MUMA SAL
PART 1 of 2 parts
As a child in Rhodesia [Zimbabwe] my tummy was often anxious walking home after school, especially if I had a friend with me. If my Mum's bedroom curtains were closed, I knew she would be drunk. I would then stay outside with my friend in case my Mum walked out. Also I had lots of fear as the men in our town had to take turns standing on the street corners at night with batons, as we were warned there was to be what was called "the night of the long knives". We were all to be killed in our beds. To make matters worse we had refugees in our school classes from the Belgium Congo [Democratic Republic of the Congo] They had been forced to escape because of the atrocities there. I lived in so much fear and my stomach was constantly in knots. As a little girl my Mum often had to pick me up from school as I had wet myself with fear. I had a sewing teacher who would wrap me over my knuckles as my sewing was not good enough, and as a result I still hate sewing to this day.
When I was 5 we moved to live in a hotel where my Mum was the storekeeper, my Dad a barman and my older sister the receptionist. It was a wonderful place to live and we met many interesting people. The hotel was attached to the movie theater so we could go free to the movies every Saturday. After the movie we would all gather in the courtyard of the hotel as kids, and re-enact the movie. It was such fun and I still love movies.
Some of my favourite times were when we went camping. We had a huge tent that would fit 4 families. We didn't swim in the river often as there were crocodiles and hippos in the water, however there was one pool there where we could swim. One day as I walked past a tree a boomslang snake [highly venomous] fell next to me. If it had fallen on my head I would have died as its bite is lethal. God was looking after me even then.
When I was 10 we moved to Salisbury another town in Zimbabwe. I made 2 really good friends there, and my one friend Gail and I decided all on our own one day, to go to church. We rode our bikes to a little Anglican church and weeks later we were confirmed. At the lunch after confirmation, I noticed the Bishop only spoke to the well off children. I never returned. Even then I was quite discerning.
When I was 16, I was invited to a party. I met a man there who was in the airforce. He asked me out on a date. I was so shy and didn't know much in those days. He took me to a Chinese restaurant and I ordered duck which had a bone in it. I was too embarrassed to take the bone out of my mouth in front of him, so sat through dinner with this bone in my mouth, until I went to the toilet where it was quickly removed. After that we went to a nightclub and while I was dancing with him, a girl came up to me and told me to go to the toilet. I had borrowed my sisters white dress and my period had arrived making a big red patch on the back. I didn't have a cardigan or anything to use to hide it, so I went up to him and asked him to please take me home. He obviously had seen it! When I got home I just burst into tears and thought I would never see him again. But the next day he rang me up and we dated for 2 years. I was madly in love with him and when he broke up with me, I was absolutely heartbroken. His parents didn't think I was good enough for him as my parents weren't wealthy. Once again!
When I was 18 my parents separated and my Mum and I moved to South Africa. I got a job at Barclays bank. I was broke as I was providing food and cigarettes for my Mum. I couldn't afford to buy lunch and was always so hungry. I worked with a lovely older woman, a spinster who thought of me as a grand daughter. She used to peel her apples at lunch and one day she caught me eating her apple peel. From that day on she brought me lunch. One of the guys I worked with asked me to go to Mozambique on holiday with him and I fell pregnant soon after and had to tell my boss. He was so lovely and called the staff in one by one, and told them to be nice to me. When I gave birth to my daughter I was only allowed family as visitors, and I was also put in a ward away from the married Mums. It was such a shame in those days to be an unmarried Mum. By then my baby's Dad had gone back to Australia and although he had asked me to marry him and go back to Australia with him, I didnt want to, or move away from my family. It was ironic as the following year I did marry and move to New Zealand with my husband.
