So our time in the DRC is coming to a close. We have one more full day on the ground – and hopefully we can get it all ironed out before we leave. God has really provided for us on this trip – and I can’t wait to see what it is that we have when we get started editing!

The other day we were at a local church and we were listening to some friends play music and sing. The Congolese have amazing voices. Music runs deep in their blood. As we sat and listened I noticed that there was a young woman sewing a dress at a manual sewing machine. She was cutting out the pattern for the dress on the table near our friends playing music.

As she was working on the dress, I noticed something that fascinated me. She was doing it without a pattern. She would mark the dress by hand – where she would need to cut – where she would need to measure. I remembered that my mother always had a pattern to go on when she would make clothes. But this woman was doing it all from her head. The pattern, its’ final shape, its’ dimensions, every stitch and fold was locked away inside – and I was getting to watch her unearth what would soon be a beautiful dress.

I realize now that the problem of Congo is much the same. The answer does not lie in help from abroad (although the help we give is hugely necessary and I have seen first hand what it can do). The answer to the problems Congo faces are within the Congo.

Yesterday, I had the honor of attending a graduation for three women who had been victims of rape. They had worked hard and found a way to support themselves and this was a celebration to honor that achievement. In their most desperate time of need they had turned to God. Through a local church they had begun the process of recovery – emotionally, spiritually, and fiscally, from the trauma that they had endured.

It was nearly two years ago that I got to first meet them – and now they were holding their heads high on this day of celebration. They had relied on God – and he unlocked within them something new. Forgiveness. Hope. Love. They said that because of the changes in their lives – their past had been forgotten. The answer to their problem had come from above. God is in the Congo and I think in being here you can see that He is the only one with the answers.