In June, ITMI’s Vicky Waraka held a training where she and her team taught Biblical forgiveness using the Seven Areas of Life Training (SALT) material. These are two stories of people who attended and were set free as they embraced Biblical truth.
“By the time we met with Michael,” Vicky writes, “he had not seen his grandparents for two years and had attempted to commit suicide several times.”
When Micheal was orphaned at the age of 10, he went to live with his impoverished grandparents. They couldn’t afford daily food, much less school fees, so he had to drop out.
After about two years, Michael went to the streets to look for work. If he earned anything, he would take it back to his grandparents for food, but shop owners usually thought he was a pick-pocket and chased him away.
Eventually, Michael was spending all of this time with a group of homeless youths. A few years later, the group had grown to about 15 youths and had turned to violence and drugs. Michael’s grandparents disapproved of his lifestyle, so he cut them out of his life.
When he met Vicky’s team, the first thing Michael asked for was food; he had not eaten in two days. Vicky and her team offered him some food. With that immediate need quenched for the moment, he eagerly listened to what they had to say.
He immediately noticed Vicky’s team did not seem to regard him with a judgmental posture, so he was open to hearing their message.
After listening to him, Vicky provided counseling. As part of that discussion, Michael gave his life to Christ. Vicky’s team called Michael to reconcile with his grandparents and to join a church so that he could continue learning and serving the Lord. Michael was happy to do this. He was tired of the way he was living and ready to change and follow Jesus.
Hellen was orphaned at 7 years old and was sent to stay with distant relatives in Khartoum. She was immediately segregated and mistreated. Her relatives viewed her as a burden so they forced her to do all the housework.
It hurt to watch her cousins wear their new clothes and play with their new toys, while she had only a worn-out hand-me-down uniform for school, but she was allowed to attend a very poor school.
Hellen worked very hard in school and performed well, so she was allowed to continue studying. She promised herself that she would work very hard and become a doctor.
Hellen got her shot at achieving her dream when she was awarded a scholarship.
When she graduated from the University, she hesitantly invited her relatives to attend. Later, she confessed her main motivation was to show them how far she could go on her own, without them. Her cousins had all dropped out of school and had poor reputations, making her victory seem even sweeter.
Immediately after graduation, Hellen began practicing as a psychologist. She lived in Khartoum and did well for herself.
Hellen was about 45 years old when a military crisis broke out in Khartoum and she was displaced. She ended up in Juba, South Sudan, where she attended a conference ITMI’s Vicky Waraka was offering.
It was at this conference that Hellen encountered the second module of the Seven Areas of Life Training, which teaches a Biblical perspective on relationships, forgiveness, and rejection.
It was difficult to tell her group at the conference that she was depressed; after all, people usually came to her for help with depression. But eventually, Vicky and the conference team helped her open up.
Vicky writes, “Even though she had achieved her dream and watched her abusers not succeeding, she still had the burden of bitterness in her heart.” Vicky’s team helped Hellen forgive the wrongs that had been done to her by her relatives.
