Why should Zimbabweans continue to believe in a God that is allowing so much sufferring?

FEEDING OF THE HUNGRY IN ZIMBABWE

At the wedding that I attended last Saturday I took time to sit down with my ex-mother-in-law and discuss with her about life in general. We talked about how life has become very painful in Zimbabwe with all the suffering that Zimbabweans experience first hand or witness from people around them. I told her that the greatest hope for this nation lay in continuing to pray sincerely for our nation. The response I got from her when I said that made me open my mouth agape with surprise topped with sadness. She said, "MaiAmanda give me ten reasons why I should continue to believe in a God that allows so much suffering." Her response touched me at the very core of my heart as I realised that the hyper-inflation in this country has now penetrated the Christian faith and is shaking it. Before giving her an answer I took a moment to pray quietly to God to speak through my mouth to convince my ex-mother-in-law that he(God) loves Zimbabweans even though he is allowing their suffering. I said to her, "Gogo vaAmanda everytime we suffer God suffers with us just as you would suffer everytime your son or daughter suffers. God allows suffering because it is all part of his way of moulding humans to learn to use their free will in the right way all the time and to learn to raise their level of faith to an extend that they trust and believe in him even in pain and suffering." That is all I could say in brief before being whisked away by my friends Chipo & Agnes to go and join them at the free-style dance floor. Days after the wedding my ex-mother-in-law's demand for ten reasons to believe in a God that allows suffering kept knawing at the back of my mind and I knew that as long as I didn't come up with those ten reasons for myself peace of mind would elude me. So starting yesterday afternoon I have been fasting and meditating about it and read the bible until late into the night in search of those ten reasons why we should believe in a God that allows suffering. This is what I came up with.

1. Suffering comes because of the wrong choices we make
God gave us humans the greatest gift of all, which is the freedom to choose. The freedom to choose is at the heart of what it means to be human and a world without choice would be worse than a world without pain. Worse yet would be a world populated by people who could make wrong choices without the result being pain & suffering. God is very powerful and could easily stop our suffering in the blink of an eye but he is not doing that because he gave Zimbabweans the freedom to choose their leaders. The reason we are suffering here in Zimbabwe is because we made the wrong choice back then in 1980 when we chose a party that values the spilling of blood so much that they sing about it, "ZANU ndeyeropa", instead of choosing a party that values the Holy Spirit. In later elections the majority did try to undo that choice by voting for MDC (I am not sure if they value the Holy Spirit) but according to God that is also a wrong choice because if it was the right choice Tsvangirai would have been ruling the country by now. No one is more dangerous than the leader who doesn't care about the dying masses and is more concerned about his passport and the rich and priviledged lifestyle that moving from a labour movement into politics has brought him. When the right leader who in the eyes of God is appropriate to rule Zimbabwe finally hears his calling and accepts it the suffering in this nation will end. We Zimbabwean civilians are always making wrong choices that cost us, instead of choosing to speak out for our rights and our well being, we are choosing to keep quiet and let the leaders treat us inhumanely. Until we learn to use the free will that God gave us to make the right choices for the good of our nation this suffering will continue.

2. God suffers with us in our suffering
1Peter2v21, 1Peter3v18, 1Peter4v1
God looks at us with tears in his eyes and a sad heart as we make wrong choices because he would be aware of the pain and suffering that those wrong choices will cause us but because of the gift of free will he gave us he can't stop us unless we entrust our choices to him. When we suffer after making the wrong choices he suffers with us because he loves us. If in your suffering you doubt God's love think about his decision to pay for our sins in the crucified body of his own son Jesus Christ. That is the ultimate show of love that we should never doubt. No one has ever suffered more than the way Jesus suffered when he was crucified on the cross and died for our own benefit. It is this same Jesus and his father who is also our father that ask us to trust them when we are suffering and when our loved ones cry out in our presence.

