Another blessed week. From 2016, I’ve been posting happy dance videos as a way of celebrating the last day of my working week, which could be any day from Monday to Friday. The caption is always “another blessed week” and this is interesting because sometimes part of the week has not felt blessed. This last week has definitely been another blessed week in many ways.
It started a week ago when I was preparing for a trip and was looking for some ear buds and my spare car key. I didn’t want to use my headphones the entire trip and I was going to get my friend to start the car while I was away. I had looked the previous week and didn’t find them. The trip was in 3 days, and I needed to find them. Some of my prayers to God are like a conversation with an earthly friend “aki God help me find the buds and the keys”.
Where I thought the buds would be, they were not. I had given up because I didn’t know where else I could have put them as I hadn’t seen them in over a year. The next day when I was looking for something else, I found them and later on in the evening, I also found the spare car keys. Also, in a place I didn’t think they would be but very close to where I was looking.
When I found the spare car keys, it wouldn’t open. I hadn’t used them since I bought the car which was many years ago. I didn’t like that, because it meant an additional errand to do, the day before I travelled. In the morning I decided to try it again. This time it opened the car. Everything I did after that towards the trip was smooth sailing. Praise God! The next potential trick would be at the airport. I had weighed my luggage, and each was 0.3kg. I had placed any item I would need to remove in an accessible section of the luggage.
I was a little afraid because of an experience with an airline years ago, that made me take out stuff because I was 0.4kg over, yes zero point four. It may not be the reason, but some time later, that airline stopped covering that route, Praise God! When I checked in, indeed the luggage was a little overweight, but the attendant didn’t say anything and neither did I. Praise God! Next hurdle would be at my destination. The revenue authorities had been in the press widely for harassing travellers by asking them to pay tax for items that they had brought into the country, items that they had already paid tax for!
That story made me dread the trip because I know how the authority figures in that country can be. Many are corrupt and can decide to make any rule that favours them, even when you are not at fault. The story I heard was if you carried items worth over $500, you would be taxed. I was carrying my gadgets and was just uneasy that they may decide to tax me for them or something else I carried. I saw a video on social media of people whose items were being confiscated as they were not willing to pay the tax. I did not want to go through that. I prayed about this before I travelled, during take off and when we landed. When I landed, I had an experience I will not be forgetting any time soon.
I don’t know if there is a global rule for immigration officers that they can’t smile at you as they take you through the process. Especially the land of milk and honey. Those Homeland security have definitely not had any honey because their face is far from sweet or smiley. When I got to the counter, the immigration officer smiled! I was taken aback! He did his process and when he was finished with me smiled again! In addition to that, the whole process was quick and the queue was not long at all.
Next hurdle, baggage claim. Again, I was scarred from 2 years ago when my luggage took over an hour to come. This time, my heaviest luggage was amongst the first to come and shortly after the other one came. Just like immigration I spent few minutes at baggage claim. Next stop, the place where the revenue authority are ready to receive their gift(s) from Santa or Father Christmas as we call it sometimes.
When I was in baggage claim I could see ahead and couldn’t see any evidence of people being harassed by the revenue people. I prayed it would remain the same. Once I picked up my luggage, I tried to make sure I walked behind someone to see what would happen. The person in front of me was stopped and I proceeded to leave the airport. I was quickly told to place my hand luggage into the security scanner, something they’ve done for some time. I did as I was told, collected my bags on the other side and proceeded to leave the arrivals hall.
I like timing things, so once I’d left the plane, I started my timer to see how long it would take to get out of the airport. Here is why I won’t forget this experience. It took 14 minutes to complete all the processes from landing, immigration, baggage claim and security. That has never happened before in all of my travels to the country. I am in a small group from one of my online churches. We always end the session with prayer requests. I asked for prayers for the trip and Elena put the wording of the prayer exactly as I would have wanted. She asked that I would see the hand of God in everything and that is exactly what happened from start to finish.
God didn’t end there. The night before writing this post, I met a friend at a restaurant we’ve been to before. I had late lunch so only ordered soup. When the soup came, it came with garlic bread which I love. As I ate the bread, there was something hard that wasn’t chewable like the other parts of the bread, and it wasn’t the crust. I took it out of my mouth, and it was a small piece of Glass!
I must have been in shock because today, I realised I was very calm about it but one of my prayer points has been for God to calm my spirit and not react. God answers prayers! Some weeks ago, I was talking to my phone company who had made a mistake and after the phone call I was very pleased with myself because I know I usually wouldn’t be calm in making my point. This time I was and I love that because it felt powerful actually. In the end they were willing to give me the compensation I was asking for.
I called the waiter and showed her what was in the bread. She apologized and I asked her to tell her supervisor, who I’d interacted with before. She was apologetic and offered to give us some of their own house bread. There was no mention of any other compensation eg the meal is on the house etc. My friend and I were busy chatting and the bill was brought to us. I looked at it and it had no reflection of the some remedy towards the glass incident. My friend told me, it was very unlikely the bill would be adjusted let alone get the whole meal catered for. I asked the waiter how come the bill wasn’t adjusted. She started being defiant and I could see why my friend said what she said. I asked the waiter what would have happened if I swallowed the glass?
This morning when I read the daily devotional I receive from my mom, the verse from the Excellent Book said “But you, O Lord are a shield around me!” The devotional went on to say how “the Lord is your protector and shield…No matter what life may bring, He is your shield and your defender.” The timing of the devotional was perfect because God is a Perfect God!
I took the verse as reassurance and God reaffirming that though the weapon may be formed it will not prosper because God is Good, God is Great God is the Ultimate Best! He knew I already have enough health things going on, I did not need any more. He knew where I am and getting medical attention if the worst happened would be a costly affair on top of everything else. To be honest all my life, even in my health challenges, God has shielded me from so many things. Definitely not because of me but because he is a shielding and protective God like that.
Just last week, I read a post from a Long Covid, Dr who shared that her current circumstances have ended up with her having to get food from the food bank. My heart was broken. Long Covid patients continue to struggle with no help in ways I am not aware of until I see their posts. When you think you've heard the worst story another one comes in. There are so many ways I can look at their stories but all I know is I am thankful that this mighty God has chosen to shield me in ways I clearly don’t even have a clue about. What I can do is to share that he is the God of miracles and there is no area in life he can not turn around for your joy. I really believe that.
As I start out my health coaching practice, it may be a challenge financially but even then, this marvellous, shielding God also Provides and Sustains for all my needs. My encouragement to anyone reading this, is to believe this same God, who doesn’t change, is well able to do something very special for you. So special you can’t even imagine. From the small things of life such as finding ear buds, airport travel to the major things in life like health, financial provision, sustenance in every area of life. Only believe. Do not fear, For God is with you always till the end of time.
Related Verses
Isaiah 41:10
Isaiah 54:17
Psalms 3:3
Matthew 28:20
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