When I gave birth to my daughter, I wanted her to have a better life than me and I began searching. A Doctor told me I would be cruel to keep her as she would never amount to anything with a solo Mum. There was no way I was giving away my daughter. Now she is deputy principal of a prominent girls school in Auckland. She has done well. I met another man, fell in love, married and sailed to New Zealand. Its a wonder the ship didn't sink with all my tears at leaving my family and country! My sister who was not a Christian at that time, gave me a living Bible as a present. I read it cover to cover on the three week voyage. God was wooing me.
MUMA SAL
PART 2 of 2 parts
"After my husband, my daughter and I arrived in New Zealand I went into a deep depression. No email or Whatsapp in those days, only snail mail and I could only afford to ring home once a year. It was 9 years before I saw my family again. As well as reading the Bible I picked up a 'Plain Truth' magazine, a cult magazine but with good articles on nutrition and end times. One of their members was going to pick me up and take me to a meeting one day but once again God saved me as it was the same day as the Santa parade and my husband wanted to take me and my daughter to that. I was still very depressed and couldn't even eat and went down several sizes in clothes. We lived in these awful flats with no outside area and one day in my desperation, I knocked on my neighbours door and asked her if she believed in Jesus. She said she did and took me to her church that Sunday. When the Pastor gave the altar call I literally ran to the front, I was so desperate to find Jesus. I was Baptised in the Holy Spirit that same night and a few weeks later, was Baptised in water. My life went from dark to light in an instant. I literally felt a burden fall off my shoulders. All my depression was lifted off. My husband was so good as he would drive me to church every Sunday and wait in the car. He could see the good it was doing me. Naughty man never came to the Lord till his deathbed (see testimony tingle posted 30/03). One of the ladies told me there was a little church just around the corner from my home, which I began attending so my husband didn't need to take me. It was a church full of mainly older saints, mostly women who were amazing prayer warriors. They would 'tarry' in prayer until their prayers were answered. I was finding it hard to conceive but they prayed until I did. The Lord told me, 'this time next year you will have a son'. And I did. Then three years after the birth of my second child, I gave birth to another precious daughter.
When I was in my late 40s I woke up one morning not feeling well and finding it hard to walk. A couple of days later my daughter came to visit and immediately took me to the hospital. I was admitted to a ward as the Doctor realised I had GBS [Guillain-Barre Syndrome a rare neurological disorder when the body's immune system attacks the peripheral nervous system]. By the time I got to hospital I was incontinent and finding it hard to breath. By the end of the next day I was in ICU on a ventilator.The nurses were all darlings. I didn't sleep as I was in so much pain and totally paralysed apart from one eyelid. It was so hard as no-one could understand what I was saying apart from my son who could lip read me. My family and friends were amazing. I had people by my side praying and singing over me from 9am till 9pm every day. Everyone who came to visit gave me Psalm 91. Four months later I read Psalm 91 in the message translation, and the last verse says 'you will have a long life', which gave me hope. I believe prayer and my dear friends fasting for 40 days, a full fast and only drinking water, got me through. Apparently I went into cardiac arrest at one point and came very close to dying.
When I turned 50, I got a phone call one day saying my husband had been seen in a cafe holding the hand of another women. My heart dropped. My husband denied it for months but eventually (on his birthday) confessed to having an affair for 8 years. All those years had been a lie. I had never felt such emotional pain, even when he died. We seperated for 18 months and he kept asking me to come back. My good friend (the same one who fasted for me for 40 days) was going to England and asked if I would like to go with her. Whilst there we prayed the Lord would show me if I was to take him back or not. The Lord has been my guide, my comfort, and my healer ever since I became a Christian. The Lord showed me I was to take him back. It wasn't easy as I never trusted him again, but my children all thank me as it kept our family together. We had our grandchildren who we both adored.
My husband passed away 10 years ago and of course I grieved terribly but the Lord is my everything. He is my comforter, my Saviour, my Father and my best friend. Forgiveness is the key to living well. I forgave my husband and met with his girlfriend, prayed for her and forgave her also.
Psalm 41:3 'Whenever we're sick and in bed, God becomes our nurse , and nurses us back to health'. (The Message translation)