The Power of Generosity by Dave Toycen

Author:Dave Toycen [Toycen, Dave]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781443431682
Publisher: HarperCollins Canada
Published: 2013-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Then Stan commented, “I may not be in your circle, but you are in mine, and there is nothing you can do to get out. You can’t resign, walk out, or run away. If you try it, I will just draw a bigger circle.”5

The tension in the room dissipated as Stan explained how God’s love draws a circle that includes the entire world, and asked how members in this smaller group could do anything less. The remainder of the conference resulted in some of the best relationship building and discussion that World Vision has ever experienced.

I have seen generosity and peacemaking join together in some of the most difficult situations imaginable. The pace can be slow and halting, yet there are dramatic examples of ordinary people who make a profound difference. Deborah Nyirakabirikira was a mother who had survived the genocide in Rwanda, Africa, in 1994. Along with the rest of her country, she was trying to put her life together again after the killing and violence. Deborah’s husband had been killed, so she relied heavily on her eleven children. One son, nineteen-year-old Innocent, was a special source of joy and satisfaction in a life that had been framed by death and disappointment.

Being a woman of deep faith, Deborah had a practice of praying every morning in the back room of her small house. In April 1997 she had been troubled by a vision that Innocent was going to be killed. Deborah felt so strongly about this devastating image that she shared it with Innocent. She recalls that they even spent time together discussing and praying about this. On a subsequent evening, after Innocent had cooked a meal for the family, some soldiers came to the door and asked for Innocent. They explained that they wanted to ask him some questions, and assured her they would not kill him.

Shortly after leaving with the soldiers Innocent returned to his mother and said to her, “Mummy, they are going to kill me.” She embraced him, but the soldiers pulled them apart, and minutes later Deborah heard the gunshots that took her son’s life. At Innocent’s funeral, she was overcome by grief and questioned how God could allow such a tragedy. In spite of her emotional and intellectual struggles, she continued her practice of prayer and meditation. On one of these occasions Deborah had a vision that showed a house built on a bridge across a deep chasm. The only way across the chasm was through this house. Below the house were these words: “The way to heaven is through the house of your enemy.”

Deborah was comforted by the people from her church, her faith in God and an overwhelming sense that something redemptive was to come from this tragedy. Some weeks later, three soldiers came to her door. Her first thought was that they had come to kill her. Then one soldier, whom she recognized from the previous visit, stepped forward and led her by the shoulder into the sitting room. He closed the door, and Deborah expected to be killed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.