Friday
We haven’t had any serious winter storms recently, but today the north wind picked up and blew strongly across the Cape. Rain came sweeping in and it’s got cold and wet. It really was an afternoon & evening to batten down the hatches and stay inside eating soup. There was very little work to be done today, so it’s been pretty relaxing. In fact, I actually had an afternoon snooze! What a treat. I also went to my ladies’ meeting this morning. It’s Riana’s birthday so it was great to be there.
The plan for today was to go to Swellendam to baby sit so Adrian and Stacey could have a 10th anniversary date. But with the weather, it was just impractical and we all decided to delay it until we have decent weather.
Nugget from my journey: this is what happened after Mike and I had been married for a few months. We had settled well into a beautiful two bed-roomed flat in Tamboerskloof. I would walk to the Leeuwendal where I first worked in the surgical ward. It was while I was working there, that God started orchestrating an amazing plan. Mike had been working at the Y for 7 years. Now married, he wanted to provide for me and our future family, so he approached the Y for a R40000 loan to buy a flat. He was running the Y and it was really prospering. He rewired the kitchen, painted every room, did all the shopping, serviced all the appliances, carpet tiled every room and made it so profitable, the board asked him to stop making so much money as it was non-profit making! He knew the financial state of the Y and a loan would be a feasible. He had proven himself. There was no reason for them to say no, but they did. It was disappointing, but also very telling. If we were going to be able to afford to buy property, Mike would have to return to the commercial world. Going into ministry is almost easier than getting out of it, particularly, as by now (end of 1986), Mike had been out of his profession (as a land surveyor) for 10 years.
He was not looking for a new job, but the Lord opened a door that was random and completely unexpected. And it started in the surgical ward of Leeuwendal Hospital. I had only been working there a couple of weeks when I was told a regular patient was being admitted and that he was very important. He was coming in for surgery. I’ll call him Mr Len. One day I went into his private ward with one of the staff nurses who brightly greeted him and while working on tidying the ward and making his bed, the staff nurse asked “So Mr Len, what do you do?” “Oh,” he said, “I’m a land surveyor and town planner.” Now with Mike being a land surveyor, I couldn’t help but jump in and tell him so. “Oh, my husband’s a land surveyor,” I enthusiastically announced, “but he’s not working as one at the moment.” That caught Mr Len’s attention. “What does he do?” he asked. I explained and he suddenly was very interested. “Are you sure he’s a land surveyor? Does he have a degree?” “Yes,” I said. “He studied at the University of Natal.” “I want to meet him” said Mr Len with conviction. I was taken aback. I went home and told Mike and in time he went to the hospital and met Mr Len who then made an appointment for him with one of the directors of his firm in Paarl. One scorching Saturday in about September of 1986, we drove through to Paarl and Mike had a formal interview. The next thing we knew, after much prayer and consideration, Mike resigned from the Y, I resigned from the Leeuwendal, we packed up our flat and we moved to Paarl.
That was how Mike got back into land surveying. God always has a plan.
We lived in Paarl from January 1987 until April 1989. Mike saw the company was not doing so well and after two years, he found a more secure job with the City of Cape Town. He started there in January 1989, driving to and from Paarl for the first 4 months of 1989. On 1st May 1989, we moved into the house we still live in. Mike worked for the Council from 01/1989 to 02/2016 = 27 years. What a blessing having him home.
Psalm 59:16
I will sing of Your strength, in the morning, I will sing of Your love, for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.
God is faithful.
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gym:
- Ran 5km + 5 minutes cooling down.
- Then did some weight machines til an hour was up.
Braces:
Day 220. My next orthodontist appointment is day 233. It’s a morning one so must be quite long.