Rex

Today was Ascension Day in Lesotho. We all had the day off from our responsibilities and we were headed into South Africa for a day of family fun.  However, when we reached the boarder it became increasingly clear we would not be going on our outing today. The line at the boarder was backed up to a point where we knew it would be hours before it was our turn to get our six passports stamped.

If there is anything I have learned since moving to Africa, it has been to rely on the Holy Spirit’s prompting in my life. I was not disappointed. I knew God wanted us home today, for whatever reason. The four boys and I hailed a taxi home and left Richard stuck in the long line at the Maseru Bridge border crossing.

We weren’t home for long before I knew exactly why God had sent us back. Our beloved, dear friend Rex needed us today. We’ve been praying for his mother for several months now. I’ve been at her bedside, gotten her medical care in her home, and have taken their family meals, because she has been ill. We’ve been praying for a miracle. Today, through sobs, Rex told us the miracle we had been asking for would not happen.  His mother is dead. We prayed for one miracle, but God has been composing a completely different phenomenon.

I will never forget this divine moment in our lives; Rex and I were broken…but we were completely together. I wiped away the sweet tears from his soft, beautiful face. I held his head in my hands as he wept. I was speechless and so was he, but we were bound to one another in a way I cannot describe. God was weaving our hearts together. 

I remember when we were being commissioned to come to Lesotho at our home church in North Carolina. Pastor Jimmy prayed there would be a moment when we each knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this was why God had brought us to Lesotho. Today, I found my moment. With Rex’s small brown hand clingingly tightly to my pale one, I knew beyond all question why I had been asked to leave my home, my family, my friends, and my future in America. I am here for Rex. Through the tears I was able share this exact sentiment with Rex.

In Lesotho at the age of 13, he is now considered a man. I know better. He needs a mother, and I promised him I am not going anywhere. He looked at me as though he did not believe me, but I held his face in my hands and forced him to look into my eyes and promised him I, with Jesus’s help, am going to be here for him. I told him what I have told others, but have never shared with him. “Rex, you are my 5^th son and I never knew how much I needed you in my life. I love you like you are my own, and I never knew I was capable of such a thing.” It is a miracle God brought us together.

Today, Rex became another statistic in a nation the rest of the world knows or cares little about. I, for one, refuse to allow him to slide down the slope of despair and destruction, which often lays claim to so many of Lesotho’s motherless sons. As I write he is in my living room playing with my sons.  The innocence of childhood reclaiming its rightful place one giggle at a time!

Us a few weeks ago, on a happier day.