3. The human heart is developed in pain and suffering.
Job42v1-17, Rom5v3-5, Jas1v2-5, Pet1v6-8
Capacities for love, mercy, dignity, compassion and generosity can lie dormant until awakened by circumstances. Strength and weakness of heart are found not when everything is going our way but when flames of suffering and temptation test the mettle of our character. As gold and silver are refined by fire and as coal needs time and pressure to become a diamond, the human heart is revealed and developed in the presence of pain and suffering.

4. In times of suffering we sort our priorities right.
2Cor1v3-4
Hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, riots, illnesses, accidents, hunger, economic depressions, recessions, hyper-inflations, injustices & dictatorships all have a way of bringing us to our senses. Suddenly we remember our own mortality and that people are more important than material things. We remember that we do need one another and that above all we need God. In our own suffering, our capacity to help others is increased.

5. Suffering gives us an opportunity to trust God
Job1v42
Acoording to the Bible, a man named Job lost his family to a mighty wind, his wealth to war and fire and his wealth to war and fire and his health to painful boils. As Job endured accusations of his friends, heaven remained silent. When God finally did speak, he talked about the animals, the wonders of the heavens, the marvels of the sea and the cycle of the seasons. Job was left to conclude that if God had the power and wisdom to create the universe, there was reason to trust that same God in times of suffering.

6. Suffering makes us realise that this life is not all we have to live for.
Mt5v1-12, Rom8v18-19
Those who find themselves and their eternal God through suffering, will discover to their own unending joy why Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God."
If death is the end of everything, then a life filled with suffering isn't fair. But if the end of this life brings us to the threshold of eternity, then the most fortunate people in the universe are those who discover, through suffering that this life is not all we live for.

7. Suffering and pain is neccessary in life.
Eccl1v12, Psa78v34-35, Rom3v10-18
We all hate pain and suffering, especially in those we love. Yet without pain and suffering in this world we wouldn't appreciate and rejoice about how good it feels to lead a painless life devoid of suffering. Because humans know pain and suffering, criminals fear the law, cildren obey through fear of the suffering caused by punishment if they don't & the sick go to the doctor to be treated. People are grateful and thank God when their lives lack that pain and suffering that they know about it, appreciation of God's grace in their lives is increased. Without knowledge of pain and suffering people who are made to find satisfaction in an eternal God would settle for less.

8. Suffering builds us into prayer warriors and draws us nearer to Christ
2Cor12v9-10
The apostle Paul pleaded with the Lord to take away an identified source of suffering, but the Lord declined saying, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." Paul then said, "Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me, I will take pleasure in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak then I am strong." Paul learned that he would rather be with Christ in suffering than without Christ in good health and pleasant circumstances.

9. Pain and suffering paves the way for a graceful depature into heaven
Eccl12v1-14
Imagine the pain and suffering of people ravaged by hunger and cholera. Their bodies become increasingly worse for the waer, joints stiffen and ache, eyes grow dim, digestion comes to a stand still and sleep becomes difficult. Problems loom larger while options narrow. Yet if death is not the end but the threshold of a new day, then such pain that leads to death & a new life in heaven devoid of pain becomes welcome. Each new pain when we are about to die, makes this world less inviting and the next life more appealing. In its own way, pain and suffering paves the way for a graceful depature to meet God and Jesus in heaven.

10. God can turn suffering around for our own good
Through Job's suffering we see a man who became a source of encouragement for people in every generation to follow. Through the betrayal and wrongful imprisonment of a man named Joseph, we see someone who eventually was able to say to those who hurt him, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." (Genesis50v20) When everything in us screams at the heavens for allowing suffering, we have reason to look at the eternal outcome and joy of Jesus who in his own suffering cried, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"(Mt27v46)

ZIMBABWEANS THIS IS MY MESSAGE TO YOU
Click on the picture below for a clearer view of the message.

