MY TURN – SOUTH AFRICA

HEAR MY PRAYER

You called them by their names, even though they meant nothing under the blood sodden flag of their homeland. Age made no difference when their blood trickled into the soil of the country we promised to lift up to You. The country we were born in, the nation we belong in and fought for is no longer the country we were taught or raised in. The laws You handed down for us to abide by turned us into strangers in the land we once loved in. With each name that is carried away by the wind, into the sky and past the stars, to the lights that reflect Heaven, we don’t know how to keep You above the flag of evil when their numbers outweigh ours so profoundly. We ask only that You still remain at our side.

Our history tells us that when we charged, the enemy fell. When we defended our country, and fought to bend the knee to only You, our rivals died. As young as our South Africa once was, as tired as our country men and women were, we fearlessly defended our culture, birthright, and Christianity. We did so in faith because You were by our side. Victory was always ours when we raised our nation to You.

The British had their day. The Zulu tried to have their way. Today, the enemy that is formed from collective tribes and are taking us like thieves in the night, will soon be judged and cast off our sacred territory. We know that. We have always known how it ends. They don’t pray like we do. Believe like we do. Love like we do. They don’t honor, obey, or bend their knee to only You, rather, they command our bended knee in service and worship to them. Like demons faking halos, they torture and kill while presenting the world with a validation of suppression instead of repression, and acceptable retribution.

Those who have escaped to a place far beyond the sky without guns in their hands, will know that You have always been on their side. Like all wars, ours came slowly, but like before, it will be over promptly. Some might never understand the brutal and coldblooded attacks on us, but because we know that You practice fairness and justice remains Yours, we have learned to accept it. Acceptance with dignity, because when we stop asking how many must still die, and we stop counting the dead without forgetting their names, You will once again march us to victory.

We’ve always had to fight an enemy we didn’t make. We’ve always had to defend our territory against those ready to claim our lands as their own. We’ve always been fighting something even though we didn’t quite know why, and through the centuries, those waging wars against us, we’ve forgiven. Friendships were forged despite the thousands that are buried beneath our feet. A new flag was raised more than once, new alliances formed, and rivals became friends, because that’s what You ask of us, and that’s what we do. Now, as we learn to identify our modern enemies coming back to end ancient feuds, we know that another war will come and although it’s a brand-new clash, the reasons have never changed. Once again, we will show that we don’t attack, but defend our own and don’t fear the end. Each of us are the descendants of survivors of war and once again, we won’t run or hide, but courageously accept our battle, even though we’d rather encourage love, peace and prosperity, because that God, keeps You on our side.

With the weapons we don’t have, we know it won’t be a fair combat and that we might not get far. But like before, the greatest defense will always be Your army, Your grace and Your mercy as long as You are still on our side. So many dark hours have come. None have really gone. We think about the destruction and hatred from dusk until dawn, sunrise to sunset. So many of us lost, and to the world, their names will never be known. So many taken up through the lights in the sky paying for an undeserved betrayal and unprovoked hatred. The promise of defeating us, walking away from a conquest of torture as a prize. It must be that their hearts died a long time ago. You say that there is always a way back to You and Your light, and to lead those who hate us with love and integrity. But how can we offer ourselves like that when we are so loathed by instruments of evil and extensions of demons? The only value to their existence is ridding us of ours. We don’t understand God, but we know that soon, the truth and Your wrath will bring them to their knees when You destroy all that is not of You. All that demolishes that which is Yours.

As the next one is carried away far beyond the sky, we’ll once again be left disillusioned, trapped in hell, confused, with no words to utter even though they fill our hearts and minds. We’ll again fall to the ground, and on bended knee know that You will remain forever on our side, and we’ll once again battle through a confrontation, and do so knowing that into the sky and past the stars, beyond the lights that reflect Heaven, we have won the war.

With love,

Alice VL

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