For the present, I have done enough travelling! Since my last post, I left for South Africa on the 11th of June, and arrived at 18h30. A friend picked me up from the airport, and then we had to go to the house of some friends who stay in Silver Lakes – to pick up a car that they were kindly letting me borrow to use to drive down to Vryheid with. My sister went through a pothole on the way down the other day and didn’t fancy the idea of me driving with her car without a spare tyre. The Lord has really been spoiling me! I drove down to Vryheid the morning of the 12th, and came back on the 19th, so I had just about one solid week with my mom.
I had some work I thought I would get to – but I didn’t really… My mom’s two brothers were also there for the first few days, and so everyone was basically really busy in the house and garden, sorting out quite a lot of stuff for my mom. I mostly vegged in front of the television and tried to get my mom to watch “The lives of others” with me for more than 15 minutes at a time. I think I did realise my goal with the week though, namely to rest, to get some spiritual refreshment and to help my mom on the basic level of doing stuff in the house and in town for her so that she can relax a bit before going back to work.
The Friday after I got there, I received the sad news that a friend of mine from school – we were in the same class since grade 5 – had died in a motorcycle accident. My grandmother gets to be 87 and undergoes suffering almost beyond the point of endurance before the Lord finally takes her home, and Jan Hendrik dies less than a month after turning 27 and just when life was really going well for him and he was more than ever his parents’ pride and joy. All this has reminded me how mysterious the doctrine of God’s sovereignty is, and how we can’t presume to know His ways and thoughts. And yet I believe the only way to greater insight is through embracing His sovereignty and resting in it, trusting Him to know best how to work for His glory and our joy.
Leaving my mom again was no fun, I really had to block out all thoughts of her being alone frome now on and force myself not to cry. And yet I know the Lord is looking after her and that none of us are ever truly alone. More than five hours’ driving brought me back to Pretoria, where I had a few precious hours with my sister Jacomien, who had gotten back from Italy just hours before. And then bright and early yesterday morning I was on my way to the airport again… Once again it was such a blessing to come home to somebody, this time Allison, and to be able to spend a bit of time with her before she leaves for Brazil for more than a month on Sunday. Now I can just trust the Lord to give me the energy and presence of mind to get back into working mode and get my mind around everything that needs to be done!
