(Before the service, Rev Friedel Stegen shared how he had felt led on Tuesday to visit her in hospital. There he prayed with her and her two daughters that were with her, praising God for her life, her testimony and how she had been blessing to so many people and to God's work on earth.
After the prayer they left and drove home. While still on the road, they received the message that she had gone home to be with the Lord. He was so thankful that they had been able to visit her in her last hour.)

"I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High." (Psalm 9:1-2).

We bring praises to God, to His Name, for the life of Khulu Dube. Her life has been like a barn full of treasures.

When she got converted, the Lord began to do wonderful things in her home. Previously there had been friction and she would backchat her husband. But the day she got converted it all changed. She cleaned the house and put clean linen on his bed and made it neatly. When her husband got home he was amazed to see the difference. As he sat on the bed in drunken astonishment, she entered with a dish of warm water to wash his feet. In the past he had to shout for water and then she would bring it cold.

She had a longing that others and especially her children would find the Lord Jesus too. Eventually all her children were saved and others came to the Lord too. She didn't win them with preaching and lots of talking, but by her life.

Once she came and asked for a little money to buy food for someone whom she wanted to help, who was famished because of a long journey. Afterwards I asked her where she knew that lady from. She answered that that lady had an affair with her husband. When he would go for a drink, he would afterwards first pass by her before coming home. I realised that she was an extraordinary person in that she dealt with the situation so differently to what one would expect, and in that way she won that woman and saved her own marriage.

Once a customer of the shop where she was working came to her and told her how he could, by occult spells, deceive the person at the till to let him buy things with much less money than the actual cost. But with Mrs Dube he could never get it right. The spiritist man realised then that it was because she was a true Christian.

Her husband also started to see the difference in her life more and more and to respect her although he was still was an alcoholic. He began to listen when she spoke and took note of what she said, because of her quiet advice which proved correct, although he had ignored it before. It happened on a number of occasions that he told her that he was going to go somewhere or do something and she felt that it was the wrong thing. So she told him gently, but did not press her point. He had gone ahead anyway, but things went wrong. This happened a few times.

She had high hopes for her eldest daughter to get a good education and then well paying employment, but while still at school, Lydia felt God's call on her life. This was difficult to agree to for her as mother.When her daughter became seriously ill, they called me to pray for her. We knelt next to the bed. Before I could pray she called out, pleading with God; "I agree Lord, I agree Lord, I agree Lord, your will be done". At that moment her daughter recovered completely.

She came to me one day and said that she had a burden for souls and wanted to serve God full-time. "But", she said, "I don't know what my husband will say". I said to her, "If God is calling you, hear from Him how you should approach the matter and how you should share it with your husband". She prayed and waited for the right time as God led her. Then one morning she felt that the time was right and she spoke to her husband about the matter and he wasn't even surprised. He said to her, "last night I had a dream that you packed your suitcase and left to preach the Gospel". So, she was free to serve the Lord  with his blessing.

This is a lesson to us that, as the Bible says, there is a time for everything - there is a time to speak and a time to keep quiet. We need to be in tune with God to know when to speak and when to keep quiet.

She also resigned at the shop where she was working and from that day she experienced how God provided for her and her family as He feeds the sparrows. She came to me and shared with me how someone gave her an envelope with money for her and her family. This happened more than once.
She said when she needed something she went into her room and shared her need with God and He was always faithful to provide in all her needs.

It was strange to her that some people would claim that God called them to work for Him, but then they would worry about what they would eat and drink, and they would go around asking for money. She said she experienced how God cared for those whom He calls, they should go to Him with their needs.

I thank the Lord for people such as Mrs Dube who are connected to heaven and can hear God's voice. We praise God for "His marvellous works". The Lord Jesus wants us all to be connected to Him so that His works would be revealed through us, for His glory.

 

A Tribute to Khulu Dube by her son-in-law, Fano Sibisi, in Word format, in Zulu, (English translation to come).