The ramblings of a lonely woman (Weekend loneliness, Part 2)

Once upon a time in the land of Oz, far far away from this outback land of Zim there lived a man named Dumi who is mentioned in so many old articles on this blog. From the 26th of January 2007 until two months ago he and I were internet dating and getting on so well that my hopelessly romantic imagination thought a marriage was obvious, until a series of events that started on the fourth of July 2008 and involved a love triangle with a tribalistic woman named Dudu who coincidentally happens to stay at the same block of apartments as myself happened and eventually led to our break-up. I did mention this break-up in my article, "The pursuit of happiness,(Part 2)," but I thought I should announce it officially now on this blog since he(Dumi) features in so many articles and was becoming a sore point since I have boken up with him. Instead of deleting all the articles on this blog where I mentioned Dumi I opted to make an official announcement about the break-up.



Last Saturday I woke up just as dawn was breaking and as I looked outside the window at the breaking dawn I longed for a dawn in my own life. A man who would be as constant and true as every morning's dawn, but instead of being my breaking dawn he will be my shining dawn, sharing with me the beauty of the first stirrings of life every morning and planning our day together. The man will promise to be my dawn.






The very first thing I do every morning soon after admiring the breaking dawn from my bedroom window is take a bath. There is something about bathing that fills me with joy. It probably sub-consciously reminds me of the time I floated naked in my mothers womb and felt so secure and comfortable, cushioned from the world's problems by my mother's uterus. Ever since I got out of that safety net into Mother Earth I have tried to re-create that feeling of peacefulness I felt in the womb and the only time I get close to it is when I am in the bath tub, bathing. I however get a little sad when bathing and I want to scrub my back and can't reach it, then I start wishing I had someone to rub my back whilst I am bathing. I don't mean the kind of back rub that my daughter can give me. A man in my life would rub my back when I am bathing.






After having my hyper-inflated breakfast which is just enough to get me to the heavy meal of the day at supper-time without fainting, I rush to the bank to get my weekly ration of my own money from my bank account. Talking about fainting I imagine myself fainting from hunger and being rushed to the doctor's surgery where the doctor will immediately examine me and then simply order the nurse to feed and discharge me. I don't know if it is my humour that is warped but I find that quite funny but not so funny when I hear that doctors here in Zimbabwe are getting so many cases like that and have begun to stock milk and cornflakes in their surgeries to feed such patients. Anyway let me get back to the part of my weekend were I am doing my weekly banking and thinking about the day I fainted in the hot banking hall due to the heat and lack of proper ventilation in the banking hall, after waiting in the queue for hours. I envy my friends Chipo and Agnes who don't have to stand in a bank queue unless they want to because their partners do the banking for the family. As I did my banking I wished I had a man to do banking for me.







After banking I rush to my wireless networked laptop because it is time to reach out to someone through the best invention ever made in the history of mankind, the computer. Phones can fail me but rarely does the internet fail me even in this decaying nation. Thanks to yours truly, myself, my job is to maintain the internet backbone that serves the whole of this nation and ensure that there is no downtime or it is reduced to a minimum. Internet dating is cool, thanks to the amazing leverage of technology. Love words flow between us and make us feel the hugs and the kisses that are but only a figment of our imaginations. A long distance relationship that survives on trust & constant communication. A relationship not based on outer beauty or sex but based on the inner beauty of a person as judged through the internet communications and how our two minds click. My friends think internet dating is one big joke because it lacks physical intimacy to take care of one's sexuality but they are wrong. Sexuality can be taken care of through words sexly spoken to each other such that they caress our bodies and then strong imaginations do the rest. Talk about one sure way of preventing HIV infection besides abstaining and using the rubber and that is long distance internet dating. I want a love that permeates geographic boundaries and communication wires as it flows to embrace me such that I will have no doubt that the day we will meet there will be fireworks. I love the internet and getting away from it was difficult but I had to do it because I had to have my hair done.









