Out of the Miry Clay

Trapped in a burning house with her brother, neighbors heard their screams.

Their parents had died of AIDS, and the villagers decided the house should be burned to the ground with the children inside.

If not for these neighbors, the young girl and her brother would have died. Not knowing, what to do, they carried the children to the village chief. He had compassion on the children and went to Auntie Lydia. Auntie Lydia had spent her entire teaching pension taking in children from the streets. She trusts the LORD for her needs, and He has been faithful. She took in the children.


I would be blessed to meet the young girl years later. Her name is Zwavhudi. I met her first in 2009.


While she had been sponsored to receive a Christian education at Shayandima School of Tomorrow, we would be privileged to become a part of a bigger change in her life. In 2009, she lived here:




Not alone, not uncared for, but she was lifted higher.

She now lives with a house mother, Auntie Andrea, on the mission base, and she has been forever changed. There's a greater twinkle in her eye. There's a confidence she did not have two years ago, a confidence only unconditional love can bring.


She is in the photo on the right. I count it one of the many awesome privileges of God that He allowed us to be a part of her life. We played a small part in the decision to bring children onto the mission base. We played a small part in her life when we spent time with her everyday after school while we were in South Africa.




But, my heart was touched the most as Brother Brad Palmer shared more of her story. He shared her tragic story and then told me of one afternoon when he heard her singing. She was doing her homework outside under the canopy set up for the children. He was visiting another construction project and overheard her singing. She didn't know he was listening, but he felt the Holy Spirit as she sang, "Jesus, Lover of My Soul." And, when he heard her sing, "You've taken me from the miry clay
Set my feet upon the rock and now I know..."

That song has never had the same meaning for him since. We sing it, but do we really understand the depths of our sins? Do we know as Zwavhudi does...that He has taken us from the miry clay? Are we willing to step out of our comfort zones, to sacrifice and bring others to His feet?

Jesus, lover of my soul
Jesus, I will never let you go
You've taken me from the miry clay
Set my feet upon the rock and now I know

I love You, I need You
Though my world may fall, I'll never let You go
My Savior, my closest friend
I will worship You until the very end

I love You, I need You
Though my world may fall, I'll never let You go
My Savior, my closest friend
I will worship You until the very end

Worship You, my Lord, until the very end
Worship You, my Lord, until the very end
Worship You, my Lord, until the very end
Worship You, my Lord, until the very end

It was hard to say good-bye: