threatened to be beaten with stones similar to the ones the women break here at the quarry, for claiming he was the Son of God, fully man and fully God dwelling in our midst. He built a spiritual kingdom established by His word and called us to be living stones in His temple, the body of Christ. As I look upon the piles of rock and desperation I am reminded that we are the living stones. Our identity is not the pile of rock we sit on, it is in Christ Jesus, this identity and truth that over rides the hopelessness of our physical circumstances and momentary afflictions and guides us off the pile of our rock onto a new hope, destination, and destiny.

So today may you be encouraged to stand up from the middle of our circumstance, take your cross, and follow Christ. For He is our only Hope in this world, He is the only one who can turn our lives on top of the piles of rock into a living stone…a life of beautiful miracles, signs, and wonders for all to see and be encouraged. He is the only one who can teach us a better way to go and provide EVERYTHING we need to get there, regardless of even the most impoverished, impossible circumstances, if we choose to believe, receive, and actively follow Him.

“You are coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple… And YOU are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple" 1 Peter 2:4-5

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God Will Never Leave You nor Forsake You

Let the Children Come

How do you explain God's love to an orphan in Africa

Living Stones

Anita In Africa

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