Is it just me who feels that a well styled hair-do is the key to looking well-groomed and makes one feel confident being a woman. I am obssessed with making my hair look good which is why my eldest daughter Amanda exclaimed with surprise, " Mum what's wrong?", when she came back from boarding school and saw that I had cut my hair short. I had to tell her that it was because of the hyper-inflation in the country and Gono's RBZ policies that make it impossible for me to access enough money from my bank account to take care of my hair as well as buy some beauty luxuries like face foundations, powders and perfumes. Every facet of a Zimbabwean's life has been affected by hyper-inflation and I mourn the death of luxuries like manicures, pedicures, facials and massages that used to be a monthly indulgence for me as I celebrated my womanhood. A man in my life would motivate me to bring back all those luxuries into my life and make me enjoy my elegant womanhood again. After having my hair done I rushed home to bath and dress for a wedding and then left for the wedding with my two daughters Amanda and Emma.











Amanda's cousin Tendai was wedding. It was a garden wedding beautifully set in the parents' backyard in one of the posh surburbs. The reception was starting at 16:00hours and going on until late into the night. I have always loved evening garden weddings, there is something about people wearing evening wear and being merry whilst holding champagne glasses while lights shine on them as the moon smiles at a distance that makes evening weddings so romantic and I happen to be an incurable romantic. Anyway so there I was at the wedding with my two daughters and the three of us dressed in evening wear and high heels and looking stunningly beautiful. I could have enjoyed myself immensely had it not been that everywhere I looked I could see couples together and it reminded me that I was alone and lonely with no man in my life. I wished I had a man who would escort me to such gatherings like weddings so that I don't feel out of place among couples.









The morning after the wedding we were tired but had to wake up early to go to church because God is worth it. Can't afford to be so tired as to miss a chance to praise, worship and pray to him in fellowship with others. Even though he(God) sees it fit to make me a lonely woman at my age, I don't hold it against him because that pales in comparison to all the gifts of life he gave me and continues to give me. What would I do without Jesus? Anyway as we praised, worshiped and prayed I couldn't help noticing couples around me holding hands as they prayed and even as I thought of Jesus and God I wished I had a man in my life to hold my hand as we pray together.







The only time I ever cook is on Sundays, the rest of the time I leave my daughters and the maid to do it. I do love cooking especially when I have all the ingredients to make a scrumptious meal but because of the hyper-inflation in this country getting all the ingredients one wants has proven to be a nightmare and that has made me loose interest in cooking. But I am sure if I had a man in my life I would be motivated to cook for him not only on Sundays but everyday. We would cook together, how romantic. I have always found a man who cooks very romantic. To hell with what our African culture would say about a man in the kitchen being a sign of him having been hypnotised by the woman in his life. That's bull!













A weekend would be incomplete if it doesn't involve relaxing outdoors as well as watching TV with my daughters and the love of my life if he was around. As I sit in the garden admiring God's great art I day dream about the 101 things in the beautiful nature that God created for us that I would want to share with the man I love and who loves me. The simple things like lying on our backs on a beautiful lawn carpet during a warm night and staring at the moon & stars, bathing together in a flowing river on a hot summer afternoon, walking slowly whilst holding hands as gentle showers of rain pour on us, etc. Later on as I lie on the couch watching TV, I start wishing I was lying on the lap of a man who loves me and whom I love as we watch TV together.




Damn, why should God make an incurable romantic like myself lonely, it's such a worst of my romantic nature. Anyway, it is romantic thoughts of the 101 or more things I wish I could do with the man I love that can keep long distance internet-dating alive with possibilities and hope of so much to look forward to when we meet and would make the relationship very exciting. I personally think long distance internet dating is appropriate for people like me who have vivid imaginations and believe in getting to know each other's minds and characters first before taking the relationship a step further into the physical intimacy level.

Back with a "Bang!!!"

