July 2007 - News Bulletin

While children are a real blessing from the Lord, we all know that the task of parenting is not an easy one. This challenge is multiplied in the lives of the single moms.  Daily they face the tremendous responsibility of balancing child-rearing and a career while still being a disciple.  Particularly during these cold winter months, many of these moms need to take care of a sick child during the night and still go to work the next day.  Without any support, they take on these challenges alone.  They exemplify a strength of character that is truly heroic.   

Recently, the Soweto Region held a Single Moms retreat at Astravilla in Potchefstroom with the aim of strengthening and honouring the single moms in their region.  Held from 25-27 May, a total of sixteen single moms attended.  Yvonne Mogapi tells of the amazing time had by all:

From the time that we arrived on Friday afternoon, everyone was in high spirits and excited about the proceedings planned for the duration of the getaway.   

On Saturday morning, we shared from the scriptures in a fun and unique way.  We divided ourselves into groups of four.  Each group had to select a topic – purity, finances, growing with our children or discipline - and a representative was chosen to deliver a presentation on the chosen topic. It was amazing to see that even though some of the single moms had never preached before, they presented some incredibly inspiring classes. The Bible was truly brought alive and we were reminded that the Bible has everything we need. 

On Saturday afternoon, we went to a hospital in Potchefstroom to visit one of the sister’s fathers who had been very ill.  We each swore a t-shirt with the words “Single Moms’ Retreat 2007” inscribed on it.  At the hospital we had the opportunity to sing and encourage the whole ward. This attracted many stares from people who wanted to know what we were all about.  In response to this interest, some of the sisters went out evangelizing at a nearby shopping centre and that afternoon we had four friends come join us for a braai!

The guests could not contain their excitement as they found it hard to believe that a group of women could have so much fun without alcohol. One of them confessed that when she first walked in, she was convinced that our jubilation was as a result of liquor.  This reminded me of Acts 2:13b when people accused the disciples of having “had too much wine”, when in fact they were really filled with the power of the Holy Spirit.  It was awesome to genuinely experience that excitement as well as the “accusation” that the first century disciples were exposed to.

Sunday’s sermon was divided intothree points – hope in a hopeless situation, don’t give up and being a praying parent.  After the sermon, the single moms were nicely surprised with a gift of a book called “The Power of a Praying Parent”.  The books were generously sponsored by a couple of sisters in the Johannesburg church and we would like to thank them for their sacrificial contribution:   

Below are some comments that the single moms expressed about their experiences on the retreat:

“The retreat was informative, instructive and encouraging spiritually. Classes such as discipline, growing with our children and purity brought growth to my spiritual wellness. We hope for more topics to be discussed at the next retreat.” 

“The retreat was really awesome and of great help to my life.” “The retreat was an eye-opener.  It made me realize that the challenges we have are common to all of us and that it’s part of our spiritual battle. It is important for us to build spiritual friendships.” 

“Our needs as single moms were met. Because of these classes, I am able to help other women. We need more of this and preferably long weekends because our time was really short. The gifts we received came as a real surprise. That was very encouraging and emotional. The message on Sunday was great.” 

We look forward to doing this again soon!  To God be the glory.