Lee-Anne Lombard's Feedback from Zimbabwe Outreach

  • Lee-Anne Lombard
  • Oct 16, 2009

Going on a ”food drop” to Zimbabwe was a very last minute decision - passports had to be arranged quickly, admin, a lot of red tape, but it was well worth it as I had no idea what God was planning to impart into my life.

We were given a scripture in Jeremiah 32:38-41 which says ”They will be my people and I will be their God. I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.” Never did I think when I read this what God had in store for us. While traveling to Zim I read what Philip Yancey wrote in his book - Prayer, does it make any difference? - that ”because we live in a world of matter, most of the ways we encounter God - nature, the Bible, the Word made flesh, the sacraments, other people, the church - include materiality. God’s own state, though, God’s preferred milieu if you will, is the realm of spirit. Prayer reflects that difference between us. Although we may ask God to intervene directly, it should not surprise us if God responds in a more hidden way, in co-operation with a person’s own choice…In the normal course of providence, God works through and in creation, not despite it…We believe a prayer has been answered not because of any scientific criteria proving cause- and-effect, but because we have faith. Trusting God’s character, we can see in the relation between our prayer and an event more than a coincidence. We see a true partnership, intimate and intertwined.” How vital prayer proved to be as we encountered many situations on our trip from Hannah being bitten by a dog and having her tetanus injection done just days before, our vehicle stalling in the middle of nowhere, but managing to get back to the lodge and home again with no incident, a back actor just up the road moving ground when we were stuck and not having to stand in long queues unnecessarily…little did we know how God would answer our prayers, in ways that would leave us with mouths hanging open. These were not coincidences, but God-incidents!

Another blessing was the two families we were with. We could not have asked for two more special families to have shared this trip with! Alan always just knew what to do.

It always sounds like such a cliché, but I know that Africa has gripped my heart and soul. Connecting especially with the women and children was so special, and as I think back now even as I write this, it is my prayer for the precious country of Zimbabwe that ”…you will not lose heart. Though outwardly you are wasting away, yet inwardly you are being renewed day by day. For your light and momentary troubles are achieving for you an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So fix your eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Lee-Anne Lombard