A Life Story Interview with Aurora
By: Susan Deborah Schiller
We all run into blocks in writing our memoir. When telling your story is too hard, it may help for someone to listen and write a few lines for you. Soon you're ready to tackle another chapter of your memoir. You know, it's usually in the hard stories where our strongest message lies. Aurora's* life message in this story is: "Give what you've got. Apathy kills; empathy heals."
Aurora is a strong leader both in ministry and in the marketplace. This interview with her is written with her permission. She speaks with a passionate, prophetic voice, like only a South African can.
(*Aurora's name has been changed to protect her identity.)
"Do you think your God is going to save you?" taunted Aurora's abductors. Moments before, she had been a white business woman, on a "normal" day in South Africa. In the blink of an eye, her whole world shattered as the driver of a van with flashing lights motioned her to pull over.
Aurora clung to her seat, silently pleading "Help!" to God.
As she pulled over to the side of the road a gang of black men rushed in and ordered her out of her vehicle. They rummaged through the interior and then pushed her back in the car. For the next three hours they drove her around, alternately threatening to electrocute her, knife her, rape and kill her.
Three times her house was broken into, since the attack. Three more times her life was miraculously saved. She hired security officers and took more precautions. Aurora longs for the day when she can enjoy mundane errands without the constant threat of attack.
Aurora cries, "I just want to live. I want to walk out my door without a weapon and go wherever I like."
The police turned their backs. They don't see hijacking of whites as a crime. It's a year later and nothing has been done; the offense was reduced to "drunk driving".
The church is silent, as well. Even her Christian board members are quiet. No phone calls, no emails. It's "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil." As if to speak of it, the evil might come calling YOUR name!
Apathy kills. Empathy heals.
Who robbed us of our empathy? Who suggested turning our backs is safe? Fear and love cannot reside together. Love overcomes evil, as Light chases away the darkness. Why do we, as believers, still fear?
Aurora exlaimed, "Sue, I've been isolated and stripped of everyone and everything – all the people that I trusted are gone!"
Aurora's story is not unusual. I can share with you dozens of such stories, all happening right now. In each and every case, Christians were silent.
On paper the church looks good. All the websites, books, radio and television shows…. We're sending money overseas, doling out food and clothes.
There's a catch phrase going around, "We're going to make Jesus famous!" Yet, Jesus preferred obscurity over crowds. He was too busy caring for the one person right in front of him. Jesus' prosperity message sounds quite the opposite of what is common today:
"Blessed are you when you are persecuted…
Blessed are the hungry… Blessed are the meek…
Blessed are the poor in spirit…"
It seems love wins when we simply abide in Him, and He in us… as we love the person in front of us, as He did.
But what happens when we don't?
Aurora went on to say, "The people closest and dearest to you are the ones who betray you, and that hurts the most! I say to God, 'How much longer?' And God says, "Just hold on." And I say, "Show me what it means to hold on!"
Being ignorant is not a crime but using it to harm others should be. – David Grant
Too many of us have become like the bankers in South Africa, handing over the goods to the bad guys! How? Our silence becomes evil's accomplice. Our chronic niceness, disguised as "grace," has empowered the predators. Our ignorance has slain the fallen.
The Gospels remind us that Jesus, before he taught the people, felt compassion for the multitudes that followed after him. Sometimes he felt it even to the point of forgetting to eat. How did he put his compassion into practice? He multiplied the loaves of bread and the fish to satisfy their hunger. Only then did he tell them the good news. – Mother Teresa
Is there a simple solution, both personal and global, to creating order out of chaos? Could it be as simple as giving the little that we have?
The most important medicine is tender love and care… The most terrible poverty is loneliness and the feeling of being unloved. – Mother Teresa
Could it be that our spiritual service of worship takes place as we pick up our pens, our tools, our medicine, and give our what we have?
We become hurt healers as we care for the practical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the person in front of us. Jesus, disguised as our neighbor, is who we are serving!
If we leave it up to somone else, if we depend on a church program or a government provision, we're missing the gospel as Christ modeled it.
Zeal for souls is the effect and the proof of true love of God. We cannot but be consumed with the desire for saving souls, the greatest and dearest interest of Jesus. Therefore, zeal is the test of love and the test of zeal is devotedness to His cause–spending life and energy in the work of souls. – Mother Teresa
I cannot help but be changed, in listening to Aurora's story. Her words, like yours, have a force – an energy – that have been released into the atmosphere with a mission – a target. Her heartbeat is to encourage us to not grow weary in doing good, to fight the good fight, to create our world.
The picture of Aurora escaping into the manager's office while the bankers compliantly hand over her money… oh yes, that's such a great picture of this brave heart! With her words, she is giving us the opportunity be brave, too. Our words create our world.
Each of your stories contains a life message. If a story has changed your life, that's the story you want to share!
With all my love,
Sue
PS I'd like to offer you an opportunity to kick start your memoir. A one-hour Skype call is usually enough time for sharing a short story. It doesn't need to be published, but if you have a "hard story" – one that maybe you need a little help telling, I'd like to offer the opportunity to have your story heard. Sometimes it helps to have someone listen, offer feedback, or even pen a few lines. Consider this a way to jump start your writing, if you've been feeling stuck!
Email me, if you are interested in a free Skype call with me! In the meantime, keep writing, change is happening!
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Copyright Susan Schiller http://TeamFamilyOnline.com. For reprint permission or for any private or commercial use, in any form of media, please contact Susan Schiller. All Rights Reserved.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you for the reminder, Susan, that every day, we have opportunities to stand up and be counted, to refuse to let evil gain purchase, and to demand that the Church live up to its own strength.
You have a lovely way of speaking, Billie – thank you for sharing!
Thank you for sharing this story. You are such a talented writer, you express the story so well, more so the lessons we learn from it. I believe if the church would rise up and make that stand that Jesus did, there would be so much difference in our world.
You’re right, Siphosith – what a difference if all lived like Jesus did! Thanks so much for your encouraging words 🙂
If you have a "hard story" you are normal…
"Your family and your world may be pretty 'normal' and relatively happy, but most of the familes portrayed in the Bible are not. Your life may not be littered with obvious tragedies, but the stories of the Bible are pockmorked by the foolishness, envy, and madness that make a story worth reading. Lives that are 'normal' and predictable don't hold our attention. It is only when huge obstacles arise that a story becomes compelling." In "To Be Told," by Dr. Dan Allender