REINHILD NIEBUHR

A JOURNEY IN FAITH

God has taken me through a spiritual journey, throughout my life. But it was only in my mid-50s, when I truly realised what it means to LISTEN to the Shepherd’s Voice! And it is this voice that caused me to enter Africa’s Mining Industry.

On my birthday, at the end of September 2021, my business services company came to a temporary standstill. This was in the wake of COVID-19, which most certainly did play a detrimental role in what and how everything transpired, which had led to this unfavourable situation. But that is a story for another day.

So, what did I do?

It is in moments like these when we humans come to the realisation that we had tried, whatever we could, we had worked HARD, non-stop, pursued different options… but despite all of doing all of this, my business had hit a wall! At the same time, the charitable work in the field of education, which I was continuing to remain responsible for, as well as my own overarching vision to help develop youth across Africa, were forced to a standstill…

All that remained, was for me to drop on my knees and place all the above ‘on the altar’ before God, our Creator and Father in Heaven, in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ, and ask for the Holy Spirit to guide me in WISDOM and in TRUTH: I was finished! I had zero appetite to continue doing ANY work or continue with ANY business idea or even ministry work, without 100% CLARITY, that what I was doing, was according to God’s Will and HIS PLAN for my life.

This prayer started what became a truly astonishing period of spiritual growth over the next 2-3 years! I write about this in my almost-finished book, titled “FAITH & Lipstick”… coming soon…

During this period I asked for and received multiple “Gifts of the Spirit“, as described in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. I had heard God’s voice, seen his miracles and experienced visions and supernatural experiences before this period already, but from that day in September 2021, when I laid everything I was working on at his feet, I experienced an incredible acceleration in miracles, visions and supernatural experiences. I share everything in the above book, which I will be sharing at no cost, to just encourage and strengthen the Body of Christ.

I had decided not to do ANYTHING – including making a decision about what to eat! – without clear direction from God. And God spoke to me in different ways: all the time through his Word, the Bible, very often through visions, but also through numbers, experiences and on key occasions, through clear words which I heard in my Spirit…

Whatever I heard, I acted on in obedience. And this is how I came to travel to Ireland and the USA in 2022, back to Ireland and back to the USA again! it was an astonishing journey.

In January 2023 I returned to South Africa, and I knew that God wanted me to consolidate my belongings in a house in a small, rural village, which I had bought together with my mother in 1996. So I started moving my remaining personal belongings from the house in Pretoria, South Africa’s capital, where I had lived with my first husband until he left for Heaven suddenly and unexpectedly in mid-2019, to this house in the remote, rural spot in Mpumalanga province.

I was busy with this exercise, spending some days in Pretoria and some days in the house in the rural village, continuing to pray for clarity on what my next step should be. God had already given me confirmation that he wanted me to continue my business services enterprise, my publishing company and the work on the educational charity, as well as the youth development work, which all had come to a standstill (in the case of the educational charity to a near-standstill) in September 2021.

I usually would get my ‘marching orders’ from God early every morning, when I woke up: I would hear his voice, or I would see a vision or I would just gain a clear understanding in my Spirit, about what I should do next.

One morning in May 2023 I woke up with an extremely clear vision in my mind’s eye: I saw the head of a fish lying on a sandy beach, from a sideway view, in great detail – I could see every scale, and every tint of colour in the eye of the fish – and this fish was holding a large gold nugget in its mouth!

PS: The image above is AI generated and not accurate, but it does give a sense of what I saw.

And as I was seeing this vision of the fish, I had the very clear understanding in my Spirit that God was saying: “Pursue opportunities in the mining sector, because there I will give you enough income for the work you must do for me and for all your own needs.”

Wow! I was really stunned.

The interesting thing is, that about two weeks earlier I had received a text message from an old connection in Germany, with whom I had been working on an interesting investment opportunity during the period just before my husband left for Eternity. In this text message he asked me if I could source coal in South Africa for a client of his in Europe! I had been very busy moving my personal belongings during this time, so I had not paid much attention to this request, also because I had absolutely no connections in the mining industry – except one mining geologist, who had disappointed me in 2018, by cutting me out of a deal I had introduced him to… Of course, all long forgiven and forgotten…

But God hadn’t forgotten this. And now he was calling me back into the mining industry… 5 years later!

I realised that God was serious about this. And so I knew that I need to build some connections to source that coal which my contact in Germany was looking for.

I reached out to a few people in my contact list, but each one ended in a dead end.

Then, one morning, as I was enjoying a cup of coffee in the local Village Bakery, I overheard the owner’s conversation with a woman I had never seen before. From their discussions, I heard that this woman had just bought the bakery. A bit later, the new bakery owner came to my table to find out if I needed anything and we started a conversation… in which I learnt, that her husband was in the mining industry… A divine appointment! She later introduced me to her very kind and helpful husband and his son and through these two individuals, I learnt a lot about the logistics involved in exporting commodities. They also introduced me to a logistics specialist at the port in Durban, who could assist with shipping coal to Europe. This man has introduced me to a number of other people in the industry since that time…

I also started researching online commodity trading sites, and send out some messages… and in this way, I met Oscar, a dynamic, young man, with whom I would soon scale coal mountains across the Mpumalanga Highveld, collecting coal samples, often personally by hand in cold winter afternoons…

Then, a little while later, as I was again having a coffee at the Village Bakery, I was approached by a man who I realised is a key figure in building this village community, who asked about the purpose of my visit to this village. He invited me to have coffee at his place later that week and I gladly accepted the invitation, because I was keen to meet more of the local villagers, as I believe God wants me to help with youth development in this village as well.

When I arrived at his house, I realised that he was operating a Guest House and I asked him – by way of making conversation – how business was going? Well, apparently, because he told me that he had had long-term guests who were mining consultants working on a mine near the village where the educational charity is based, that I continue to carry responsibility for… Of course I wanted to meet these men, because I was curious to learn more about their mining operations in the area and this friendly networker set up a meeting with them.

At that meeting I met a man who – completely unbeknownst to us both at the time! – would become my new husband… an experienced mining professional, who has since that time connected me to many incredible opportunities in the industry…

And that is the story of how GOD called me into Africa’s Mining Industry… and beyond that, into commodity export from Africa, in general.

All Glory to Him!

PS: If you are looking for any mining or agricultural product from Africa, please connect to me on LinkedIn.