MiLife
Be a part of my day-to-day world and see what I do.
What has your journey been since joining MiXchange?
Well, this is quite a loaded question because I have been on a journey for two and a half years which has affected every area of my life.
The journey that I have been on spiritually is the core of my whole journey in MiXchange. You can read more about my testimony on my website, but when I joined MiXchange I came knowing that God wanted me here and that He had a plan and a purpose for my life, but I still came with having a back door open to go and study a BSc or BHSc degree. A massive part of my journey spiritually was to begin to really trust God and take Him on His Word that He has the perfect plan for my life and that He does not want me to go back to the institutions that He saved me from.
I have grown spiritually in the Lord, learning to trust Him with my life, learning how to follow Him and developing my relationship with the Lord. I have had a few encounters with the Lord that has helped me along the way. One of the significant encounters is where God answered a desire of my heart by being able to see something that people around me said was almost impossible to see. It is not that seeing this sight added any material or natural benefit to my life, but it was so significant to me that God answered this desire of my heart at a time of great decision-making for me. It was at this point that in my heart I went full tilt with God and decided to go all in to trust Him with my future.
However, this decision did not go uncontested in my soul. A few months later there was another situation that arose where the Lord helped me to remain strong and firm in my decision to follow Him. It was a moment where I had to very directly confront my past ambitions and the future that I envisioned for myself in the past. When I came through on the other side of this confrontation, I had made much spiritual progress because had I overcome.
Now, where I find myself spiritually, especially since Brother Jerry came earlier this year, is in a place where I am going to new levels in my relationship with God and in enjoying my relationship with Him. I have a great hunger to grow in my walk with Him and I desire to become a mature son of God, being in the likeness of Jesus.
In this whole spiritual journey that I have been on, all other areas of my life have been affected. For example, my perspective on relationships continues to change. When I began in MiXchange, relationships were more of something that I had to maintain and they were a responsibility. I was counting the cost of relationships rather than counting the blessings of relationships in my life. However, by integrating with the MiXchangers and the family that I am staying with, I have come to realise that relationships are the sweet fragrance of life and that relationships give much more than what they demand. When my heart is right towards relationships, they are very rewarding and are essential to me fulfilling what God has called me to become and to do.
Another aspect of the journey that I have been on with physical conditioning and looking after my body. Just a few months prior to joining MiXchange, for the first time, I began to take conditioning more seriously. Before that, I was very academically focussed and my training was not of great value to me. In MiXchange, we started to train more as a group and we began to learn discipline and consistency in training. The more we trained, the more that I could see the benefits of looking after my body physically and the more I enjoyed it. However, when we began to look at doing some bigger cycling events, it became something that I had to watch that I did not give more attention to training than I should have and that I don’t compare my progress to the progress of other people. I had to learn to keep the balance of still pushing myself in training and being able to do these events with the team, but without compromising on other areas of my life. I am still learning how to keep this balance and although I may still miss it at times, I know that I am still growing and will more and more learn how to keep the balance. I am very grateful for conditioning in my life because not only is it honouring the body that God gave me and beneficial for my health, but it is a great joy to me.
On this journey, I have also had to develop in personal leadership. I have had to learn to be disciplined and consistent in working on Bible school assignments. I have had to learn and still have much learning to do on how to be a good steward of my finances. I had to learn to be able to adjust my plans and my expectations of how a day will look when plans change or when there is a surge in the ministry.
All of these things have formed part of the journey that I am on. I know that I am still learning and growing, but I praise God that He has brought me a long way from where I was. Knowing this, it just makes me more excited to see where God will take me from here.
Journalling My Journey
6 July 2023
Journalling My Journey
6 July 2023
What has your journey been since joining MiXchange?
Well, this is quite a loaded question because I have been on a journey for two and a half years which has affected every area of my life.
The journey that I have been on spiritually is the core of my whole journey in MiXchange. You can read more about my testimony on my website, but when I joined MiXchange I came knowing that God wanted me here and that He had a plan and a purpose for my life, but I still came with having a back door open to go and study a BSc or BHSc degree. A massive part of my journey spiritually was to begin to really trust God and take Him on His Word that He has the perfect plan for my life and that He does not want me to go back to the institutions that He saved me from.
I have grown spiritually in the Lord, learning to trust Him with my life, learning how to follow Him and developing my relationship with the Lord. I have had a few encounters with the Lord that has helped me along the way. One of the significant encounters is where God answered a desire of my heart by being able to see something that people around me said was almost impossible to see. It is not that seeing this sight added any material or natural benefit to my life, but it was so significant to me that God answered this desire of my heart at a time of great decision-making for me. It was at this point that in my heart I went full tilt with God and decided to go all in to trust Him with my future.
