DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — Neema’s throat tightened as she contemplated the choice before her. Her daughter Sezikana sat weeping for her stillborn baby while another woman in the same maternity ward with a healthy child lay in a coma. One child was alive, the other was not.

Neema gave one more agonizing glance between the two babies and made her decision.

A year and a half later, the baby was a smiling toddler with no idea his maman wasn’t his real mother. But Neema and Sezikana knew. And though they adored the stolen child and did their best to suppress the pain of what they had done, the truth was difficult to ignore.

Neema and Sezikana, like many in Congo, knew Jesus, but their lives had not been transformed by the splendor of the gospel. That is, not until they began attending a church-based support group* in their community.

“Unchurched people are finding the support group to be a place of comfort, healing and community in war-torn DRC,” said Crossworld worker Dana, who helped initiate the support groups. “Broken marriages are healing and parents are accepting prodigal children back home. People are learning the joy of obedience to Christ and the freedom from sin’s guilt, shame and fear as they become faithful in responding to the Bible and the prompting of the Holy Spirit.”

After encountering God’s truth in the support group, Neema and Sezikana came to another choice before them: Would they follow Jesus in obedience, knowing what it would cost?

Not many days later, Neema and Sezikana sat across from the child’s real family. The sin had been confessed and the child returned to his rightful home. The goat the two families now ate together was no trivial meal, but a sign to the community that they were now reconciled. Much more, it was evidence that two women who had harbored an 18-month secret were now reconciled to their heavenly Father.

Making disciples often involves revisiting past mistakes and sins. How can you help those around you overcome past sins with the splendor of the gospel?

*Church-based support groups in the DRC bring God’s love to life in communities plagued by conflict, poverty, HIV/AIDS, joblessness, discouragement… and it’s a great grassroots effort.

Italicized names were changed to protect identities.