Dear Friends,

It is a joy to be writing to you again. I was reading Psalm 139 the other day and I would like to share a few thoughts with you. I pray that they would be useful to you. Psalm 139 teaches us that all our thoughts are an open book to God and that, like every good shepherd, His eyes are wide open to all of our struggles. (Ps 139: 23-24 – Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.)

He observes us unceasingly and there is not a painful emotion we experience that escapes His watchful eyes. (Ps 139 v 2 – You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.) He is fully acquainted with all the pressures that we are under and understands what we are going through when stresses mount up. God wants to use the pressure to work in us what is pleasing in His sight. It may be interpersonal skills that we painfully need to work on, or dealing with frustrations without exploding. We each know our weak points where we need God’s forgiveness and grace.

Can you imagine what it would be like if God took His eyes off you for a brief moment? Just how terrible it would be and what absolute havoc Satan could wreak if he wasn’t on a tight leash held by Jesus Christ. No! while Jesus is in charge and is praying for us, we have His grace available to us all the time! In Psalm 139 He promises to be with us wherever we may be, whether it’s where we are right now or ‘on the far side of the sea’ (which is where I am!). Let us be grateful, realising that God’s thoughts towards us are always tender, loving, wise and prudent (verse 17).That they bring countless benefits to us (verses 5 and 6). We read in verse 12 that ‘even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.’ What a wonderful reassurance for us to know that no matter what burdens we are carrying or how much we are struggling, the darkness of the situation is as light to Him – He sees us and is with us in it. We simply need to offer it up to Him in prayer and ask for His light to shine into the situation.

In conclusion let’s look at God’s promise to His people through Jeremiah the prophet. Jeremiah 32:40 – I will make an everlasting covenant with them (God’s rebellious people): I will never stop doing good to them and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me.

May you be encouraged as you start a new school term by the certainty that God created you and formed you and He will never let you out of His sight. He is with you and longs for you to walk in the light of His presence each and every day.

How do we navigate life’s curve balls? 

I would like to propose that we – PAUSE

P – pray. 

Communicate with God and to God. Talk to Him. Let it all out. Take a minute or two or three to sit in silence. We live in a rushed world where everything is hurried. If we are not careful, we will lose balance and lose ourselves in the noise. What if we all purposed to create moments of silence in our daily spaces? Moments of just sitting still and communing with God in prayer. I exhort you and I to try that and as the Bible assures us, the peace of God will envelop us. I have learnt over the years that prayer doesn’t only have to happen in confined spaces like the house. Anytime and any space is prayer time!

A – affirm yourself and those around you. 

No one adequately prepares for life’s curve balls. It could be a major illness, life-changing surgery, loss of financial freedom, a rift in a relationship or loss of a loved one. All these challenges throw one into a quagmire and are blows to one’s peace and comfort. I would like to encourage us to pause and affirm one another when these moments besiege us, it is life and there is no telling when a tragedy might befall one. May the promises of God, who He is and what He says in His Word be where we draw our affirmations from.

U – unpack. 

No man is an island. Two are indeed better than one. We are by nature social beings. At times we get so busy that we isolate our loved ones which causes strain to relationships and friendships built over years. As we pause, let us reflect on how we can have social “unpack” moments with our loved ones. Emotions well up on the inside of us and if buried in our hearts, they will eat us up on the inside. Communication is therapeutic whilst bottling up emotions is detrimental to one’s health. Unpacking to loved one’s is a healthy way of pausing, let us try it.

S – sing.

Yes, you heard that right, sing unto the Lord. Making melodies to the Lord, heals and soothes a broken and contrite spirit. You might think that you croak more than sing, ha ha, that is still perfectly fine. The Maker sees our hearts and as we intentionally praise and worship Him, we connect with Him in ways that we would have never imagined. It is never about whether we feel like singing at that particular time but it is about seeking a meaningful connection with God. Feeling like you are in the doldrums…create an atmosphere of worship and see what the Lord will do for you and in you.

