Skip to main content

The God of Miracles and Rushed Visas

     I received my visa for Thailand today. I got it much faster than expected, to be honest I wasn't even sure that I sent off for it in time. I was told that on average it takes a few weeks to be processed but from the day my information landed in their mailbox to my visa landing in mine was exactly one week. Talk about a miracle.
     To be honest over the last few months I have completely lost my enthusiasm for this trip. I started thinking about everything that could go wrong. Everything from not raising enough money, to getting lost, to being in danger, etc. I started stressing over everything I still have to do in preparation. I started having to say goodbye to people. How am I going to go six months without seeing my family? How in the world am I going to survive overseas without my best friend? I know relatively no Thai and to make matters worse I can't find my phrase book that I purchased. I hate flying, what if I miss a flight or get lost in the airport. The world is crazy right now and dangerous, what if something happens to me? What if something happens to the people in my life and I can't get to them because I'm across the world? The children I love more than anything else will grow so much in six months and I will miss a few first words and first steps. Heck, most of them are at the age where they could forget me in a six month time period. I would be so far away from my church and my incredible church family. Heck, at this exact moment I am short $3,488 dollars for trip still. Basically, I let all of my concerns, hurts, fears, and stresses about this trip consume me. Instead of focusing on doing what I know I'm supposed to do. Instead of focusing on the incredible adventure and honor it is to serve God no matter what happens I allowed myself to be overwhelmed by all of the negative I could find in the situation.
    Then today my visa came in the mail. Let's be real, it came in an impossible short amount of time, I'm pretty sure I didn't even fill out my visa application correctly so it probably shouldn't have even come at all. Yet, it did. My visa coming so soon was the reminder that I needed. It was the reminder that this is the right thing to do. That yes, it is scary and new and uncomfortable. It will be lonely at times and maybe even dangerous. It's still what I'm supposed to do. I'm supposed to go and face all of these things but I'm not going alone. God didn't ask me to do this so he could throw me in the middle of a foreign country on my own. He asked me to do this so he can use me and move through me. My father is going to be with me every step of the way. He's going to lead me through the entire thing, all the way from maneuvering the airport to ministry my Abba will be with me.
     It was also a reminder that I serve the God of the impossible. I serve the God of miracles. If he can deliver my visa in exactly one week he can provide the rest of my finances in time. Instead of stressing and worrying I need to pray and trust him to provide. He will give me what I need when I need it. The same goes for all of us. Whatever is going on right now remember that you serve the God of impossibly timed visa arrivals. You serve Jesus Christ. The God of miracles. I encourage you to worship him and spend time in his presence reminding yourself who he is and allowing him to work in your life.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Face To Face With Heroes Of The Faith

     Hi Everyone! Can you believe I've been in Thailand almost three weeks? It's been an amazing time or learning and adjusting so far. I am enjoying the immersion in a totally new culture. Being able to experience a new language, food, and practices is stretching and challenging at time and other times it's exciting and fun; often it's a mixture of all four. Even though they don't have a whole lot with this post I'm throwing in random pictures just so you can see what I've been up to with your own eyes.     There are six of us going through a month of training at Impact School of Missions in preparation for various internships across South East Asia. We have classes and training up until the end of the month; in October we all officially move on to our internships! Our month at ISM consists of classes involving classes on the culture, language, effective ways to minister and serve, culture shock/stress, learning about ourselves, and many more. We explore ...

Facing Fear

     Fear...fear is something we all face at some time or another. It can be small or it can be crippling. Some may face it every once in a great while and others face it every day of their lives. Fear can be brought on by accidents, people, wars, disease, governments, media consumption, and by simply being alive. I would venture to say that fear is interwoven into the fall of man, therefore it is interwoven into being human. However, to say that it's interwoven into the human experience doesn't mean that it should be; I truly believe that when God created humanity he never intended for us to be fearful creatures, in fact time and time again the Bible tells us not to fear. This is something that we did to ourselves. The second Adam and Eve messed up and everything came crashing down around them fear entered the picture and it came to stay.       Fear doesn't affect and interact with everyone the same way. Some people merely brush up against it...

Update

Dear Friends and Family,      I want to take the time to thank all of you for the prayer and support I've received as I prepare for my trip to Thailand. You have been a blessing in my life and I appreciate all of you. I am thankful for the opportunities I've been given to come speak to various people and churches and share my heart and vision for this trip.      Thanks to all of you I have been able to purchase my plane ticket and send in part of my money for my training at Impact School of missions. These are very exciting things and I wouldn't have been able to get this far without your help. I have been given the opportunity to work some of the upcoming missions fundraisers being hosted by my church and will be able to receive a small amount of fund through this avenue.      I am still raising money for overseas health insurance, living expenses, the rest of my tuition for Impact School of Missions, and various items such as lugga...