“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” – Revelation 21:4
31-year-old Mirembe* from Uganda has shed many lonely tears in her life.
Mirembe grew up in abusive homes. She was beaten by her stepfather and then later denied food by her cousins. As a very young girl she attempted to take her own life, desperate for relief from the pain she was in.
Things sadly didn’t improve for Mirembe as she got older. She shares, “I was forced to get married, so I dropped out of school. All in all, life has been so hard.”
Mirembe and her husband had two children together, before he chose to leave her for a younger woman.
Into these already awful circumstances, COVID arrived.
Mirembe’s husband lost his job, so while he had been paying child support, that source of money for the family quickly dried up. Mirembe was once again desperate, with no hope for the future. She slipped deeper into depression.
But thankfully, God had a plan for Mirembe… a plan that not even COVID could interrupt.
………
Before COVID, Christian Fellowship Ministries (CFM) would run large outreach events to preach the gospel. But when COVID hit and gatherings of people were banned, these events were no longer possible. Instead, they came up with a new way to reach out, through door-to-door missions.
And that’s how, in mid-2020, an evangelist from CFM named Winnie came to be at Mirembe’s door.
At that time Mirembe was unsure about God. Her mother and stepfather had called themselves Christians, but as she was abused so badly when she was a child, she had trouble really believing that God could help her in her hopelessness.
But through that first conversation, and others that followed, they struck up a friendship and Winnie began to offer Mirembe support.
So, a few months later, when Mirembe hit rock bottom, she remembered what Winnie had told her about CFM, and she decided to go to the CFM office. Where she was welcomed by Pastor Isaac (CFM’s outreach director).
“Mirembe seemed to me like one that had been rejected and with nowhere to run to because all friends and relatives had forsaken her,” remembers Pastor Isaac. “Her first statement was, ‘Pastor, I hate my life’. This was a clear indication that her life was too hard. She was not happy with whatever she was going through at all. She was in tears and in a lot of pain.”
Pastor Isaac gave Mirembe space to cry, and called in another female evangelist to offer more pastoral support to Mirembe. Then he opened the Bible with Mirembe.
“I encouraged her using the word of God. I prayed for her, led her in a prayer of confession and later sent her to fellow ladies for more counselling. During praying she was crying, after prayers while I was talking she still was crying, but after a few days of constant discipleship, she changed.”
Mirembe remembers:
“When I came I felt heavy… but after Pastor Isaac prayed for me I felt relieved and light at heart. Pastor Isaac told me that God cares about me and the same God has a better plan and loves me.”
Mirembe’s life has changed significantly since that day. She shares, “I have peace and liberty in Christ. I feel very strong and hopeful.”
CFM has not only been able to help Mirembe through leading her to Christ, but by giving her training and support to start a small tailoring business.
Pastor Isaac says, “Mirembe is now a transformed single mother. She comes to church more often and she no longer complains of the attacks she used get in her dreams. She is raising up her two daughters in the fear of the Lord. Her small business in tailoring is picking up and she is now in position to feed and support her children in school.”
Life is not perfect for Mirembe. She still faces challenges – many of them far greater than you and I will ever face. She particularly longs for her husband to come to faith as well and return to the family.
But she now says that when things get hard, “I know whom to cry to.”
As we read in Revelation 21:4, we can look forward with confidence to a time when God “will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
But in the meantime, what a blessing it is to know who we can cry out to in our pain – and to now share in that confidence with our dear sister-in-Christ Mirembe.
*Name changed to protect those we serve.