Above All, Keep Your Heart Free

By Colleen Briggs

When Mugabe, thirty-plus-years dictator of Zimbabwe, bulldozed neighborhoods who didn’t vote for him and committed other horrendous human rights abuses, my friends took international journalists to witness his crimes. And paid for it by ending up on the government hit list.

L describes how she and her husband, a pastor, fell asleep at night wondering if a bomb would crash through their window while they slept. They woke up morning after morning, surprised and exultant, saying to one another, “We’re alive!”

Friends in the US brought their family to Colorado to protect their lives. Our family became close to them during those four years while L earned a Master of Divinity. When she completed her degree, many friends would have helped them move to the US permanently. After all, almost everyone who can leave Zimbabwe, does. But L and her husband, both pastors, returned to a country desperately in need of Good News. Even though the threat to their lives was not eliminated.

And still they are there, caring for people the rest of the world seems to have forgotten as Zimbabwe continues a precipitous economic decline. In addition to serving as a pastor, L started and oversees a ministry through Hope’s Promise to assist orphans with education costs so extended relatives can continue caring for them.

I think I’ve figured out why L and her husband are willing to sacrifice so much. They’ve found something worth living for: Jesus Christ and His passion for this world. And they aren’t afraid to die for Him either. Protected or hunted, alive or dead, their hearts are completely free.

If you happen to live in Colorado and would like to hear L, one of my personal heroines, share about her life and ministry on the evening of Oct. 14, 2019 please email me: colleen@hopespromise.com.