Nameless and Faceless?

“I am either going to make it or die! I am through with poverty! It will not shackle me or my child any longer. We are going to make it through this!” Words of a young Zimbabwean mother who has lived in South Africa for six years. Being a refugee does not put you at the top of the food chain for jobs in this country. In fact, it slates you for the mundane and usually lowest paying jobs.

Laura met Natasha at a women’s shelter, St. Anne’s, in Woodstock, South Africa; just outside the city bowl district of Cape Town. Tacu, her son, was a newborn then. Laura wanted to pray for mother and baby and that was the spark that ignited a long term relationship whereby the word of God was put into action.

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
James 1:2-4 (NASB)
That’s what Blood N Fire, RSA had been charged to do at the outset of their moving to Cape Town. And Laura was merely passing it on to Natasha. Through friendship and prayer Natasha got to know the rest of the Blood N Fire family and to watch as they daily walked out the life God had set before them in Cape Town.
They hadn’t come as wealthy whites who could support themselves. They had come as the Lord had led them, obeying Him and trusting in Him for everything, even their daily bread. Whenever Natasha had a need, they all prayed for her need and helped as best they could. When she couldn’t pay her rent, they gave what they had to help. When she was robbed they did what they could to help her climb back out of the darkness of debt- through giving a cell phone to taking up offerings and wisdom to open a checking account where cash was not so easily stolen from her. Natasha always had big dreams, dreams of owning her own restaurant one day. When her last job ended for the season Natasha decided to start making take away food that could be sold quick and easy. She began to develop a client base who would call for delivery of sandwiches, cake and tea for lunch and Natasha was always ready to deliver. Then her landlord told her she couldn’t cook in her rented flat commercially anymore. For a few weeks she had nothing. Then she looked to move into another flat, but it was the same story. No one wanted her to cook for pay, fearing a fire. Hence Natasha’s desperate statement about poverty.
She decided to go for it! She started looking for rental space for a restaurant or a place where she could at least operate as a kitchen take away. That’s when Laura said, ‘why not start your restaurant?’ And the game was on! All of Blood N Fire were determined to hold Natasha accountable. Did God not say He knew the plans He had for her? Plans to prosper her and not to harm her? So they dug deep, giving towards the first and last month’s rent that would be down payment to secure a monthly rental for what has now become known as: The Fountainview Café!
We are so proud of Natasha! She dared to believe and God has come through for her! She hasn’t been able to buy a car or move from her rented flat. But she is able to run her own place, even employ several people and still give away to the poor- becoming the testimony God spoke through Isaiah 61! The day our friends gathered at the Fountainview Cafe this prophecy was spoken: "Be still and know that I am God. And out of that stillness will come energy to do the things I have for you to do, my Power and Authority will come forth from that place of stillness and those who behold it will be amazed."

Another testimony of faith is Christina Killian. We met Christina through another pastor, her son Mark. Christina is a 73 year old powerhouse! She is up every morning with the birds preparing food for the children of her community who go to school without food in their tummies. She not only prepares this food, but she is responsible for the donation of all of it so these kids don’t have to start their day without anything. She has even gone to the more affluent school on the other side of town and asked the parents to send sandwiches with their children that will feed the poor children in Retreat. Christina feels life is just beginning. The newspapers say she would shame even a teenager with her energy and passion and we have witnessed it ourselves! Christina is a ‘colored’ woman, formerly displaced from District Six. But she didn’t let bitterness get the better of her life or her children’s lives. Just a few years ago she stood on a corner praying with white and black South Africans, a former Muslim,Africans and Americans. She confessed her unforgiveness for what the apartheid government had done to her family and she forgave. Falling to her knees, she wept and asked the Lord to forgive her for holding anger in her heart against those who had taken everything away from her. She is one of the nameless, faceless of Africa that God is using to transform the world and establish His Kingdom!
These two are just a few of many God is moving through. All that’s required is faith and trust that God will do it! Through you and to you! He is so faithful!
Since returning from Rwanda I have been ill and unable to go to the market to see the other ladies like Natasha and Christina who are believing for a new life here in South Africa. They have so little and yet, they met Tuesday to pray for me. And today, they called me from one cell phone to let me know how much they loved me. That’s the kind of love God is moving around the world. Let Him send you some or send you to give some! These ladies don’t have money to talk on cell phones yet they know very well the power of extravagant giving, and they always give their best! I pray if you should come to visit them or some in another country you will “see” them with God’s eyes! They are so very precious! Often I sit with them in their vending stalls as they wait for clients to come and buy. Right now is particularly hard as it has been winter, not many tourists come to buy in the winter. But they manage to get by somehow, God bless them! Please, I implore you, be good to them. Look at them like Peter and John did the cripple at the Gate Beautiful and give them something you do not have! I guarantee you will get something back that you never dreamed was possible, even if God told you!