The sisters of the Bujumbura church in the capital of Burundi had an amazing Women’s Day under the banner of “Spiritual Beauty”. Surrendered and faithful were suitable words to use when looking at their faces leading up to the big event. And God came through as the 17 sisters had an attendance of 159 women, by far the largest Women’s Day attendance for the Bujumbura church..jpg)
The journey to this great occasion required great faith, and the faith of the sisters was lifted a lot as they saw the power of God in action. The bumps of adversity gave way to the beauty of victory.
Bujumbura had been seeing a lot rain in the days leading up to the big day, and it was going to be very challenging for women to attend the event if it had rained on the day. The sisters prayed for weeks, begging God for a sunny day and to have 150 at the Women’s Day. God in his faithfulness made this a reality and surpassed the goal that the sisters had prayed for.
Finances and logistics were also a very big challenge that the sisters put before God. Even as Alice Kaneza, who was the treasurer of the event, prayed, though, she spoke before the occasion and said “We have prayed a lot. God has already answered most of our prayers, and even without electricity I am not going to be put down but am looking forward to a victorious afternoon.”Victory came even before the occasion began as the sisters got a phone call three hours before the event began with the good news that electricity was back.
Everything on the program was inspiring, from the praise songs to the sharing, poem, traditional dance and the moving main message, which left the women in the hall speechless as they got to know real beauty. Margaret Nguku (below right), Deaconess from the church in Nairobi, Kenya, preached powerfully about spiritual beauty.
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One of the visitors kept on crying as the message went on because she was so grateful to know that God values a pure heart. During fellowship time she shared, “I need to reorganize my life afresh as my finances and time were mostly going to false beauty, the physical one”. Diddy Akello (left), the leader of the women’s ministry in Bujumbura,had this to say: “We asked God to guide, lead and have His way with our hearts as we prepared for this day. There was a lot of repentance to do in order to become God’s useful tools. We trusted Him and I saw how we became radiant women in the process. My prayer is that we will never be the same again after experiencing the hand of God this much. I am really in awe!”
Several women’s whose first contact with the church was the Women’s Day are currently studying the bible and attending church regularly.
The sisters are praising God and echoing King David in Psalm 21:2 “… you have granted us the desire of our hearts… . “ Let us pray that the lasting impact of the Bujumbura 2010 Women’s Day will be more fruit borne, more challenges braved and more beautiful blessings blossoming. The God of the sisters of Bujumbura, who is the God of those who trust Him, is a God of amazing victory. To God be the glory.
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