As our theme was “A Reason to Believe”, allow me to share a few of the testimonies of the families whom we had the privilege to meet on our way around the Kamanassie Mountain area.
I believe that each of these short testimonies prove to us as believers that Father is real and cares for every aspect of our lives.
Hennie & Rene Burger and family, Buffelsklip
Rene testifies – Our daughter, Ziske, suffered from severe depression from the age of 16, not believing in her own self-worth. I was attending a weekend where Julius Magan and Lindie Gouws were doing ministry and she came from Bible School to join me for the weekend. At that time, we did not realise how bad her depression was. After praise and worship Lindie started to prophesy over people and I prayed to Abba, asking that Lindie must have Word to share with Ziske. Lindie announced that she was done but, out of the blue, she turned around, coming straight at Ziske, declaring: “You will NOT take your own life! You are set apart. You are surrounded by a ring of fire.” After this happened Ziske worked towards health and wellness and getting out of the depression. Today we still believe that she is set apart because, despite her desire for a relationship and her own family she is at peace with her situation.
Ziske shares that she used to be envious of her brothers and other who are in relationships but that she is at peace not having someone special in her life now. She believes that the pruning process had to happen to get her to a place of being content on her own. Now she is happy, whether she finds her special someone or not.
Hennie said that while they were still commuting between Helderkruin, where they used to live and the farm here in Buffelsklip, their house in Helderkruin was completely vandalised and stripped of everything, even lights and bathroom fixtures. On top of all the damages, the insurance refused a pay-out, saying that they were not notified that the house would be left unattended for such a long period of time. The reason for the long absence was that they used to be on the farm for at least a month at a time, trying to set everything up for the permanent move to the Klein Karoo. Everything went wrong at once – vehicles breaking down, work colleagues giving Hennie a hard time, Rene and the children left alone on the farm to do everything, etc.
At the time, unbeknownst to Rene and the children, Hennie was really struggling, finding himself in a dark place of wanting to drive off a mountain, everything just piling up against him. They attended a Julius Magan worship evening and Hennie prayed for Julius to touch him, as the proof to him that Abba was real. As Julius was roaming amongst the crowd, he came and stood next to Hennie, touching his shoulder, and prayed for him. Then he knew that all will be well. This did by no means solve all of Hennie’s problems BUT it gave him hope and strengthened his faith, which is what he needed most at that time.
At the same time, Rene got to know an elderly woman living in a small hut on a nearby farm, surviving only off her small state pension. An eccentric woman whom she often came across at Bible study. At a time when Hennie & Rene really did not have enough to pay their farm workers, she received a call from this elderly lady. She stated that God spoke to her during her prayer time, saying that she must give half of the little pension money that she had for the month to Rene.