God Has Seen Something You Can't See

miss_tpa

Nov 4, 202311 min read

I really do need that private jet I was talking about in the previous post. It is so frustrating when you do all that’s in your control and you still “lose out.” The day after I wrote the previous post, I was dropping my mom at the airport and had planned to leave at 1pm for this 45-minute drive. My mom would then get there more than 2 hours before the flight but not too long to be waiting at the airport. We left on time because I knew on a Sunday afternoon there may be traffic from people coming from church or those getting back home after their weekend getaways etc. Up to a certain point everything was just fine. As I got on to the motorway, there was a sign saying do 30mph. I thought why should we do such a slow speed for such a nice wide road. Oh, I found out why at a cost!

I had travelled on this motorway for so many years and knew it very well, so I didn’t put any maps or such aids. Lesson number 1. Nothing major had also happened in all the many years of travelling down this road, so again I had no reason to put something like Waze on. Traffic was creeping but I wasn’t worried because we still had 2 hours and 15 minutes to get there. The exit to get off the motorway wasn’t far. When I put google maps on, for a split second it said the airport was 15 minutes away. When it recalibrated to consider the current conditions, it then said we would arrive in 45 minutes. I can tell you it did not take 45 minutes.

Any one on this road was most likely in the same position as us. I could see cars with luggage, I could see taxis and what were clearly either Uber or Bolt. Traffic then came to a standstill, and I was surprised to see the shenanigans I usually see in my home country where people decided to drive anywhere, they can. Cars started driving down the hard shoulder, a place reserved for breakdowns or mini breaks. I was tempted to drive there because time was now running, and we were not moving as before. Then I thought the way “big brother” is set up in this country, if I drive on the hard shoulder, I will probably find a letter in the post with a penalty charge notice, with a picture of how I was caught on cctv driving on the hard shoulder.

I saw a police man walking on the hard shoulder with a little book, writing peoples details. The car behind the one he was writing off, tried to move away and he moved to block it as if to say you are not going anywhere. Thank You Jesus for keeping me in my lane! By this time there were so many cars, and it didn’t seem like we were moving. We rang the airline to check the status of the flight and see what the options were for this kind of situation.

I was hoping the flight was delayed but I knew that wasn’t the case because there was no text or email saying so. The one time you want it delayed off course it’s not delayed. I asked what the cost of rebooking was if the flight was missed. She couldn’t tell me exactly because it depended on when the next available flight was, the fare ticket etc. At this point I put Waze and it didn’t give me an alternative route because I was so close to the exit but yet so far. At this point my mom looked like she would miss her flight.

During that time, I got into interesting conversations with my mom. Topics we had never ever talked about, but it was good to see that we had reached a place where such conversation naturally came up. Before I would have felt awkward, but I felt comfortable, open, and I love that for me. Off course the conversation was also geared to how these topics should be dealt with from a Biblical point. That brought friendly debate and I really liked this. We talked about the differences in generations, the way topics like sex or sexual orientation were never discussed in those times and I was asking my mom what she thought the church should do in these areas. It was a conversation I had never planned to have so for it to just happen organically, was good.

When it was nearly time for the gate to be closed, and we were still in traffic, there was no more conversation. I don’t know what my mom was thinking but for me I was praying and saying to God, I am choosing not to stress, please come through. In the history of taking my mom to the airport, I’ve always taken her on time, and she has never missed a flight. I wasn’t seeing how she was going to miss it, yet we did everything we could to get there on time. I rang the airline again trying to ask for things I knew they wouldn’t do, just in the spirit of trying something. You never know unless you ask, has become my motto. “Would you send a message to say we are literally stuck in traffic…” The response was kind and mentioned once the gate was closed nothing would be done to extend that.

I kept praying in line with one of my faith mottos, nothing is too hard for the Lord. Even though I wasn’t seeing anything positive, I was going to keep praying and asking. I remembered a sermon saying, which is what the Excellent books says, that Faith is the evidence of things not seen. So, to me, this was the exact place for faith because I was not seeing any evidence of getting to the airport before the gate was closed. I looked on the hard shoulder and wished that there were motorbike riders like they have in my home country. I would get 3 of them. 2 for the luggage and one to take my mom to the airport. I am also a problem solver, so to me, the airline and the police could have set up something for the those travelling soon to be picked up and the rest of us could happily sit in traffic. Then I remembered in this universe it is only God who sets us up to win, not humans, never humans.

I kept thinking the flight would be delayed because I believed there had to be many others due to travel on that flight, caught up in this traffic. Would the flight go empty? I don’t know how it works but I can tell you this. I eventually got to the exit, drove as fast as I could with all the speed cameras there. The problem solver in me had already devised a plan that I would drop my mom on the curb side and let her run to the gate while I went to park the car. This would save time, but it definitely would not save money.

Dropping someone off at Heathrow is now £5 then parking the car would be £6 if I stayed under 29 minutes or £16 if I stayed 1- 2 hours. At this point I wasn’t thinking about that. I set my mom off to go and miraculously check in because it was 15 minutes past the time the gate closed. As I drove off to park the car, I said the most faith filled prayer I have said in my life. I acknowledged who God is, what he can do and asked him to help me if it was not his will for my mom to make that flight.

