An excerpt from chapter nine of The Sisterhood Secret: Changing the World Together, One Woman at a Time by Levina Mulandi

All of us hunger to see the relevance of what we are doing. A sense of significance also brings joy and a feeling of reward at work. Our work is not just intended to provide our daily bread or even just our families. God instructed the prophet Jeremiah to tell the people, “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7).

Mueni is a medical doctor. After our Bible study discussed how we could live out Jeremiah’s call to bring peace and prosperity in our cities, she resigned from her well-paying job at a private hospital and took a job as a paediatrician in an under-resourced county hospital. She noticed that the hospital couldn’t afford the incubators and utility bills to keep pre-term babies warm enough to survive. She introduced a new way of incubating preemies: the kangaroo carrier. Mothers tie their babies snug against their bosoms using a local African wrap, and the mother’s natural body heat keeps the baby warm and safe. Since babies need this warmth for almost 20 hours a day, fathers are encouraged to carry the babies too.

When I visited her hospital, I noticed the now-clean corridors were hung with posters about preemie milestones to look out for. Mothers, nurses, and visitors walked around carrying the babies. One young mother said, “since I started doing the kangaroo posture, my preterm baby is adding weight fast and I look forward to being discharged soon.” Another mother of twin preemies shared, “We have lost two babies preterm. I look forward to going home with my babies this time around. This doctor has really helped us.”

God positioned Mueni as a paediatrician to save lives and bring glory to God. In fact, her work points to God’s work of redeeming creation. Isaiah envisions how in God’s new creation, “no longer will babies die when only a few days old” (Isaiah 65:20). When we get engaged in seeking the prosperity and peace of the places where God has planted us, it changes everything!

Together with your younger sisters, look around. The world has numerous problems to be addressed. Are we willing to address them? It is so easy to simply work for our personal benefit. How desperately we need a vision and love for people outside our cloistered circles! To get my younger sisters thinking beyond themselves, I like to ask, “If you had five minutes in front of your city governor, what would you ask them to do to help increase hope and prosperity in the city?” Answering this question in a group setting helps them to identify the needs in their city and become more open to being part of the solution.

The next question is, “Who is responsible to address the needs you see? Do we as sisters have a role to play?” See where your sister’s education and work naturally intersect with the problems of the people and the places in her community. Is she willing to get the education and skills needed to help address some of these problems?

Then ask God to show her what she is to do. Ask him to give you and your younger sister passion and ideas of ways to invest in the poor in our community or rebuild the ruined places and communities in your city. Pray for conviction and courage to do something.

I used to think you had to be specially gifted and in an important position for God to use you, but having walked with younger sisters for a while, I have come to know that you simply need to say “yes.” Whether she is an accountant, a primary school teacher, a housewife, a student, a chief executive officer, a flight attendant, or a news anchor, she is God’s workmanship. She is created in Christ Jesus for good works that make a difference in the community at large for the glory of God. Her ordinary work done as unto the Lord Jesus is a pleasing act of worship.

The Sisterhood Secret: Changing the World Together One Woman at a time will be released at the end of 2021. In this book, Dr Mulandi casts a vision by telling stories of some of the 50 women in Nairobi, Kenya she has discipled. More than Bible study or a church program, Dr Mulandi shares how she empowers any woman to mentor younger women, guiding them to understand their identity, discern the purpose of their lives, and be transformed to be more like Christ. Sign up here to stay up-to-date with release dates!