30/07/2026
Today wasn't in my plan🫣 (novel loading)
My morning was mapped out perfectly. There is a mountain of post Mandela month admin waiting and a lot to do in a short period. So I set out, hopeful to get everything done.
Normally, I always carry a few Grace Factory maternity packs and baby clothing and hygiene packs in my car. I keep them there for the unexpected moments. But today, my girls' school bags filled my boot and I had no extra space for packs .
And, of course, today was the day I needed one😆
As I was driving, completing this to-do list, I saw a woman pushing a bicycle with a tiny baby strapped to her back. She looked exhausted. Not just physically exhausted but life exhausted too.
My head immediately started listing everything I had to do before 2pm. But my heart wouldn't let me drive on. You know that feeling? When you try to convince yourself it is someone else's problem. When you pretend you didn't really see anything. I know myself well enough to know that if I kept driving, it would stay with me and bother me for a really long time.
I made an attempt to just carry on driving, but before I could stop myself I turned around at the next street and drove back. I followed the lady and started waving a little crazy, trying to signal her to follow me around the corner. Looking back, it probably seemed like the dodgiest invitation ever🤣But somehow she understood my wild hand gestures and very loud talking through the car window. We met around the corner and I got out and we introduced ourselves.
I asked how old her baby was.
"Two months," she replied. I asked if she needed baby clothes and hygiene items.
Her eyes immediately filled with tears. "Yes, please. I don't have a lot for my baby".
I had nothing with me. So I asked if she could wait 15 minutes while I drove home to fetch baby items for her. She said she would wait💛
As I drove home, I couldn't stop thinking about the trust that took. Waiting for a complete stranger and the blind hope that the stranger will be true to their word and come back.
Then another thought hit me.
How on earth was she going to carry this enormous clothing pack, her baby, and push a bicycle? Our Grace Factory clothing packs are filled with beautiful pre-loved clothing, ten complete outfits, blankets, toys and MANY essential hygiene items. They are practical, they are dignifying and they are packed with love, but they are not exactly bicycle-sized.Thankfully, I found a bag amongst our stash that would make it easier.
When I got back to her, she was still waiting. She was so grateful for the pack and couldn't say thank you enough. She said, "I prayed to God and asked him for clothes for my baby". (That answered prayer is another story for another day).
I asked where she was heading. She told me she had a possible domestic job. The interview wasn't until tomorrow, but she said was cycling there today just so she would know where to go tomorrow. She couldn't afford to get lost because she desperately needed the job.
She showed me the street she was trying to find. Now, anyone who knows me knows my sense of direction is absolutely terrible. I looked at where I thought it was and pointed her in that way.
After about 45 minutes together already, I needed to leave. We said our goodbyes. But as I drove away, that familiar nudge came back. "Just put the street into your GPS and go look for the street". My head and heart where fighting big time at this point. I needed to go. But I went to go look for this street. Thank God I did, I had sent her in completely the wrong direction.
I immediately turned around and went looking for her. When I found her, she must have thought by now this lady is not functioning at optimum levels. I stopped her again and this time I tried fitting her bicycle into my small car to take her there as we were quite far from where she needed to be.
The bicycle won. I could not fit it into my car. All I managed to do was rip my seat. So I said, "Hop on your bike and follow me."
We slowly made our way through the residential streets until we reached the correct road. She had cycled about 25km to get to this point. But we found it and she was now ready for tomorrow's possible job interview🥳🥳
She never asked me for anything.
Not for clothes.
Not for money.
Nothing.
I had a few rands in my wallet and I gave them to her for food because I could see she needed food too. P.sI'm not that rich Aunty doing "charity" work😆 As a family we ourselves need to count every cent in a month ourselves. But sometimes generosity isn't about giving out of your excess. It's about refusing to ignore someone else's need and trusting that your need will be met when you need it too🥹
As I reflect on today I found myself thinking about a song I used to sing when I used to work at a church. "Jesus, I will go where You send me. Take me, I am Yours." I sang those words with my whole heart and I meant them in the purest form.
But somewhere along the way I realised that many of us sang that song with our own preconceived ideas of where we hoped we would be sent. We imagined international conference trips and big moments that looked extraordinary. But most of the time, that's not where He is sending us.
Sometimes we are simply just sent 5 kilometres up the road to take orphans back to orphanage after a church service.
Sometimes we are sent to notice the person everyone else drove past.
Sometimes we are sent to help one exhausted mother pushing a bicycle with her two-month-old baby strapped to her back🥹
I don't really sing that song anymore or any of those songs.
Instead, I wake up many mornings and nervously whisper, "Send me."
And I've learnt something.
Being sent is almost never glamorous! It is almost always inconvenient.
It almost always costs something: my time, my comfort, my plans, my money and occasionally even a ripped car seat.
But I have also learnt that the most meaningful moments in my life have never happened when I was sticking to my schedule. They have happened when I was willing to interrupt it.
Today, that interruption was called Margaret. And today I was deeply grateful that The Grace Factory had exactly what she needed for her baby in the form of a beautiful pre-loved clothing pack, filled with practical essentials, dignity, hope and love.
Maybe that is the lesson for all of us. Compassion isn't convenient.
Empathy costs something.
But if we're willing to be interrupted, we might just become the answer to someone else's prayer.
❤️ Margaret, I'm praying that tomorrow brings good news. And if it doesn't, I pray you don't lose hope. Your little girl is blessed to have a mom who will ride 50 kilometres today so she has a chance at a better tomorrow.
That's what love looks like.
INCONVENIENT to our comfort!
Weez x
