Carina & Rustin Vigne, Oudtshoorn
Carina and Rustin, a farming mother and son due, use a tracker device to keep tabs on their sheep on the farm as they have no one to watch over them. Late at night, after a full day’s work, they must go and fetch the sheep and use the tracker to find them. Sometimes the battery runs low, or the tracker falls of the neck of the sheep carrying it. On one such an occasion, when the tracker was lost, Rustin found the sheep in a neighbour’s farm and was herding them back home when they took a different path to the usual one. As he was getting upset with them for wasting his time, in the beam of his small head lamp, he saw the tiny tracking device, about the size of a large coin, lying in the road. What are the chances of him finding it, but if God pointed him to it, using the wayward sheep stubbornly going their own way.
A while later the same tracking device fell of the neck of the sheep again and they could only narrow the area down to about 500m² according to the last GPS readings they had when the sheep was still wearing the device. About two months passed since the loss and Rustin forgot about is, while Carina still prayed for it to be found, to make finding the sheep at night so much easier. On a specific day Rustin got his vehicle back from being fixed and was listening for strange noises while driving home on the dirt road into the farm. His attention was fixed on the engine noises and the road when suddenly he heard a clear command to look for the tracker! He stopped and saw the tracker lying on the side of the road. He could not believe his eyes and new it was a miracle that they found it in the middle of nowhere. He was amazed at how Father cares for the small worries of our lives.
At work, where Rustin cuts keys for vehicles, he one day broke a key, had to look for alternatives to provide the customer with and just prayed that the customer would understand and not be to upset. Coming back, the client was totally understanding and not at all upset about the broken key.
All of these small incidents just goes to show that God really cares about every small aspect of our lives and that sometimes, instead of making our own plans, we should hand it over to God and trust Him to solve our problems.
Carina and Rustin drives from Oudtshoorn to George daily to get to work. Carina often prays that they do not get pulled over and fined for some or other reason. One day they were pulled over and warned about the tyres of their car, but as soon as they got to work, they forgot all about it.
The next day the same thing happens and this time they are given a fine. Rustin got out to argue with the Metro cop, not feeling too positive because of a previous altercation with the same person. While standing outside the car, receiving the fine, Rustin noticed that the front wheel of the car was a bit flat and turned around to pump the wheel at the garage. By this time, they realised that they will be late getting to George over the mountain pass, as it was also raining at the time. Slowly but surely God started changing Rustin’s feelings towards this incident and the people involved. He felt as if God was using this negative incident for good and thought that they could have been protected from something bad happening on the way to work. As they continued up the rainy pass, cars from the front were flashing lights and warning them. Soon they came across a head-on collision with an elderly couple being pinned in their car. They were the first to stop and could assist the couple and wait with them until their son, the police and an ambulance arrived on the scene.
Afterwards Rustin remembered the officer who gave them the fine saying that it was for their own safety and he wanted to thank the guy for what he did, believing that God used everything that happened to keep him and Carina safe on that day. Coming home to Oudtshoorn on that same afternoon, they did run into the officer, somewhere on a small road, where he usually would not be. Rustin stopped and thanked the man, testifying that his actions on that morning was used by God to protect them on their way to George.
All honour and glory to God for always being in control and using everything good and bad for the furtherance of His Kingdom.