Challenge Good News Paper - 88, 2017
PUBLISHED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
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South African Edition Prison Edition Zimbabwe Edition
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Nowhere to look but up
Several years ago Wayne Hicks decided to kill himself. He sat alone in his home with a bottle of whiskey and a 9mm handgun determined to put an end to his pain.
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Finding all her needs met
Florence Mwale grew up dirt poor in rural Zambia and remembers being so hungry that she would steal relish from her mother's cooking pot to try to get enough to eat before the rest of her large family got their share.
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Pulled back from brink of disaster
Reinier Kuyler is serving six years for armed robbery. Like many prisoners, though, it is only when his life hit rock bottom that things started to look up.
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Anger turned into a smile
Bajuta was once consumed with anger and hidden hurt but today his smile is genuine.
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A life filled with passion
Elreza Mulder has been a committed Christian for over 60 years, but she remembers a time when she was using all her God-given talents for her own glory.
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How safe is your soul?
Here's a quick test to see how safety-conscious you really are...
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Extreme makeover
It is a sad irony that Olivia Goldsmith, author of the book The First Wives Club that championed the cause of spurned older women, died on the operating table during a face lift operation.
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Ladies’ man becomes God’s man
Godfrey Thebe once mocked people who believed in religion and a God they could not see despite having been raised in a Christian home and attending church with his mother.
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Gangster finds God
Lacking a father and born into a poor family, Themba Dhlamini says his frustration at life led to him committing crime from a very early age.
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Hard life finds rest
Isaac Sedumedi’s hard past is evident in his prematurely aging face, with its blind eye and missing teeth. It has taken him most of his 53 years to find the love and freedom he had been looking for in all the wrong places.
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Forgiving my father’s killer
Marcus Doe is no stranger to loss and pain. Orphaned at 11 years of age and feeling let down by a God who seemed to consistently ignore his prayers, Marcus’ fantasies of vengeance became his only coping mechanism.
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Getting it right from the start
Emma-Leigh Basson is only 14 but has already discovered a source of unconditional love that "is the best feeling imaginable".
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A word of rest for weary moms
I was struck recently, when reading the children's report cards that "good" is no longer good enough; "satisfactory" just isn't; and "average" is almost equivalent to poor.
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It is all for a reason
He may be serving a 25-year prison sentence but Duncan Thompson says he would not change a thing in his life
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Gaining a clean record
At some point in life we all need a fresh start. The beginning of a new year reminds me of that. If only we could all go back and avoid making those mistakes that seem to haunt today. If only.
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I know better now
Caring parents gave Thozama Mtshali, known as Thozi, a great start to life but she wishes she had listened to their advice and warnings before it was too late.
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Seeking after the kingdom
“I felt so dirty for my wrong doings. I asked myself how long I was going to keep on living like that,” confesses Eugene Pooe, currently in prison for theft.
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Living dead finds life
Anthony Ndwandwe says his life before prison was nothing and that he was like the “living dead”.
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My life was hell on earth
Kay Liyena feels that she has lived such hell on earth growing up that she certainly doesn't want to go to hell after she dies.
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My liewe was hel op aarde (Afrikaans)
Kay Liyena voel dat sy so hel op aarde gehad het dat sy beslis nie hel toe wil gaan wanneer sy dood gaan nie.
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Impilo yami kwaku yisihogo sasemhlabeni (Zulu)
UKay Liyena uthi impilo yakhe kwaku yisihogo sasemhlabeni ngendlela akhula ngayo kanga ngokuthi akafuni ukuya esihogweni uma esedlula emhlabeni.
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Adulterer finds God on a train
When Albert Thlakole went to Johannesburg, away from his wife, for work, he found the temptation of other women too much to resist – even women from church!
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Virtual reality can ease the pain
According to a recent news report from The Atlantic: "The idea of using VR to reduce the distress of medical procedures was pioneered at the University of Seattle, Washington, where cognitive psychologist Hunter Hoffman and colleagues have developed a VR game called SnowWorld, to help patients endure wound care for severe burns.
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Lessons from a sausage dog (Part 1)
When we walk our sausage dog Carrie in the nearby park in the afternoon I am a struck not only by the wide variety of different types of dogs that people own, but by the different relationships they seem to have with them.
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Jesus said: ‘I am the Truth’
No-one denies that truth is important and no one wants to be deceived. We all know the consequences of untruths, whether it’s adulterous partners, dodgy salesmen, email scams or paedophiles posing as teenage friends on social media.
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From the Gospel of John
John 1:19-42
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The praying footballer
Liverpool and England footballer Daniel Sturridge has regularly made the sport pages for thanking God when he scores.
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Dream bigger than £300,000
Watford are currently enjoying life in the premier League – but one of their strikers is enjoying the top flight so much he turned down millions to move to China.
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