However, this decision did not go uncontested in my soul. A few months later there was another situation that arose where the Lord helped me to remain strong and firm in my decision to follow Him. It was a moment where I had to very directly confront my past ambitions and the future that I envisioned for myself in the past. When I came through on the other side of this confrontation, I had made much spiritual progress because had I overcome.
Now, where I find myself spiritually, especially since Brother Jerry came earlier this year, is in a place where I am going to new levels in my relationship with God and in enjoying my relationship with Him. I have a great hunger to grow in my walk with Him and I desire to become a mature son of God, being in the likeness of Jesus.
In this whole spiritual journey that I have been on, all other areas of my life have been affected. For example, my perspective on relationships continues to change. When I began in MiXchange, relationships were more of something that I had to maintain and they were a responsibility. I was counting the cost of relationships rather than counting the blessings of relationships in my life. However, by integrating with the MiXchangers and the family that I am staying with, I have come to realise that relationships are the sweet fragrance of life and that relationships give much more than what they demand. When my heart is right towards relationships, they are very rewarding and are essential to me fulfilling what God has called me to become and to do.
Another aspect of the journey that I have been on with physical conditioning and looking after my body. Just a few months prior to joining MiXchange, for the first time, I began to take conditioning more seriously. Before that, I was very academically focussed and my training was not of great value to me. In MiXchange, we started to train more as a group and we began to learn discipline and consistency in training. The more we trained, the more that I could see the benefits of looking after my body physically and the more I enjoyed it. However, when we began to look at doing some bigger cycling events, it became something that I had to watch that I did not give more attention to training than I should have and that I don’t compare my progress to the progress of other people. I had to learn to keep the balance of still pushing myself in training and being able to do these events with the team, but without compromising on other areas of my life. I am still learning how to keep this balance and although I may still miss it at times, I know that I am still growing and will more and more learn how to keep the balance. I am very grateful for conditioning in my life because not only is it honouring the body that God gave me and beneficial for my health, but it is a great joy to me.
On this journey, I have also had to develop in personal leadership. I have had to learn to be disciplined and consistent in working on Bible school assignments. I have had to learn and still have much learning to do on how to be a good steward of my finances. I had to learn to be able to adjust my plans and my expectations of how a day will look when plans change or when there is a surge in the ministry.
All of these things have formed part of the journey that I am on. I know that I am still learning and growing, but I praise God that He has brought me a long way from where I was. Knowing this, it just makes me more excited to see where God will take me from here.
Get-to-Know-Me Q&A
15 June 2023
Here’s a quick Q&A to get to know a bit more about me (:
1. What do you like to do in your spare time?
What I do in my spare time varies quite a bit and normally occurs in pockets or moments. When I have the moment, I like to clean my bicycle, neaten up my room or just chill and watch something. This is obviously when I have spent time in the message and in the Word and have my Bible school assignments up to date.
2. What are you passionate about?
Well, first and foremost, I am passionate about my relationship with Jesus and more and more want to get to know Jesus through His Word. But, I am also passionate about riding my bicycle.
3. What is on your bucket list?
Something on my bucket list would be to see the Northern Lights in Iceland.
4. Who knows you best?
I would say that my mom knows me best. She has been around me the most in my life.
5. What is your favourite recent memory?
My favourite recent memory is from our recent trip to America with Pastor John to join Brother Jerry on his 25th Chariots of Light motorcycle tour in California. Although there are many wonderful memories from this trip and I cannot really say that one is a favourite above the other, one of my favourites is the day that I rode on the motorbike. It was one of the last days of the tour and Oom Bertus gave me an opportunity to ride with Simon for the day. This happened to be the day that we rode past the snow on the peaks of the mountains in Yosemite National Park. Getting to see the snow up close was the one thing that I really wanted to do, and God just orchestrated it for me and favoured me that the day that we rode past the snow was the one day of the tour that I was on a motorbike.
6. What skill would you like to learn?
I would really like to learn how to properly ride a horse.
7. What is one thing that instantly makes your day better?
If someone genuinely and authentically says something kind, loving or encouraging to me, it instantly uplifts me and makes my day a whole lot better.
