My name is Simon Mataboge. I live in Rustenburg and believe that I have always been blessed by God and I am always aware of His presence in my life. I would like to share two short stories with you – how God created the opportunity for me to meet my wife and how He created a work opportunity for me that changed my life.
As a young man I was part of a local football team. One day we went to Hammanskraal to play football and one of our team’s players was injured during the game. As the captain of the team I had to go to the hospital to see how he was doing. At the hospital I met my wife, Rachel, who was a nursing sister at the Jubilee Mission hospital in Hammanskraal. After the meeting we started corresponding and upon my invitation she came to Rustenburg to visit. She was originally from Soweto and busy with training in Hammanskraal at the time of our encounter. We fell in love and at some stage I visited her parents with her. They were loving people, her father a Priest and her mother a factory worker. Rachel’s mother was a very loving women and a good example to her. We got married and were blessed with three children during our 42 years of marriage. In spite of ups and downs we were meant to be together and complimented each other perfectly. I firmly believe that it was by God’s grace that I met her and that He brought us together. Our children today are all grown-ups, well balanced and have with no serious problems, also a blessing from God.
In 1969 – ’71 I worked for a firm of attorneys and was content with work and enjoying playing football, making a name for myself. One day I was on my way home to prepare for practice when out of the blue an Indian friend approached me with a job offer. I was very sceptical because I was focused on the legal profession and wanted to learn more and to study and become a layer myself. Against my own feelings and thinking at the time, I went to see him the next day at their place of work, called National Food Distributors, a subsidiary of Premium Milling Company. I was immediately employed and my salary increased by 3 times and I got a company car on the spot. I thoroughly enjoyed the work as a sales representative because I met a lot of interesting people through my work. In due time I worked my way up to a management position. I can’t thank God enough for giving me that opportunity for I met many life-long friends, created family bonds and it showed me the good qualities in people. Until today I believe that this opportunity from God was not only the base of my work experience but the chance to build life-long, strong trust relationships with so many people from different strata of life who still today consider me family.
My wife and I often reflected upon the fact that this was the beginning of God’s perfect provision for us as a family, always providing ample to meet all our needs perfectly, according to His will. Even during retrenchment from that company, with lots of financial responsibilities at the time, I believe that God released me to move on to do my own thing. The solid relationships I built over years carried me through.
As time went on I bought businesses, ending up in the bookshop industry. I was afforded the opportunity to coordinate bookstore owners, initially in NorthWest province, later nationally and even across the whole of Southern Africa, being an asset to our country’s economy. We created job opportunities and benefitted many people. I believe this was all part of God’s plan and the purpose He had in mind for me.
I believe it is important that we learn to be content with what God provides for us and that we must become aware of God’s hand in our lives.
Simon Mataboge
Rustenburg
If and when this Testimony has spoken into your heart, please go to the Commitment page.