The mental thought of driving back home again after being in traffic for over 3 hours to come back again for a rebooked flight was something I wanted to avoid. More than anything I just wanted God to come through and do a miracle. I wanted things to work in our favour. I also assumed the price to rebook would be expensive, so I was also trying to avoid that. I dropped the car, located the checking zone and found my mom there with others. The gate had been closed and they were all asked to call the airline and rebook. I was in autopilot mode and was now focussed on problem solving this next part of the puzzle.

Thankfully there were flights the next day, one in the morning one in the evening. I chose the morning one. I asked the question I was dreading, how much would that cost. I remember a different time when I painfully and expensively learnt that your passport had to be valid for 6 months. To book onto the next available flight, on a different airline had cost me £700. So, this is why I knew! the rebooking fee would be expensive. When she said £83! I quickly said that’s fine. Then I remembered, really, I should bargain. I tried but she said the price was not negotiable. I was still ok in fact I was relieved! Thank you Jesus! On working out all the factors, my mom decided she was going to stay at the airport. On my way back home, I could now deal with my feelings.

I wanted to cry but I didn’t want to cry because my other motto these days when something goes “wrong” is this phrase I heard from a sermon “God has seen something you can’t see.” But I still felt some kind of way. I turned off what I was listening to, to talk to The God who sees everything. I lamented along the words of how I really prayed that faith-filled prayer of decree and declaration, so how come the prayer still didn’t go through?

I have a gratitude document where at the end of the day I write what I am grateful for. I also have a separate one where I write things that come to me may be after a sermon or after watching a podcast. Sometimes the lesson comes to me when I’m not doing anything related, but I am then able to connect the dots of something, and I jot it down. I whole heartedly believe these are all Gods’ doing of just teaching me something I need to know for the sake of learning or something I am struggling with. What a Good God! Now, all this happened less than 7 days ago. I had a revelation from that incident, but I have forgotten it and as I write this, I have had to open my document to see what I had learnt from the experience. No wonder lessons are repeated!

When I was driving back home, I talked to God for some time because when I was done, I was almost home. I ignored some phone calls because I just couldn’t talk at that time. I needed to get insight on what happened. What I learnt during this open, heartfelt, vulnerable talk with God is this. I assumed that if we got to the airport on time, she would have the usual travel experience of smooth “sailing” all the way. I was assuming every single step of the process would go as it should. God doesn’t function on assumption he functions in his omniscience.

Arriving at the airport was 1 step out many steps. I didn’t even know how many steps there would be, but God knew exactly how many there were. God knew that something in those steps was not for my mom’s good because that’s what the Excellent Book says about Gods’ plans for us. If the entire journey had 10 steps for example, God had seen that at step 4 or may be step 4,8 and 10 something would happen or not happen, and it wouldn’t be good for her, which means it wouldn’t be good for me too.

This time unlike the previous post, I didn’t think the plane would crash but I thought may be someone on that plane had Covid. My mom is elderly so what would that do to her health. The truth is I will not know why things happened as they did but knowing that God sees and knows all, and his plans are for good not evil, it means I can trust that how things happened was how he wanted it to go. When I got this message in this way, I felt better and was thankful that God had not only blocked it, but answered prayers that if I knew what would have happened, I would have then prayed. Instead of letting step 1 happen only for disaster to strike at step 5, God cancelled step 0 and I am grateful for it.

Being a Christian is hard because I do want what I want and I say or allege rather, that I have surrendered it to God but when the outcome is not in my favour, I am still finding it difficult even after all these testimonies I’ve written. Meaning I didn’t surrender it fully to God. The testimony here is that though the prayer wasn’t answered, I was taught another lesson in this area that I do know needs growth, the area of faith. But the way I was taught the lesson was really like a light bulb moment.

I got a chance to extend my learning on my motto that God has seen something I can’t see into if he sees step 5 out of 10 is not for my good, he may cancel step 0. I am ok with that when it’s put that way. When I am ok with God’s will it means I am trusting him. This has been my prayer this year. He didn’t answer the superficial prayer of getting to the airport on time, but he answered the vital one I’ve been praying for, for long. This is the one that will sustain me because in this life, there will be another problem and another and another one as Brother Khaled mentioned.

I later came to find out there was an accident on the M4 involving a few cars and one exploded and the person died. My mom had wanted us to leave earlier but I had refused as she would have been too early. Had we left earlier, we would have arrived at that area around 12pm. The accident was at 12pm. God sees what you can’t see in many ways. Trusting him is key!

If my trust and faith, which I feel is definitely being tested this year, grows and I can build spiritual resilience as I live through the challenges of life, I will also get that peace that I have been praying for, especially when life is life-ing. I want to live a life of defiance for human logic and steadfastly walk by faith not by sight, because right now I am yoyoing in a ridiculous way considering I have a Father who parts seas and rivers, creates the entire universe in spoken word, and defeats death. He knows these are my desires and this is why he continues this syllabus of faith and trust in his many ways that could never be mine. I do trust that as he helps me on this syllabus my favourite motto will stand in an even deeper way, that Truly truly, God is Good, God is Great, God is the Ultimate Best.

Related Verses

Hebrews 11:1

Psalm 37:23-24

Proverbs 16:9

Proverbs 3:5-6

Romans 8:28

Jeremiah 10:23

Psalm 20:7

Psalm 118:8

John 14:27

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