E – exhale. 

How does one exhale when pressures are piling up, bills need to be paid, family and work demands? We can exhale by being kinder to ourselves for the small wins. I enjoy writing down small goals for the day, a night or two nights in advance. Working purposefully and achieving those small goals is a little win which deserves to be celebrated. I get satisfaction by crossing out what I have done and realigning where I need to. These little moments of small wins are exhaling moments. Give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve it.

So as you go about your daily business and navigate life’s challenges, remember to PAUSE. The storm won’t last forever so do not lose yourself in it.

Dear Colleagues,

The issue of obtaining God’s guidance has vexed Christians for as long as there’s been a Bible over which we argue, discuss and defend our cause with the passion of knights on a pilgrimage! 

Take Abraham as an example of someone who followed God’s guidance whatever. He was promised by God that he would be the father of many nations, that his descendants would exceed the number of grains of sand on the seashore. Then Abraham was told by God to sacrifice his son, his one and only son. That must have caused Abraham to have sleepless nights while his mind refused to settle and surrender to sleep. How did Abraham reconcile these seemingly irreconcilable differences? On the one hand God had given him a promise to give him a son and that through this son his descendants would be too many to count in many lifetimes. Then Abraham was told by the same God to sacrifice that son.

Abraham must have thought that the only conceivable way for God to keep His promise would be for Him to raise his son, Isaac, back to life after he had been sacrificed! After all is anything too hard for God? Consider Jesus who, with those unforgettable words, “Lazarus come out”, raised a man from the dead. Some scholars have suggested that Jesus specifically said Lazarus’ name to make sure that all the graves in the immediate vicinity would not also give up their dead on hearing His command. 

In seeking God’s guidance God will often test us but we need to hold on to the fact that Jesus loves us. He takes hold of our hands and says to us, “I’ll keep you and make you to be a light for the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:6). Later in the same chapter, God says, “I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” (Isaiah 42:16). Often God guides us along unfamiliar paths and many times we can’t see the way ahead – we’re like blind people being led by a seeing-eye dog. Just as the blind person has to learn to trust their dog to know better than they do what lies in their path, so we need to trust our loving, all-wise God to know when there’s danger ahead and to keep us from falling into any ‘pits’ along the way. It’s very reassuring to read in this verse that God will never abandon us on the way. He is totally committed to us. Abraham trusted God’s Word and obeyed Him even when it didn’t make sense.

As we step out into 2025 and all that is unknown to us, remember that, “we are God ’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2 : 10) Allow Him to lead you in the right path so that you can discover and do whatever it is that He planned for you before you were even born. He can see what lies ahead and He has promised to lead you and turn the darkness into light before you and make the rough places smooth. These are precious promises indeed for a new year!

Written By:

K.M. RICQUEBOURG

PSI ZIMBABWE CO-ORDINATOR

Dear Colleagues, 

He was my soccer coach, my swimming coach, my mentor, role model, and most importantly, he was my Grade 6 teacher. I don’t think he was a Christian but then neither was I. He had a love for young people and a deep desire to impact them for the good! I was one of a group that used to hang onto every word he said. I can remember how I used to look forward to getting my end of term report from him simply because it mattered to me what he thought of me! His comments were incisive and invariably accurate – he seemed to know what we were thinking about and whether this was good for us in the long run – he was not afraid to call a spade a spade! My parents recognised the value of having someone like him in my life. If they threatened me with a visit to Mr.W. I would modify my behaviour quickly and do whatever it took to avoid the latter! Such is the power of a good mentor! 

A few years after Gateway Primary School started I was sitting in my office finishing off some things that I had to do before the next day, the secretaries had gone home and the school was quiet. I heard footprints coming towards my office, a head popped round the corner and there was Mr. W. as large as life! 