Get-to-Know-Me Q&A
15 June 2023
Here’s a quick Q&A to get to know a bit more about me (:
1. What do you like to do in your spare time?
What I do in my spare time varies quite a bit and normally occurs in pockets or moments. When I have the moment, I like to clean my bicycle, neaten up my room or just chill and watch something. This is obviously when I have spent time in the message and in the Word and have my Bible school assignments up to date.
2. What are you passionate about?
Well, first and foremost, I am passionate about my relationship with Jesus and more and more want to get to know Jesus through His Word. But, I am also passionate about riding my bicycle.
3. What is on your bucket list?
Something on my bucket list would be to see the Northern Lights in Iceland.
4. Who knows you best?
I would say that my mom knows me best. She has been around me the most in my life.
5. What is your favourite recent memory?
My favourite recent memory is from our recent trip to America with Pastor John to join Brother Jerry on his 25th Chariots of Light motorcycle tour in California. Although there are many wonderful memories from this trip and I cannot really say that one is a favourite above the other, one of my favourites is the day that I rode on the motorbike. It was one of the last days of the tour and Oom Bertus gave me an opportunity to ride with Simon for the day. This happened to be the day that we rode past the snow on the peaks of the mountains in Yosemite National Park. Getting to see the snow up close was the one thing that I really wanted to do, and God just orchestrated it for me and favoured me that the day that we rode past the snow was the one day of the tour that I was on a motorbike.
6. What skill would you like to learn?
I would really like to learn how to properly ride a horse.
7. What is one thing that instantly makes your day better?
If someone genuinely and authentically says something kind, loving or encouraging to me, it instantly uplifts me and makes my day a whole lot better.
The past few weeks, a few of the people in our church and I have been in America on a Chariots of Light tour. Although, when we came back to South Africa, my first day back at the office wasn’t even in the office space.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the whole office went to Breakfree, the rehabilitation centre near Cullinan that our ministry supports and has invested in, and we went there to help the centre build a church and a house for one of the facilitators there. So yes, the whole office went to rehab.
There were different groups that focussed on different elements of the build, such as those who cut wood, laid bricks and assembled the wood panels. I was a part of the painting team, so besides taking the planks out to paint and moving the painted planks to where the plank-cutters were, my team and I painted for the whole of the two days there.
It was quite a cool experience for me in that at first, in my flesh, I really didn’t feel like painting and getting dirty the first two days at the office and actually hoped that the team did it while we were away. However, besides the Holy Spirit helping me to enjoy the actual task of painting, I also really experienced a change in my attitude while we were there. In having conversations with other staff and MiXchangers there, I realised that we were actually sowing a significant seed on behalf of the ministry for our buildings, even extending to what God wants to do with the farm. With this attitude change, I ended up really having fun and enjoying our time serving at Breakfree.
I also took something for myself that the person who runs the facility said to us the day that we got there. He said that they were not treating the people at the centre as victims because they made their own choices in life for them to end up in that situation. This was something that I took for myself because if I experience the consequences of sin or bad decisions in my life, even in small areas of not obeying the Word of God, it is not the time to throw a pity party and to see myself as a victim. It is then the time to ask God for help to get through those consequences and to tap into His grace for me to overcome sin.
Breakfree Project
25 May 2023
The past few weeks, a few of the people in our church and I have been in America on a Chariots of Light tour. Although, when we came back to South Africa, my first day back at the office wasn’t even in the office space.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, the whole office went to Breakfree, the rehabilitation centre near Cullinan that our ministry supports and has invested in, and we went there to help the centre build a church and a house for one of the facilitators there. So yes, the whole office went to rehab.
There were different groups that focussed on different elements of the build, such as those who cut wood, laid bricks and assembled the wood panels. I was a part of the painting team, so besides taking the planks out to paint and moving the painted planks to where the plank-cutters were, my team and I painted for the whole of the two days there.
It was quite a cool experience for me in that at first, in my flesh, I really didn’t feel like painting and getting dirty the first two days at the office and actually hoped that the team did it while we were away. However, besides the Holy Spirit helping me to enjoy the actual task of painting, I also really experienced a change in my attitude while we were there. In having conversations with other staff and MiXchangers there, I realised that we were actually sowing a significant seed on behalf of the ministry for our buildings, even extending to what God wants to do with the farm. With this attitude change, I ended up really having fun and enjoying our time serving at Breakfree.
I also took something for myself that the person who runs the facility said to us the day that we got there. He said that they were not treating the people at the centre as victims because they made their own choices in life for them to end up in that situation. This was something that I took for myself because if I experience the consequences of sin or bad decisions in my life, even in small areas of not obeying the Word of God, it is not the time to throw a pity party and to see myself as a victim. It is then the time to ask God for help to get through those consequences and to tap into His grace for me to overcome sin.
