The Chronicles of Load-Shedding . Harold Mawela

 The Algebra of Adversity: Solving for X in the Equation of Your Breaking Scripture: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) I. The Divine Sum From my veranda here in Akasia, where the Pretoria winter has scorched my lawn to a crisp brown, I watch a small boy attempting to solve a mathematics problem on the pavement. He scratches his head, chews his pencil, and erases furiously. He does not yet understand that the frustration is part of the finding. You cannot arrive at the answer without wrestling with the equation. Life is not a series of random events. It is a classroom. And the problems you face—the financial collapse, the marital fracture, the sudden sickness—are not God's punishment. They are His curriculum. The Scripture declares unequivocally: "All things"—not some things, not the pleasant things, but all things—are conscripted into service for your good. ...

 Topic: Favor Over Fluency Scripture: "But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and He gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison." (Genesis 39:21) Favor Over Fluency: Why God’s Fingerprints Outperform Your Diplomas The Night My Vocabulary Failed Me The winter air hung heavy over Akasia, carrying that peculiar Pretoria North chill that seeps through the cracks of even our best-built homes. I sat in my study, the weight of an important meeting pressing against my chest like a boulder. Tomorrow, I would address a gathering of influential community leaders—people with degrees plastered on walls, people whose English flowed like the Vaal River after good rains, people who pronounced every syllable with the precision of a news anchor. And me? I am Harold Mawela, a boy from the dusty streets, whose tongue sometimes stumbles over consonants, whose grammar occasionally bends in ways the linguists never intended. I spent that night rehearsing, polishing, perfect...

Title: The Alchemy of Affliction Text: Philippians 3:10 By Harold Mawela Akasia, Pretoria I was sitting in my study late one night, the kind of Pretoria quiet where you can hear the geyser ticking and the occasional bark of a nervous dog. Load shedding had hit again—Stage Four, because of course—and the only light in the room came from a single candle and the pale blue glow of my cellphone. I watched the flame dance, and a thought settled on me like a winter blanket: Fire does not only destroy. It also purifies. We are, all of us, living in a furnace right now. Look at the headlines. We read about another child found in a drain in Tshwane. We see the statistics on gender-based violence that make your stomach turn. We watch the politicking and the looting and the decay of what we thought was a promised land. The economy groans. Friendships fracture. Marriages grow cold. And in the quiet of our own hearts, we nurse wounds that no one else can see. The question is not whether you will pas...

 Title: The Mirror of Your Mandate Scripture: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." — Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV) The Man in the Glass I saw my face in the darkened screen of my laptop this morning. Load-shedding had stolen the light again—Stage 4, they called it, as if we are counting plagues now instead of power failures. The reflection stared back at me: a man in Akasia, surrounded by the familiar hum of neighbourhood generators, sitting in the half-darkness of a city that cannot keep its promises. And in that dim reflection, the Holy Spirit asked me a question I could not escape: Who are you trying to impress? Let us define our terms clearly, for confusion here is fatal. A mandate is not merely a job. It is not a job title, a salary bracket, or the size of your YouTube following. Your mandate is the specific assignment the living God downloaded into your spirit before the foundation of th...

Title: The Mathematics of Miracles Scripture: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." (Galatians 6:9) The Thermodynamics of the Spirit I was sitting on my stoep in Akasia last Thursday, watching the kettle boil. Sounds ordinary, neh? But the Holy Spirit arrested me right there with a mathematics so profound it has rearranged my entire prayer life. The difference between hot water and power is one degree. Let that sink into your spirit. At 211 degrees Fahrenheit, you have effort. At 212 degrees Fahrenheit, you have energy. Same element. Same process. Same energy expenditure. But that one extra degree transforms a hot beverage into a locomotive force that can drive pistons, generate electricity, and move mountains. Most believers in Pretoria—most believers across this nation—are dying in the 211-degree zone. Close to the miracle. Proximity to the promise. But conquered by fatigue when the breakthrough breathes...

 The Currency of Conquest: Why Your Pocket is Empty but Your Purpose is Full By Harold Mawela Akasia, Pretoria In the bustling heart of Akasia, where the Pretoria sun warms the red earth and the distant hum of the N14 speaks of a nation in a hurry, I sat recently with a young entrepreneur. He was distraught. His start-up was stalling, his "side-hustle" was sliding, and he looked at me with the weary eyes of a man who had mistaken a temporary delay for a permanent defeat. "Harold," he said, "I’ve fasted. I’ve tilled the ground. Why is the harvest hiding?" I looked at him and realized he was suffering from a modern South African malady: The Poverty of Perception. We live in a country currently gripped by "Load-Shedding of the Soul." We see the rolling blackouts of our economy, the fluctuating Rand, and the scandals filling our newsfeeds, and we allow the darkness outside to dictate the degree of light within. But let us define our terms clearly. Fa...