I was adopted by a family who didn’t believe in speaking life over each other, quite the opposite in fact. So I was raised in a culture of hurt, manipulation, anger, rebellion, resentment and abuse.

I ran away from home at the age of eighteen, and got married far too young, because I saw my husband as my saviour. Then I suddenly found myself divorced (after 8 years), a single mom, without any family support, as both my parents had passed away by then. I had a one-year-old baby and was facing the grim reality of poverty.

I have NO IDEA how I made it, except to say that by God’s grace, I found my way HOME.

It really was a culture shock when I first started attending Hillsong Cape Town, my new Church home. I wasn’t aware of how much hurt and pain I was still dragging along with me, but I found myself surrounded by a Church family that spoke so much life over each other, and over me and my son.

Slowly but surely, in this safe and loving environment, I could feel how GOD was healing me of the pain of my difficult past. I’d been betrayed by authority figures, but in Church I learned that authority is there to cover and protect us. I’d been told that I would never amount to anything, but in Church I was told that I am a world changer. I used to believe that being a woman was a weakness, but at Sisterhood I learned how strong and valued women are in God’s Kingdom.

Church isn’t just a building we go to every Sunday. As the Body of Christ, the Church lives and breathes in you and me. We are a movement. And as we move together to be the change in our schools, workplaces, cities, country and continent – in Jesus’ name – I believe wholeheartedly that THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!

~ By Magriet Smit