Bridget Howard shares that when reading the Bible, she accompanied Moses in his journey through the wilderness as he executed his God-given task of leadership. What struck her was the continual need to ask God to solve problems, meet needs and provide in many diverse situations.
I took on the leadership of the AIM Rwanda Unit in April 2014. I had previously held two positions of temporary leadership in Zaire (now DR Congo), but leadership was certainly not my forte; it was a burden and additional to my full time teaching assignment. It also involved being the Legal Representative of Inuma y’Amahoro, the NGO identity of AIM in Rwanda (a very different arrangement from working under the Church administration and authority in Zaire). I was faced with numerous matters that needed answers and solutions. I needed something visual to manage them. So at Christmas I constructed a 3D Prayer Pear Tree. I cut out paper pear shapes, wrote a prayer matter on each one and attached them to my tree. When God had provided the solution, the pear was relegated to the lower branches. It was a very graphic way of keeping track of my responsibilities and seeing how God answered.
The God who cares
We had planned for the Inuma y’Amahoro AGM to be held on Friday morning. We were happy to be promised a quorum since this was an important meeting for the direction of our ministries. However, on Wednesday morning I received an email notifying us of a meeting for local and international NGOs at the District Office to meet with personnel from the Immigration Office to explain issues relating to the fulfilment of the action plans that we had to submit. This meeting was for that very Friday to start at 9am, and we were scheduled to begin our AGM at 10am! What were we going to do to resolve this conflict of interests – both very important meetings? Lord, you must help us. My prayer was answered in a most unexpected way on Thursday afternoon. I was meeting with a colleague when her mobile rang. It was the Director of the district informing her of the Friday meeting. Amazing! So she was able to inform him of a prior engagement planned for many weeks and give acceptable apologies for our absence.
