One of the many lessons learned during my trip to the Congo was how one event can cause many different perspectives.
Before we ever left the States, we had a major bump in the road. While we had sent off for our Visas in plenty of time, there is no such thing as plenty of time on "Africa time." The embassy, or whoever is in charge of the Visa approval letter in the Congo, was taking its sweet time with our letters. We knew when we were finally able to send our passports to Washington, D.C. the money order had to be filled out perfectly and we had all paid extra, so once our passports had Visas in them, they would be overnighted back to us. Deep breath. We had a week before leaving. We would be fine. (To put this into perspective, this usually happens 4-6 weeks before going on a trip, not ONE!)
I believe 4 out of 7 of us got our passports, with Visas, back without hiccups. However, my dad and 2 others had signed their money order. To be fair, banks like this to be done, the Congolese embassy did not want this done. Needless to say, 3 of our team members had to pay even more to overnight a money order to D.C. We were now within days from leaving and 3 of our team members didn't have their passports.
Lucky for us, we live in a small town. A couple days before leaving, the Post Office called my parent's house to let my dad know a package had arrived just before they closed. The Post Master was going to deliver it out to the house. She by no means had to use her personal time to deliver it and could have easily waited until the next day. She also had no idea the amount of relief her simple phone call had caused. We were all grateful.
Our team had been texting nervously for several days. Joyous texts went out each time another team member received their passport back in the mail. Thundercats were now a go! We would all be going to the Congo!
We had joked the whole way about how nerve-wracking it was waiting on our passports. But it wasn't until one morning when doing a devotion with Tresor we talked about the different perspectives we all had from the experience. Okay, I learned the different perspective the rest of the team had in contrast to mine.
The rest of the team saw it as whatever will be, will be. If we were meant to go on the trip, everything would work out. Or it could be God's way of saying there is some reason not to go. We don't always understand why God says no, but we trust Him to lead us where He wants us.
I, on the other hand, saw it as God, with a confident head nod, saying, "I got this." As though He was flailing His arms in front of us whispering, "Trust me." He was diminishing any anxiety going into the trip by showing He had everything in His control the entire time. All we had to do was trust Him.
Yesterday, sometime between washing my hands and checking the status of Disneyland for the billionth time, God reminded me of last summer.
Right now, I am sad, mad, frustrated, heartbroken, annoyed... any feels of that nature, I am currently feeling. Not because I don't get to go to Disneyland or California for Spring Break; I'd like to think I'm not that petty. Those feelings come from not getting to see my best friend. It's become a tradition, what was going to be 6 years next week, for us to meet up during Spring Break. I haven't seen her since last Easter. Since then, she's had a son, who at this rate could be over a year old before I meet him. Furthermore, as of 2017, Spring Break perfectly falls on the birth(day) of her daughter. This could mark the first year I don't get to celebrate Ainsley's birthday with her. All the feels. However, in a still, small voice, God reminded me last night, "Just trust Me. I got this."
Even while I type this, I don't know what Spring Break is going to look like. I know I'm not going to California Monday night. I know I'm not going to Boise next week. I do know, whatever Spring Break holds, God has a reason for changing my plans even if in the present moment I'm a little angry at those plans.
Perspective.
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