Breakfree Project
25 May 2023
MY MARCH IN 6 PHOTOGRAPHS
MY MARCH IN 6 PHOTOGRAPHS
5 Facts for Funsies
13 March 2023
Just for funsies, here are a few quick, fun facts about me:
1. One of my favourite snacks is a pink lady apple with peanut butter. This is just an amazing combination of sweet and slightly sour, almost tangy, from the apple and the saltiness and nuttiness of the peanut butter as well as the crunch of the apple being blended with the smoothness of the peanut butter (besides for the crunch bits in the peanut butter)
2. One of the ways that I rest is to go through pictures of me when I was still a little girl (not that I have grown that much taller since then…) because I enjoy living in the stories of those photos from when I was younger
3. One of the hidden treasures for me, when I ran in Joburg, was running past a particular house which had a type of flower (just don’t ask me what flower it was) because the fragrance was so sweet and fresh
4. Before moving to Witbank and going on Footsteps to Destiny tours, I didn’t know that you got salad with sugar and yoghurt in it, or that piesangslaai, which consist of bananas and condensed milk, also qualifies as a salad
5. The first time that I actually held a golf stick with the intention of trying to play golf was at the beginning of this year (2023) and although getting the ball onto the green was a bit (actually a lot, as in it didn’t happen) challenging, I realised that if I carry the ball onto the green, then I really enjoy putting
5 Facts for Funsies
13 March 2023
Just for funsies, here are a few quick, fun facts about me:
1. One of my favourite snacks is a pink lady apple with peanut butter. This is just an amazing combination of sweet and slightly sour, almost tangy, from the apple and the saltiness and nuttiness of the peanut butter as well as the crunch of the apple being blended with the smoothness of the peanut butter (besides for the crunch bits in the peanut butter)
2. One of the ways that I rest is to go through pictures of me when I was still a little girl (not that I have grown that much taller since then…) because I enjoy living in the stories of those photos from when I was younger
3. One of the hidden treasures for me, when I ran in Joburg, was running past a particular house which had a type of flower (just don’t ask me what flower it was) because the fragrance was so sweet and fresh
4. Before moving to Witbank and going on Footsteps to Destiny tours, I didn’t know that you got salad with sugar and yoghurt in it, or that piesangslaai, which consist of bananas and condensed milk, also qualifies as a salad
5. The first time that I actually held a golf stick with the intention of trying to play golf was at the beginning of this year (2023) and although getting the ball onto the green was a bit (actually a lot, as in it didn’t happen) challenging, I realised that if I carry the ball onto the green, then I really enjoy putting
Wow. What a Holy Spirit-inspired session that we had with Pastor Sharon this last Friday morning.
One of the big things that Pastor Sharon mentioned was faithfulness, and she spoke about how God is more interested in your faithfulness than He is in your talent and abilities. She spoke about how God is looking for faithful men and read a very powerful example out of Brother Rick Renner’s life, where he had to learn faithfulness, even though he knew that he was anointed by God. Before he could teach people on a global scale, he had to vacuum the carpets, pack the chairs out for the services, man the coffee station and greet at the door. Even when he stepped into a teaching function, it began with him being asked to teach a small Bible school class. In being faithful in all of these things, it created a foundation for his obedience to God and his willingness to serve and to obey once he stepped out into the ministry.
In conjunction with this, Pastor Sharon made the point that we, as MiXchangers, are supposed to find things difficult in the flesh here. This also linked to what she said at the beginning of the session, that you will be most confronted in your planted place because that is where God wants you to grow. Therefore, when I am finding things difficult in the office, hard on the flesh, then I am actually at a point of growth and building my foundation of faithfulness.
This was a very timely message for me personally and it linked in so beautifully with a conversation that I had a few weeks ago with Pastor Christi, which spoke into this very thing: While my flesh is feeling uncomfortable and I am being faithful, submissive and obedience, even in the smallest of things, God is preparing me for things which He has for my future and assignment.
I am so grateful to God that He is preparing us for that which He has prepared for us and I am grateful for His Word which changes us.
This session really intertwined with a scripture in Romans 12, where the Apostle Paul is instructing us how to live as Christians in the Body of Christ. There is more to the scripture, but this is the portion which the Holy Spirit spoke to me during the session: 16 … give yourselves to humble tasks [Romans 12:16 AMPC].
