The Woman At The Gate

She was sitting at the entrance of the school when we arrived outside the gate. She has visited the school daily. She has no house since her Muslim husband left her.  Her nine-year old nine-year old daughter used to attend this Christian boarding school until the family had to move to another part of the city—too far away for her to travel to school, and thus her school fee sponsorship was lost and given to another child.

Now back in the area, mother and daughter were sitting side by side at the gate when we arrived, and the mother asked the leader of our group if she could please allow her daughter to re-enter the school. With no house, no employment and no money the school fees were beyond her reach without sponsorship, but the sponsorships were all taken and the chances were slim to non-existent for this girl to be able to go back to school.

We were all stunned by the earnest yearning this wee girl had to be educated and by her mother’s determination to get her daughter back in school, now that they were back in the area, despite no fixed abode. We could not help but think whether such desire is present in any child’s heart back in the U.K.—that would cause them to sit outside some school gates daily seeking to be schooled!

This mother had been praying all morning and was in tearful desperation to see her daughter admitted.

And that is where our story takes an interesting twist. On the bus, right as we travelled in to visit the school, one ‘twenty-something’ woman in our group had a distinct impression before God that she needed to sponsor another child from the school.  As she shared it with the group leader, the leader asked her if she was sure.  She said she was.

Upon arrival at the school there was the mother and daughter sitting outside the school. The leader was again approached by this mother to help. The leader and the young woman on the team suddenly knew what God was up to in this situation—how a mother’s desperate prayers were about to be answered.

When this mother was told that the young woman wanted to sponsor her daughter’s education and pay her school fees, she literally ran and threw herself onto the young woman. As they fell to the ground by the force of the embrace, there were tears all round and then songs of praise and thanks to the LORD for this amazing divine appointment and provision. The mother crying and dancing with joy at her daughter’s immediate opportunity to re-enter the school, and the young woman’s joy at being a channel of God’s blessing to this woman and her daughter.

There is a another twist to the story, which further astounded us about the details in which our God delights to work for us, and seemed to be Heaven’s smile on this divine connection.

The leader of the group has a daughter named a unique double-barreled English Christian (first) name. The young woman sponsoring the child is this leader’s sister and therefore aunt to that wee girl with the unique Christian name. The name of the girl at the gate today, which the young woman is sponsoring? Yes, the exact same name as the young woman’s niece!

Yes, with members of staff from the school, our team had quite a celebration time before God, surrounding the mother, daughter and the young woman, as we watched God create another redemption story today for a wee girl without hope, without future and without a chance for education.

But God …