Thank you for bearing with me for the past few days as I revamped my blog so that it reflects the love I have for humanity and the peace and joy that I want each and every person on planet earth to enjoy. As you read the value for life content on this blog I also want you to take time to read the content on the sidebar as well as make use of the advertisements on this blog some of which are related to the content in the articles. Everything on the blog, be it the articles I write, the widget content on the sidebars and the advertisements or the pictures, they are all important because they contribute towards the personal development and growth as well as the motivation & inspiration that will help you achieve the peace, love and happiness that I want you all to experience. I added all those windows on the sidebar to my blog as part of my efforts to make your experience on this blog unforgettable because you are all worth it. Your contribution to this blog in the form of simply reading the artiles and commenting about them or simply making use of the sidebar features for your own enjoyment or personal development is greatly appreciated.

I have put a number of widgets on the sidebar whose features will help you do the following:

1. A "Peace-advocate" chatroll window where you can interact live with me or with each other or where you can simply leave your comment or topic for discussion.
2. A login window that enables you to log in to your Gmail or Yahoomail or Hotmail or AOL email box
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4. A window which you can use to send e-cards to your loved ones.
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7. A window that provides you with famous inspirational qoutes for you to read.
8. A window that provides you with mottos of success to motivate you.
9. A window that provides you with jokes to take care of your humourous side.
10. A window that provides you with one new love qoute a day to take care of life's most essential need.
11. A window that provides you with a new Bible Verse everytime you refresh the page.
12. A window that provides you with Barrack Obama's famous qoutes.
13. A window where you can vote on whether you think Obama is the man who will heal the world or not?
14. A window where you can search about anything concerning Obama's efforts to provide the change that the world needs.
15. A window that provides you with information about leading a healthy life.
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18. A window where you can see the date and time.
19. A window where you can search for titles on this blog.
20. A window where you can willingly donate money for my efforts.

Like I mentioned before in my last article, you are going to get to know my mind, heart and soul intimately as I bare it all to you in the articles I am going to be writing on this blog everyday. My hope is that through reading my good and bad experiences as I go through my own life trying to achieve peace, love & happiness in my own world you are going to pick what you can use in your own lives so that you can get the peace, love & happiness that you deserve.

Let's take this journey together, walk with me most of the time, run with me when we need to catch up on life, jump the pits of life with me, climb the mountains in life with me, sit with me when we need to recharge our batteries and hug, kiss and embrace me everytime we reach a milestone and are feeling peace, love and happiness engulfing us. From today onwards I am going to be a part of your lives dear readers and you are going to be a part of mine too.

Having introduced my new look blog to you, let me leave you to enjoy this blog in peace.

How do you like this new look of my blog?

Dear Readers
I was blogging on the address http://eusebia-peacelovehappiness.blogspot.com but have now moved to this new one with address http://peacelovehappiness-eusebia.blogspot.com
I am in the process of doing a total revamp of my blog so as to make it look more attractive and professional. If you can bear with me for a few days as I do that and as I import content for my old blog to this one.

I have a new vision for my blog and have set new goals for it which I will implement as soon as I have finished setting the new look up. One of my goals is to write and publish an article each day so you will be getting to know my thoughts or actions each single day as I tell you about all issues pertaining to peace, love & happiness in the world around me. My aim in doing so is to contribute to your personal development & growth by teaching you through my own good & bad experiences and in so doing bring peace, love & happiness into your lives.

Let me get back to the revamping of my blog, will attend to you readers when I am through.

Lots of love
Eusebia Madziwa

Zimbabweans are partly to blame for the plight they are in.

Every Zimbabwean knew that the long periods of water supply cuts which have been going on for the past three years now were gradually creating a time bomb named cholera, but what did they do about it? Nothing, they just watched silently and passively. They could have organised themselves to complain to the Zimbabwe National Water Authority and picket and demonstrate if they had to until the problem is rectified. I am sure if they had done that the RBZ governor would have given buying chemicals to clean recycled water the priority it deserves and channelled the foreign currency he sends black market foreign currency dealers to get for him from the streets to buying those vital chemicals, instead of channelling the money to buy fleets of latest model cars for ministers and doctors.

