The Chronicles of Load-Shedding . Harold Mawela

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...

The Architecture of Allegiance: Building the Bastion of Belief In the shadow of the Magaliesberg, as the sun dips behind the rooftops of Akasia, I’ve watched the Pretoria skyline flicker to life. But lately, I’ve noticed a different kind of flickering—the unstable light of the human mind. We live in an era of "Digital Distraction and Desktop Delusions." Whether it’s the constant ping of a WhatsApp group debating the latest SAPS briefing or the anxiety of the National Health Insurance (NHI) rollout, our mental real estate is being foreclosed upon by the bank of public panic. We must define our terms clearly: Peace is not the absence of a problem; it is the presence of a Person. Focus is not the exclusion of chaos; it is the enthronement of Christ. The Personal Parable: The Broken Perimeter Last week, while driving through the bustling streets near Wonderpark Mall, I saw a magnificent house with a towering boundary wall. It looked impenetrable. Yet, the gate was swinging wide o...

 Title: The Warfare of Rest: Why Your Stillness Confuses the Enemy Scripture: "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." (Psalm 46:10) Introduction: The Exhaustion Epidemic Let me be honest with you, beloved. I am writing this from my study in Akasia, just as the Pretoria afternoon heat begins to relent. Outside my window, the taxis hoot on the Mabopane Highway, and somewhere a neighbour's generator coughs to life because, well, this is South Africa in 2026—we plan for load shedding like we plan for December. And speaking of December, did we not just witness something beautiful? A British woman went viral on TikTok recently, utterly baffled by our South African habit of shutting down the entire month. She could not understand why we treat December not as a month, but as a lifestyle . We laughed at the video because it was true. We know something she does not know. We know that Dezemba is not laziness; it is sur...