I usually pop into our local post office once a week to either fetch our post, mail letters/postcards to amazing friends across the world or pay our electricity and water bill.
Kereshnee, a petite Indian woman, generally greets me with the biggest smile imaginable and her chirpiness is quite contagious.
I simply love conversing with her and sharing random stories of my expeditions. She listens with such eagerness that an underlying hunger is visible and needs to be fed. Her curiosity towards Jesus is getting deeper and deeper. Every visit I make and have the opportunity of speaking to her, the questions are getting tougher but her heart is definitely becoming softer.
Kereshnee comes from a Tamil back-ground and is in her early 30's.
On my last visit to the post office, I noticed that she wasn't there. The guy who helped me wasn't as friendly and I didn't want to ask any questions but as I walked out the post office, I had a funny feeling that something wasn't right and I needed to pray for Kereshnee.
Today, Kereshnee didn't greet me with the biggest smile imaginable and as I walked closer to the counter I looked beyond the glass divider that separated us. I could tell she wasn't well but her eyes held a deeper emotion.
I asked my favorite heart question, "How are you?" and waited. For the next 45 minutes Kereshnee shared her heart with me. She lost her brother, aged 37, to alcohol and needed to go back to Pretoria for his funeral. After 2 days she returned back home to perform religious rites for her grand-mother's 1 year ceremony.
She explained her brother's reasons for alcoholism and then went onto explaining her child-hood and her life in this current moment. She kept asking me, "Why is life so unfair?"
There is just so much pain, abuse, hardship, struggle, negativity, fear and doubt that wrestles with Kereshnee day in and day out. Behind that chirpy exterior lies a lot of hurt, hurt that only Jesus can heal and restore from her life.
I listened throughout the 45 minutes and during that time I kept praying for her heart and life. I encouraged Kereshnee with scriptures, not quoting them but speaking them into her heart and the conversation we were having, as if it were a normal conversation. I could tell that she held onto these Words, the Bread of Life. I stood humbled.
I asked if I could hug her and I could see her fighting back tears.
How many more women are there like Kereshnee? How many need the love of a Savior because mankind has destroyed them? How many more women are fighting to survive in this race of life? How many women are caught in abuse because they know no other way out, except through fists and blows that leave them bleeding and speechless? How many women are abandoned by their own families?
Before I walked out the house today, I read a powerful quote: "When love and skill work together; expect a masterpiece." I chuckled. I read that quote a year ago and it changed my outlook on one of our outreaches during MDT.
As I reflect on today and continue to pray for Kereshnee I am reminded that we just need to be a vessel of the Lord, totally willing to do as He asks, which isn't much. Like lending an ear, offering advice, smiling, conversing with those who aren't given much attention (cashier, car-guard, petrol attendant....)
It's the simplest form of evangelism I know and it's presented to us everywhere!
Be encouraged to ask Daddy how you can serve Him today and be ready for an adventure.....at the end of the day, when the sun sets, it's not about your achievements but about your attitude.
This blog isn't just another story because there's no ending to Kereshnee's story. It's life and it's reality.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
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