Life is a journey; we come from somewhere going somewhere. To understand where you are going you need to know where you are coming from. The world has so many conflicting answers to this and in the end you will find yourself in a whirlwind of confusion. I was in this whirlwind of confusion when I realized that the answer I was looking for was in the Bible. I needed to know what life is all about, what was my purpose in this world, and why things happen the way they do...
So I decided to study the Bible. I started on my own. I was not happy with the pace of my understanding so I decided to go to Bible College.
I attended a Catholic College for two years waiting for the Bible study to start. For two years we were taught traditions, history, administration and anything else but the Bible. Not one day did we open the Bible or let alone refer to the Bible. The only reference to the Bible was when we were told that we needed to buy “The Jerusalem Bible” being sold at the Church.
It is difficult to just walk out of what you believe to be the things of God; you fear God and what He would do to you if you shun the things concerning Him. That’s the reason I lasted two years, otherwise I truly felt like walking out after the first week. It was referred to as a Bible College but there was no Bible Study. My desire for Bible Study was not quenched and in the end I just walked out despondent. I don’t know why. I just had had this great hope and expectation of what would be the outcome of going to Bible College.
I gave up on Bible College and considered it useless. I was really disappointed. But my desire to search the Scriptures did not die. I continued on my own but there was still something missing and I just could not figure it out. That’s what happens when you do not have the Holy Ghost in you. Some things you just cannot figure out; some things just take too long to figure out.
But God is a faithful God, He knows our heart’s desires and always makes a way when we do not realize it. From nowhere, at work I was transferred to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe where there was the UPC Bible College.
The need for Bible College started building up in me again but this time I tried to suppress it because:
- My previous experience – two years is a lot of time to commit oneself in doing something only to achieve absolutely nothing – it’s not easy to recover from such.
- At work we were working overtime and traveling a lot within the region. There was no way I could have managed to attend the minimum hours of attendance required at Bible College. I had enquired about the possibility of studying through correspondence but was told that was not possible.
But something kept on probing me inside that I should go to Bible College. Yet, I no longer had the time for it because of work commitments. The push was too much so one day I just went to the Bible College in the middle of the term and asked if I could register. I told God if they chase me away that’s it, I am not going to bother myself again. But when I got there I was accepted as a student and started on the same day, but then I do not have time for this siren was still ringing in my mind.
At work I started manipulating things so that my Bible College days were not affected. But God was not in favor with this because it proved to be stressful and most of the time I was caught unawares. In the meantime, God, through the teachings at the college, was working on my prayer life and I realized I needed to pray about time for my college studies. As a result of my prayers, all the overtime at work came to an end. We were given the go ahead to employ more people and somehow the business trips started falling on days which were not Bible College days. When God calls you to do something, He knows just how busy you are! Do not answer the call by using your own means. Do what He wants you to do. Turn to Him in prayer and ask Him to make it possible for you, otherwise you will find it burdensome and stressful.
At the UPC Bible College we studied the Bible itself all the way and other topics around it in reference to the Scriptures, not to other people’s opinions from ‘wherever’.
I went to Bible College just to learn and understand the Word of God better but God gave and taught me more and I came to understand the hope and expectation that I had in the beginning as it came to fruition:
- Peace of mind
- Prayer life
- Commitment – I would not have learned this if my studies were through correspondence because I learned from my teachers from the way they applied themselves to their work against all odds.
- Saved time - What I learned in four years would have taken me up to thirty years doing it on my own.
- A heritage, a treasure, is priceless and no one can take it away from me. And that is just to mention a few because the list is endless.
Now my journey continues, the ship has no rudder, but I have the peace of mind of knowing that the one who holds my tomorrow is the one driving it.
Sister Selina Mhalanga now resides in Botswana, Africa where she works with Sister Grosbach as a National Ladies Instructor traveling throughout the country. She is leading women into all truth.
