Nhlamulo is a Tsonga word for response. Not at the level of just an answer to a question but rather an enlightening response to a person’s life’s work. God calls us to live in a specific way and based on what we put in we         receive a God kind of response. It is not just an answer but a dynamic enlightening response. This beyond just the classification of responses to closed or open-ended questions .i.e. A one word response such as a simple Yes or an elaborative mini paragraph type response that achieves  nothing beyond just providing information. The Nhlamulo experience is a God encounter. It’s not just God answering a prayer but even more purposeful – It is God moving us to greater dimensions in the spirit.

 

Not to be confused with what happened thereafter birth.

 

After I lost him – I felt justified to mourn. To separate myself from everyone and everything so I can continue to feel – robbed …

In hindset – I wanted to stay in an ineffective state I finally understood why Christ made that statement: ‘Leave the dead to bury themselves’. I guess it’s because he said a similar statement to me whilst I wanted to be wallowing in sorrow. The succinct instruction was: “GET BACK TO WORK”… This was not an aggressive statement, nor was it a soft pleading-type statement. It was made in Love and after it, I felt compelled to rise up. It was like he was asking who relieved you of your duties or even worse your ministry in its current form. Who said you could stop …worshipping, organizing the service, preaching the word, loving the saints…

After this instruction - I honestly felt a great sense of comfort – more than that a sense of relief. It was an urgent need to GET BACK TO WORK.

 

This is difficult to explain and I must admit – I battled with that instructional verse before. I always thought it was insensitive and downright rude. How do you say to someone that just lost their loved one that they must leave everything and follow you. How do you call a broken man to ministry.

 

Through the #NhlamuloExpereince, I actually realized that work was exactly what I needed to see beyond my current situation. Not to hide behind work or even delay my mourning phase but rather to not swop one for the other. I found that my argument to suspend work because of mourning was actually similar to the argument to suspend mourning because of work – both become a slippery slope if given dominance over each other – resulting in festering wounds. I hope you hear me here and see this as a call to live a balanced life.

 

I most probably would’ve wallowed in pain for longer, most probably until it got familiar. I personally am very observant and have somewhat seen or heard about people who battle the different catastrophes that happen to all of us… It is completely okay to mourn but it is not okay to stay in that state for long. It is okay to pursue ministry, even after being wounded by the death of a loved one – even when that loved one is your son.