Rwanda- Julienne’s story
Where is God at our point of need?
By Julienne Munyaneza
I had just started a new job in London with the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) as the Regional Co-ordinator for Africa and the Middle East when the Rwandan war broke out in 1994 and the genocide against Tutsis started.
Indeed my absence saved my life. I travelled out of Rwanda alone, and my husband, Malachi, and our three children were to join me in London later .
For the three months period of the genocide (May-July), I lost contact with them. I didn‘t know what had happened to them. I kept wondering if they were alive or dead.
This was a season of constant nightmare. Yet, the Omnipresent God was with them as He promised.
And despite those horrible events, in which thousands of innocent people perished, including massacres in church buildings, I didn‘t lose my faith in God.
If at all, I trusted Him even more.
Of course most Rwandans asked tough questions like where‘s God in this genocide?
Why did He allow it to happen?
Why didn‘t He show up if He‘s really Almighty? Understandable.
A time came when I could no longer sit still or concentrate on my job.
One evening I went home after work (and by the way, allow me to say that my WACC colleagues were just amazing, supportive, caring and loving), I prayed what has become my famous prayer, a faith-full prayer that God could not resist, in which I asked God to see my husband and children again in this life even if He had to resurrect them, just for me. And He did.
I hope my presentation answered my forum title at the ELCG “Where‘s God when we most need Him?” For more details read my little book ̳Grace in the Midst of Genocide‘. You can get it from me or online: http://amzn.to/2z7QEwG .
(NDLR: Julienn’es forum, along with others, is documented on our website)