I joked with the Saturday Rangers last week when we prayed for those who had birthdays during the week that I also have an anniversary of some sorts. Dries has been away from home for one whole year now. I still wonder how that is even possible and how Covid 19 was allowed to ruin people’s lives on so many levels. I refrain from dwelling on the fact that I don’t know how we can ever recover financially. Gabriel has not seen maintenance for a year now, not to even speak of the Land Rover. I try my best to do what I can, but my efforts in this regard are merely superficial. So when my quad bike broke down on the road three weeks ago, it was a case of the proverbial ‘the last straw to break the camel’s back’, scenario.
It was how this setback played out which showed me once again that God takes care of us. I phoned PM who told me to ‘hang in there’, he was on his way. He showed up with the truck, the quad was loaded onto the back of the truck before I could even dry my feeling sorry for myself tears. Rolland, an Austrian friend of ours sent his mechanic who confirmed Dries’s diagnosis of a broken drive belt. What should have been a very ordinary part to replace, turned out to be really challenging as there was not a single belt to be found anywhere on this island. I already prepared myself to cover the quad and forget about it when Rolland found a second hand belt to help out until we found a new one. So, after almost getting used to using tuc-tucs again, I got my quad back. And it was then that I knew God was saying that if He could take care of the small things why was I so anxious about what seems to me to be unsurmountable.
At about the same time Liaan and Elizna told me that they have found a flight to South Africa via Paris on 26 December. Liaan in his usual no nonsense way, told me that I was going with them. This is the only way out of Madagascar for now. And I could not even find a return flight, because France is closed to South Africans. Well, I thought that returning was another day’s burden, I need to get re-united with my husband. We have exhausted all the options short of finding a secret submarine.
Leaving here not knowing when I will be able to return, is a scary thought. It is the cyclone season and we have a boat to consider. I have done everything I can to assure that everything and everyone will be taken care of in my absence. We trust that Dries and I will be able to return together. God is in control. I am at peace with this decision.
God bless!