Weekend reading list

"What is your purpose in this life?"

"What is it that you were born to do?"

If such thoughts even remotely pass through your mind, don't discard them as spiritual faff, just this once.

For those who believe; I'd say there does exist an unfinished business which is meant to be accomplished by your worthy hands.

Immaculée Ibiliagiza had one too.

This Rwandan genocide survivor went through not just an ordeal of pain for 91 days when she (at the age of 22) had to survive in a cramped (3 x 4) bathroom of a pastor's house with seven other women. She bore the afterlife of pain, if you can fathom the expression. 

When you would dread breathing heavily for more than a second, because people are out there to kill you the instant they smelled your presence nearby; you tend to forget about the basic necessities of life. You lose all your faith in God when you get to hear a vivid description of how your family members were mercilessly butchered one after another, and not utter a sigh, much less shed a tear, because you might end up endangering the lives of seven others at once, by just emoting. But Immaculee Ilibagiza found a strengthened belief in God instead, though it did waver at a few weak moments. And that's only human, isn't it? 

But what's beyond human strength and spirit is reading a Bible during such times, endeavouring to learn a foreign language in such an environment, and most of all, dreaming of working for the United Nations in future. 

Astonishing. But she did it all. And it wasn't easy until she made it happen. And how!

It's not possible to do justice to this woman's journey in words, because she has done it so bravely on her own, thereby, solidifying her purpose of staying alive and fighting through all the obstacles in order to survive. She could do it all because she had realised, somehow, that she was the one 'left to tell.' 

An excerpt from the story:

"I was certain that God had a greater purpose for me, and I prayed every day for Him to reveal it to me. At first I was expecting Him to show me my entire future all at once – maybe with a flash of lightening and a clap of thunder thrown in for good measure. But I came to learn that God never shows us something that we aren’t ready to understand. Instead, He lets us see what we need to see, when we need to see it. He’ll wait until our eyes and hearts are open to Him, and then when we’re ready, He will plant our feet on the path that’s best for us . . . but it’s up to us to do the walking."

This weekend, you must read this book for the lesson of forgiveness it contains. An implicit lore, that will give you gooseflesh but trust that it will be worth it, every word of it!