By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

Around 48 hours away from her matric farewell, the benefactor that was supposed to give Keizhia the night of her dreams, informed us that due to unexpected challenges, they could no longer help. This was a problem. Keizhia, being a star student in her class, was one of the underprivileged matrics we identified as part of our annual Matric Farewell Project at Tygerberg 104FM.

We managed to get other benefactors on board to do her hair, makeup and nails. We organized a luxury vehicle to take her to the dance. The only thing we needed was a beautiful dress and shoes to fit Keizhia.

This is where we met Yolandi, a listener of Tygerberg 104FM. She lent us her daughter’s dress, who was in matric last year. The dress and shoes fitted perfectly. Yolandi went further and opened her home for Keizhia to have their pictures taken there, before being transported to the farewell. It was really special.

Only a few days later, I heard something particularly inspiring about this event. Yolandi was diagnosed with cancer last year. Receiving treatment, she had to undergo blood tests. The Thursday of the matric farewell, she urgently had to go to the hospital as the blood counts were extremely high and doctors feared for blood clots. Yolandi decided to postpone her trip to the hospital, so she could first help Keizhia to feel very special, before going to the hospital. When arriving there that evening, the blood count was still very high. The prediction was that she would have to stay in the hospital over the weekend. It was bad news for her and her three children at home.

The next morning when the doctor arrived, he was stunned. Overnight, the blood count normalized completely. He said it was something he rarely sees. Yolandi could spend that weekend at home.

The event reminded me of Jesus' words in Matthew 6:18: “... and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”In Proverbs 19:17 we read: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.” And in Proverbs 3:27 we read: “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it's in your power to help them.”

Of course we should not reach out to people in need with the goal of getting something in return. Yet, it remains interesting to me how many times I have seen God being good to those who help people in need – especially when no-one really knows about their good deeds. Let’s keep our eyes open for opportunities to be an instrument in God’s hand today. I am sure it places a smile on His face. God bless.

Father God, thank you for using ordinary people to demonstrate your goodness to those in need. Help me to be aware of the opportunities today that I can be Your instrument to those in need (physically and emotionally). I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

• See photo of matric, Keizhia as well as Yolandi at www.benescke.co.za or social networking, FBook Stories of hope page.

Assignment for the day: Ask God to guide you today though His Holy Spirit to be aware of at least one person in need (physically or emotionally). Ask for wisdom to know how to support them. Take the step of faith and be Jesus’ hands and feet in that person’s live.

Feedback: For feedback on the series or if you have a testimony to share about something God did in your life, please send me an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. It's always nice to hear from readers. Benescke