Led by Faith: Rising from the Ashes of the Rwandan Genocide Book

I read Left To Tell the month before moving to Rwanda. It was remarkable to see the incredible faith of someone who had lived such tragedy, but a little difficult to imagine the reality. Reading Led By Faith was a different experience altogether.

I currently live across the street from Pastor Murinzi's house where Immaculee hid for three months. When she speaks of killers in the street, it is almost impossible to really believe that she is literally talking about the dirt road in front of my house. Hearing the names of the places I go on runs, or where I like to my spend days off...it really hits a different chord with me.

I realize how grateful I am to be here and to witness a Rwanda so unlike the one she suffered in. It is the most beautiful country in the world, full of people who greet you in the street and watch out for you like family. Immaculee speaks the truth when she writes about the Rwanda now--this country built from the ashes of genocide.

Forgiveness plays a role in all 11 billion people living in this tiny country. Even if they didn't witness the genocide, they live it out in different ways. If I didn't know the tragedy, that most of my village and the surrounding villages were wiped out completely in 1994, I would never imagine there had ever been a war or even a disagreement.

People carry themselves with love and friendship...and I think this is the message Immaculee wishes to give the world. Although the Rwandan people are truly a Godly people, they are still human. If they can overcome a massacre of such proportions and live on to tell their stories and love their enemies...who are we to say that we have been hurt too greatly? Who are we to withhold forgiveness?

I am inspired daily by this country and the beautiful people who live here...and I am thankful Immaculee has shared her story with the world, so they can see Rwanda as something more, much more, than a genocide.