There’s a Zimbabwe after elections
Like a bride as her wedding day looms we are checking and double checking our to-do lists to make sure we haven’t left anything out. The caterers are on full notice that they are to be at their best on the big day none of the guests are to leave with stomach complaints everything must be perfect.
The decor team has secured the special centre pieces to give the day it’s sparkle. The MC is polishing his best jokes getting ready to diffuse awkward silences and redirect tensions to lighter moments. The parents of the bride and groom will be clad in matching outfits while the bridesmaids have had their final fittings and the little flower girls have their matching shoes and ribbons and the ring bearer has the perfect hair cut and well-made suit.
The groom is on his best behaviour looking ever so dashing in his custom fitted tux. The wedding is on Election Day and everyone is invited. We have done the preparations leading to the big day but have we done the preparations for when the music dies down and the cleaners get to setting up the vacuum and picking up the leftover litter, when we are finally alone with the man or woman we have chosen above the others.
New dispensation vs new despair-sensation
One of two things happens when experience teaches us about life, either we become resigned to the facts or we deny the facts and become active in changing them. In our case some people just became resigned to the situation at hand, high unemployment, monies growing legs and walking right past those we had placed in security to safeguard against that.
Others decided this Bae was old and tacky, so they divorced her and went to distant lands where they could start over albeit as a new kind of human machine working thrice as hard for thrice less than they are truly worth.
The last group decided to take the power back and focused on building and developing the aspects of their lives that they could control and those are the people who have thrived in our bad romance. Those are the brains that have built the new complexes where we flock to spend our hard earned money and those are the people whose businesses are going to take off when change inevitably comes.
The moral of my story is preparation. While some prepare to be disappointed again, others have been preparing to throw in the towel for good this time and the ones who understand the principles of faith have been preparing for a Zimbabwe that’s open for business. They have stared despair in the eye and said “you don’t define my life” then proceeded to do what we thought was impossible Dr Strive Masiyiwa of Econet is a case in point.
One thing I’ve learnt in this environment is that despair is a very real enemy to progress. Zimbabwe can stay stagnant for you long after the new dispensation takes over because the truth is your environment only accounts for 50% of your situation the other 50% is about what you can control and many times we give up our 50% because we have wrong beliefs about power and control.
God has given us power, sound minds and love. He has already provided everything we could possibly need to live this life to the fullest. We just have to work on preparing our minds and hearts to receive it.
I was led to leave a steady paying job in May and though I was confident at the time, it never occurred to me how hard it is to fight the good fight of faith that I’ve always spoken so enthusiastically about to others. The confirming scripture for this decision was Luke 5:4-7 and even with that at the back of my mind what constantly plagued my mind was the impending doom that would find me.
I would spend half the day imagining all the worst outcomes and the other half looking for plan B because ironically, I thought that had a better chance of succeeding than Plan A which had caused me to leave my job in the first place. I was so convinced I could wing it for faith because ofcourse everything was just going to go smoothly and I’d be testifying to you in this blog, why would I have anticipated a storm while Jesus is asleep below deck?
Just as I served my final week we had a month long power fault that basically cost me all I had. When I thought I was ready to recover on funds winter became the coldest it’s been since I can remember and the projections I had made for sales went down the drain.
Lately I feel like an Israelite leaving Egypt because somehow my electricity hasn’t run out, my fuel hasn’t run out and I haven’t slept a single night on an empty stomach or out on the street because God has been providing for me through unexpected sales and orders that I never anticipated.
This is every Zimbabwean’s story because we have survived quite miraculously through all the disasters that were meant to destroy us, but they never did. They made it harder to be happy but they never destroyed us.
Let me take this opportunity to say to the righteous it is well because we are quite close to reaching the 40 years it took the Israelites to make the journey to the promised land. Wouldn’t you say it looks suspiciously like God’s doing that we have survived this long?
Tinoti Ebenezer because thus far He has brought us, lets us set aside our fears and start preparing for the day of jubilation because though it might not be today or tomorrow it is surely on the way..Amen
