Before the end of 2023, I had been studying the book of John. I discovered it’s such a fabulous book to read as you end one year and prepare yourself to go into the new one. One verse or partial sentence that felt like a good one to carry into the new year from the book was “Let not your heart be troubled”. As a worry worrier in good recovery, this also fits with my desire and prayer to fear not. The experiences of the last 4 years have especially been teaching me to do just that but this new motto, I believe will further help me.
Packing before a trip can be such a drag. Packing when you didn’t initially pack properly is even more of a drag. I had travelled from Nairobi to Kisumu where I actually have enough clothes. When trying to pack to go back to Nairobi with a baggage allowance of 15kg of checked in luggage and 5kg hand luggage, is when I realised, I had not put any thought to my packing. The trip from Nairobi to Kisumu was in a private car so I could afford to carry everything I had. Not a wise thing because things like a casual jacket, I would not need in Kisumu because its hot, nor would I need my travel pillow and the winter clothes I came with into the country.
Thankfully for me I start packing in advance because I will need a few takes to pack and unpack until I get to a point where I have only carried the essentials and made peace that I don’t need to carry everything. After packing and unpacking on 3 consecutive days, I gave up and decided I would just have to pay the excess baggage fee. I didn’t want to pay it off course, but I had to carry the items that made the 3rd take. I had an idea of how much excess I would have to pay and initially I thought it wasn’t too bad. Then I realised it was nearly the price of another flight ticket!
That I was not comfortable with, but I didn’t like the other options. I prayed and asked for God to do a miracle because that was just too much money to spend on excess baggage. I also prayed because just when I thought I had packed everything I realised I hadn’t carried my books which are heavy and other items. I really felt like giving up.
When I travel, I like to get to the airport in good time, so I organised to get there early so I could find the checking in team perhaps in a good mood and hopefully they could do something for me in my favour. I had also read one of the conditions of the ticket, that sometimes they may decline to take all your excess luggage. I left the house having made my peace that whatever happens happens and all will be well. It’s taken me a while, but I am learning to be more comfortable that in the grand scheme of things all will be well. Things like excess baggage I will not let my heart be troubled. My other motto for this year is there is always a ram in the thicket.
After the usual security, I went to the checking in desk and thankfully there was no long line, and I was the only one. I was asked to place my luggage on the weighing scale and was told I was overweight. I asked as if I didn’t know, what happens now. I was told I would need to pay a certain amount which was news to my ears because it was much much less than I thought and definitely nothing near the price of a new ticket as I thought! Glory to God! The Kenyan in me off course had to bargain. They really had straight faces and wouldn’t badge. I gave up but with joy which I also couldn’t show, and I also had a straight face. But that wasn’t the only prayer God wanted me to have answered.
After arriving in Nairobi, this hail a ride company that I will not name because they don’t deserve airtime, kept me waiting so long until an administration police with his big gun came to ask me if I was ok. Everyone had gone, it was getting dark and I was by myself and not in any company. We got into conversation, and he decided to help me get a ride home. Eventually my ride came, and he asked the driver to put my bags in the car for me. Kenyan police don’t have a good rep and I definitely have not had a good experience in one situation with them, so for this to happen, it was a pleasant surprise and I know this was not serendipity or Luck. Every good thing comes from God himself. The next day I still continued to have a horrible experience with this hail a ride company that has a black logo, where the driver picked someone else and I was charged for the trip!
In the same instance the next ride I requested since the first had erred; the driver rang me to ask where I was going. The next driver text me to ask where I was going. The next driver told me how he had had card payments all day and wanted to see if I could do cash or mobile money transfer. I either hang up or didn’t respond and cancelled those requests. The extra annoying thing was this last driver kept accepting the job. I saw where he was, walked up to him, knocked on his window and asked him to stop accepting the request! Just like the previous day, it was dark and I was by myself. Thankfully it was in a mall.
I eventually got a ride more than 30 minutes of making the initial request. I was fed up with this situation and couldn’t wait for my uncle to come back to the city in 5 days’ time, when I would get to use my cousin’s car. At the funeral I had gone to, I got a call from my uncle saying he was around, and I could get the car either that night or very early the next morning. Glory to God for unthought of and unspoken prayers! I told my uncle he had literally saved my life! I didn’t know how much he had saved it till the ride to get to his house.
The unprofessional driver decided to go to a petrol station without asking me if it was ok. The next thing I heard was him talking to the petrol attendant asking, could he leave the car there. I asked him “what do you mean leave the car there”! His car was leaking petrol and he showed me where the petrol had gone to the tyre and was wet with the petrol that had been filled!
I got a ride soon after and was so thankful that night was the last night I would have to deal with this company. That night must be a record for me in terms of the number of complaints I sent about each driver in the space of 3 hours.
The God who asks me to cast my cares/burdens on him was so gracious to take the burden of unreliable transportation even before I could articulate, “Lord! I’m TAYAD!” He accelerated things for my good so that where I thought I would get the car in 5 days I got it sooner and just in his perfect timing. He made it possible that where rightfully I should have paid a certain excess as per the ticket terms and conditions, the verbal instruction of the excess fee was much to my favour! Hallelujah!
So surely in this year where I am constantly reminding myself, whenever something wants to take me back to worry-land, “Let not your heart be troubled”, and in this 2nd month of the year with 10 months to go of pure uncertainty, God is showing me truly truly, indeed I do not have to fear and I certainly don’t need to have a troubled heart. He is on the case before I can even ask for him to be on the case. He is on the case because its his nature to cover me. He is on the case because its his nature to just bless me. He is on the case because its in his nature to protect me from everything including petrol leaking cars! and he will do the same for you. Why? Because God is Good, God is Great, God is Ultimately the Best!
Related Verses
John 14:1
1 Peter 5:6-7
Philippians 4:19
Psalms 121
Share spread
please share with anyone who may need encouragement.
Subscribe to get alerts when the next testimony is out
Next Post out on 17/02/2024
Kommentare