Reflection Section
6 March 2023
Wow. What a Holy Spirit-inspired session that we had with Pastor Sharon this last Friday morning.
One of the big things that Pastor Sharon mentioned was faithfulness, and she spoke about how God is more interested in your faithfulness than He is in your talent and abilities. She spoke about how God is looking for faithful men and read a very powerful example out of Brother Rick Renner’s life, where he had to learn faithfulness, even though he knew that he was anointed by God. Before he could teach people on a global scale, he had to vacuum the carpets, pack the chairs out for the services, man the coffee station and greet at the door. Even when he stepped into a teaching function, it began with him being asked to teach a small Bible school class. In being faithful in all of these things, it created a foundation for his obedience to God and his willingness to serve and to obey once he stepped out into the ministry.
In conjunction with this, Pastor Sharon made the point that we, as MiXchangers, are supposed to find things difficult in the flesh here. This also linked to what she said at the beginning of the session, that you will be most confronted in your planted place because that is where God wants you to grow. Therefore, when I am finding things difficult in the office, hard on the flesh, then I am actually at a point of growth and building my foundation of faithfulness.
This was a very timely message for me personally and it linked in so beautifully with a conversation that I had a few weeks ago with Pastor Christi, which spoke into this very thing: While my flesh is feeling uncomfortable and I am being faithful, submissive and obedience, even in the smallest of things, God is preparing me for things which He has for my future and assignment.
I am so grateful to God that He is preparing us for that which He has prepared for us and I am grateful for His Word which changes us.
This session really intertwined with a scripture in Romans 12, where the Apostle Paul is instructing us how to live as Christians in the Body of Christ. There is more to the scripture, but this is the portion which the Holy Spirit spoke to me during the session: 16 … give yourselves to humble tasks [Romans 12:16 AMPC].
Reflection Section
6 March 2023
A Typical Day in My Life
3 November 2022
Okay, so just as a disclaimer before I begin, this is how my typical day would look like, but there aren’t too many typical days in this office…
My day begins in the office in the morning, normally at 9:15 because we condition before coming in. We start the day first of all with prayer either with Pastor Christi, Pastor Garth or Tarryn where we pray for the nation and for each other and then whatever else is a current prayer surge in the ministry.
After prayer, we go to our desks and there I will normally do more admin tasks. This includes recording some of the ministry slips, transcribing or helping Pastor Christi with some admin.
The other more consistent things that I will do during the day is working on my website, journalling and very occasionally, if the opportunity arises, I will spend some time in the message or working on my Bible school tasks.
At around 12:00, we usually break for lunch and fellowship with each other either around the kitchen table or on the steps of the deck just outside of the office.
We go home at 16:00 in the afternoon, although sometimes when we have Bible school or prayer at 18:00, we stay at the office until then rather than going home.
Besides all of the tasks that I have just described, the office is more often than not a buzz of energy and having relational moments with each other. Although there is a recognition of when we should focus on work, we take the opportunity to have holy conversations with each other, for example at lunchtime. Well, it’s either a holy conversation or it is laughing for most of lunchtime.
I guess what you can see from my day’s description is that we work and are productive for the things that God has for us to do, but are also full of energy, excitement and relationship in the office space.
A Typical Day in My Life
3 November 2022
Okay, so just as a disclaimer before I begin, this is how my typical day would look like, but there aren’t too many typical days in this office…
My day begins in the office in the morning, normally at 9:15 because we condition before coming in. We start the day first of all with prayer either with Pastor Christi, Pastor Garth or Tarryn where we pray for the nation and for each other and then whatever else is a current prayer surge in the ministry.
After prayer, we go to our desks and there I will normally do more admin tasks. This includes recording some of the ministry slips, transcribing or helping Pastor Christi with some admin.
The other more consistent things that I will do during the day is working on my website, journalling and very occasionally, if the opportunity arises, I will spend some time in the message or working on my Bible school tasks.
At around 12:00, we usually break for lunch and fellowship with each other either around the kitchen table or on the steps of the deck just outside of the office.
We go home at 16:00 in the afternoon, although sometimes when we have Bible school or prayer at 18:00, we stay at the office until then rather than going home.
Besides all of the tasks that I have just described, the office is more often than not a buzz of energy and having relational moments with each other. Although there is a recognition of when we should focus on work, we take the opportunity to have holy conversations with each other, for example at lunchtime. Well, it’s either a holy conversation or it is laughing for most of lunchtime.
I guess what you can see from my day’s description is that we work and are productive for the things that God has for us to do, but are also full of energy, excitement and relationship in the office space.