Zimbabewans were also aware that the new farmers who were given the farms taken away from white farmers were not utilising the land they were given. The government tried to support the new farmers by giving them Agribank loans that they could use as capital but most of them didn't use that money towards farming and then they falsely cited drought as the reason why they could not repay the loans. The government also donated seeds, fertilisers, tractors and diesel to the new farmers but that didn't make the new farmers utilise the land effectively. Most of them sold the seeds, fertilisers and diesel at very high black market prices and let the land lie fallow. They figured that they could get more money from the sells of the farming implements without any sweat than the money they could get from unpredictable weather dependent farming. If only they had realised that the farms were not given to them for their own benefit but so that they could carry the responsibility of feeding the nation. Now their irresponsibility has resulted in hunger in the country and Zimbabweans saw it coming through the behaviour of these new farmers but what did they do about it? Nothing, they just watched silently and passively. They could have organised themselves and complained to the Ministry of Agriculture so that it takes measures against the new farmers who were letting the land lie fallow.

This passive attitude by Zimbabweans has contributed to the collapse of Zimbabwe. They have no idea of the role that they as civil society should play to ensure the proper running of their country. The majority of the population are too much of cowards that they don't exercise their human right of freedom of expression not only by picketing and demonstrating but by simply speaking out or writing the truths like I am diong now. It is this passive attitude by Zimbabweans that tends to nurture dictatorial tendencies in our leaders. Zimbabweans let the leaders do wrong things without them saying a single word in protest and the end result is the leaders dictating to the people who voted them into power instead of the other way round.

The cholera outbreak which has killed approximately 500 people in Zimbabwe so far while Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara watch indifferently from their high pedestals make me wonder what the Zimbabwean people who voted for them in the March 2007 elections think about the indifference. As they are on the brink of death from cholera are they not regretting ever voting for any of these leaders who have left them to die. As they are dying from hunger are they not wondering why the leaders they voted for are not providing any food for them. I am sure there are many relatives of the dead who can testify that the last word these victims of cholera and hunger uttered to them before they died was, " Please don't vote for Mugabe, Tsvangirai or Mutambara again because they will leave you to die when disaster strikes." Zimbabweans voted blindly for these GNU leaders, they have a tendency to follow the crowd without analysing whether the leaders are sincerely concerned about their welfare. Now that the GNU leaders are acting indifferently to their deaths from cholera and hunger Zimbabweans have no one to blame but themselves for voting for any of the three leaders. These three leaders have proved to be not worthy to rule the country by their lack of swift action to prevent people from dying from cholera and hunger. If the GNU leaders do agree on equitable power sharing let them rule the nation peacefully and stabilise the economy but come the next election time don't forget about this time when you were dying from cholera and hunger and they acted unconcernedly. If by next election time another party which has a good vision and shows genuine concern for the people has been formed I would suggest that you vote for that party and not these GNU leaders who have shown that they don't have genuine concern for you. Lets face it fellow Zimbabweans, none of these three leaders give a damn about the welfare of ordinary Zimbabweans. One leader is only concerned about staying in power until he dies so that he is not tried for the crimes he perpetrated against humanity for the many years he was in power. The other seems to be in politics mainly for the money he gets from sponsors and sympathisers which has provided a good lifestyle for himself and his family and feigns concern for the ordinary people. If he was really concerned about ordinary people we would have seen him acting swiftly to save people from dying from cholera and hunger. The third leader is so ineffective that no one knows what he is all about.

This is only my own opinion ladies and gentleman as I am learning to express myself freely in this new found freedom of expression that is a right that I think was given back to me the day the three GNU leaders signed the power-sharing deal on the 15th of September, correct me if I am wrong.