Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5
This is a verse that has really ministered to me the last few days as I have struggled with my emotions, thoughts and feelings towards the perpetrator of an unthinkable crime. I have disciplined myself to surrender my thoughts and feelings to Jesus and allow Him to fill my cup back up to a place where I can be effective for the Kingdom. Even after 12 years of serving the people here in Sudan nothing has prepared me for the turmoil I feel inside towards this wrongdoing.
It happened on Saturday evening when a young girl aged only 7 years was left to care for her younger siblings in her mud hut home.
When the mother returned she could not find the girl who has hearing and speech impediments. But soon they heard the sobbing coming from the long grass near the home. The girl was found lying in a pool of blood. The initial reaction was to assume some kind of animal attack but the other children kept telling that it was a man. Our doctors were able to confirm the worst fears, it was in fact a rape.
So many thoughts have crossed my mind but mostly as a mother I feel sick and helpless in my faith. Our senior clinical officer called me early Sunday morning to come and counsel/pray for the family and child. Lord you will need to take over this one as I have no idea what to say or how to encourage them.
Faith comes from hearing and so I read my bible and prayed before going over to the clinic for increased faith to believe in all of God’s promises. So many people were there with this family. I managed to get mum, dad and child alone. As the Lord led we wept, prayed and read the bible together. What started as blaming each other, anger and revenge turned into a time of sorrow and mourning. They were now in a place of being able to turn their attention on the child and not the criminal, whose identity was unknown. We prayed for the Lord to bring him to justice and before we had finished praying we found the man had been identified and ran away. We are praising God for this as it is now only a matter of time before he is caught.
Would you please pray for this family, for their hearts to turn to God, to find forgiveness and to allow the authorities to represent them. Revenge killing is normal for much less crimes than this, which is uncommon in this culture.
Pray for this young girl, that God would heal her tiny body and guard her from any infection, disease or long term damage. Pray she would be freed and not haunted mentally from this trauma.
I plan to visit the family home later this week, pray for me as I have struggled myself and need wisdom and love for all involved. Sabet is still in the USA so I could use some encouragement.
Psalm 145:3 was given to me by my Heavenly Father “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and His greatness is unsearchable.”
Thanks for praying with us through this difficult time.
Suzy Kuj
Reaching South Sudan for Christ
In Deed and Truth Ministries
www.indeedandtruth.org
Suzy, Hannah, Jed and I got to visit the UK for a short trip. Unfortunately Agum was not able to join us as she did not get her visa but she had a fantastic time staying with our friends in Kenya. It was wonderful to visit family, friends and two supporting churches that have prayed over us and walked with us for several years. We had the opportunity to visit both churches and share with the saints what the Lord has accomplished through In Deed and Truth Ministries in the past 6 years. As we shared all that has happened in that time it was a great reminder of the many blessings the Lord has bestowed on us and to give thanks for His faithfulness throughout. The medical clinic is now in its sixth year and our first class of pastors are getting ready to graduate next year after 3 years of training. It is wonderful to see how the Lord is working in the UK, an area of prayer for Suzy and I for years. When we first married and would visit over 10 years ago we had to drive 2 hours to London to visit a Calvary Chapel church and now there are over 40 in the UK! Mildenhall Baptist church became our church family while we were pregnant with Hannah and they have continued to love and support us since, it was wonderful to see them again and share the blessings and struggles of our work in Sudan. At the 2006 Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa mission conference we met Pastor John Brown, an American missionary to the UK who has planted a church in an area close to where Suzy went to school. After the conference we traveled back through the UK and visited Pastor John in Norwich. It was a real joy to be able to visit Servants Church (pictured praying for us) a second time and pass on a challenge the Lord has pressed on our lives: that we are all missionaries because being a Christian is a call from Christ to come to Him, die to self and live for eternity. Pray for the church in the UK, it has a very cynical audience that needs love and the grace of Jesus Christ. Suzy and I stayed with Suzy’s sister and did some fun tourist sites with the kids before Suzy returned to Kenya, collected Agum and went back to Sudan and I went on to the USA for this year’s fundraiser prayer walk. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and rest, thanks for all your prayers.