He happened to be in the area and had heard that I was the Headmaster of a new school and decided to see if he could catch me before I went home. We chatted together for a while catching up on the many years that had elapsed since our last meeting. He was about to leave the country for the UK. That was the last time I saw him. 

In my school days teachers of his calibre were rare, and to think that I just took his influence for granted! I wish I could see him again for five minutes to thank him for the impact that he had in my life! Is there a teacher in your life who has helped you to become the person that you are today – a Mr Fish or a Mrs Betani? Why don’t you write them a note or email them to thank them for being the people that they are/were and for being the positive influence that they have been in your life! 

If you are currently teaching in a school, pause and reflect on the positive impact you are having or should be having on the pupils you teach or coach. As Christian teachers we have a God-given opportunity to make a difference in these young lives, for eternity. Don’t let us waste one precious moment. As C.T. Studd said, ‘Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.’ 

K.M. Ricquebourg 

Dear Colleagues, 

I wonder if you have ever been in a situation where you get bad news followed by worse news, much like Job experienced losing his livestock, servants, his children and then his health in quick succession! 

Of the “righteous man”, Psalm 112 has the following to say: “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.” Easy to say or write but a very different matter to do! 

Jairus , the ruler of the synagogue has much to teach us when it comes to having faith in tough times! 

We read in Mark’s gospel that his daughter was sick to the point of death. Despite the cynicism and out-right hostility that many of his colleagues displayed towards Jesus, Jairus was amazed by this man who could calm storms, command evil spirits to leave people and heal diseases. Finding Jesus was no problem as His exploits were on the lips of everyone. When Jairus found Jesus returning from the region of the Gerasenes, He was, as usual, surrounded by a vast throng. Not put off by this, he ran to Jesus, fell on his knees and pleaded with Him. He cuts to the chase immediately – “My little daughter is dying. Please, put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live”. Despite the demands of the crowd with its press-ing needy people we read of Jesus’s response to Jairus: “So Jesus went with him.” 

What do we learn from this? 

Firstly, we do not get the impression that Jesus felt interrupted. Taking care of Jairus’s daughter was part of His agenda for that day. Growing the faith of Jairus was also part of that agenda, as we can see from the events which followed. A lady, who had been haemorrhaging for 12 years and who was at her wits end, touched his garment and immediately brought proceedings to a halt. With no sense of rush or urgen-cy, Jesus, gave His undivided attention to another individual! We can just imagine how Jairus must have felt at this stage. When he left his daughter she was almost dead. And now this delay would surely prove very costly to him. As if to confirm his feelings some men from his house arrived and told him, “Your daughter is dead, why bother the teacher anymore?” From a bad situation Jairus’s problem has just moved to worst-case scenario. His daughter had died! If we were reading the account for the first time we would probably feel the same – it’s too late to fix this! I find what happens next most instructive. The narrative, instead of switching to Jairus, keeps its focus on Jesus and what Jesus does in this clash be-tween light and darkness. “Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, ‘Don’t be afraid; just believe.’” 

There is much bad news out there today, right now, inviting us to believe it. It’s on our phones, in the newspapers we read, on the lips of our friends, on countless screens – everywhere! And what is its mes-sage? It is simple. 

There is No Hope… No hope… No hope… No hope! 

What is the solution: IGNORE THESE MESSAGES! TAKE GOD’S WORD AT FACE VALUE! TRUST WHAT HE SAYS,“DON’T BE AFRAID; JUST BELIEVE” 

Scripture says that we are transformed “by the renewing of our minds.” This is so important we need to pause for a few moments and ask ourselves if the problems we have living in this country at this time in our history are because we have let them enter our minds and rob us of our peace?! 

The solution is to believe God’s Word instead of our feelings. We may feel very afraid or discouraged, but the truth is that God is with us and He is sovereign over the affairs of men, and He has told us not to be afraid. Which are we going to listen to – the feelings or the Word 

K.M. Ricquebourg 

ACSI Zimbabwe Coordinator