Mama Penze's Secret

In Nabulagala Slums, I would imagine everyone is tired. Tired of living in poverty, filth and need. Hungry for more. Is there more to life? Yet Mama Penze knows a secret, the beautiful mystery of life. She sees it, feels it, breathes it.

    Paul writes in his letter to the Philippians “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4:12-13)

    What a bold statement! I know this is true as I have seen in lived out in many of the lives of my new friends. Mama Penze was a refugee who now lives in Nabulagala Slum Community. She lives in a house (two very small rooms divided by a curtain) with nine others and longs for her children to go to school. When we see or hear of situations like this, we may initially think it a very bleak and hopeless situation, and maybe even cry out to God in confusion. But there is something striking about Mama Penze’s life. It is not her troubled past, nor the challenges she presently faces. No! It is the hope that she has for an eternal future. Through trusting in Jesus, who lived, died and was raised to life, anyone can be saved from the deserved punishment and receive forgiveness and eternal life. That is hope. And that is an offer of the most intimate, satisfying and fulfilling relationship there has ever been. And that is an invite to the biggest party ever. “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 6v19). If this is false hope, there is no hope. But if it is true and firm as the Bible says, it is something that we each need to consider, because it is of huge significance.

   Mama Penze knows the secret. She believes that whatever trials she may face now it is God who gives her strength and hope. She takes refuge in the knowledge that her Saviour says “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16v33).

   She was the first and last woman I visited on community outreach. Her eagerness to read the Bible with us and her sure faith inspire and encourage me greatly. Another encouragement was the answer to prayer that the pain in her back has subsided. God is able. He can do all things and he is not absent.

   God is in Nabulagala Slums. He is in Kampala. He is in Hayes, Lincoln, Aberystwyth and the whole world. And he is Sovereign.