What a week! I started it with no money, no passport, no visa, no flights to Auckland, no insurance, no way of getting to Rangiora for an appointment for the final vaccination, no... You get the picture.
Last Saturday, a meeting with my pastors established that I am ready to go - as long as the funds and documentation all fall into place in time! To cut a long story short - the Lord has proved Himself faithful over and over again, and I'm definitely taking off this coming Wednesday. Hallelujah!
Tuesday was a challenge. My final vaccination was booked in Rangiora for 3pm. We have three vehicles, but all the registrations were overdue so we couldn't go anywhere, and only one had enough fuel for the trip anyway. Also in mind was the fact that the next day my mother was arriving for a couple of nights and would need to be collected from the airport. During our morning prayer and praise, Jesus took me back to the pinnacle above the sea (see "Solving the Freak-Out Moments", March 29), but when I clung to Him, He held me away and said with excitement and laughter in His voice and a twinkle in His eyes, "Are you ready? Are you ready?" With dawning hope and delight I replied, "Ready for what?" It was time to dive off the pinnacle and swim past the sea monsters to shore. Ai-yi-yi! As long as He was going with me, you bet I was ready!
The dive took place that day. I needed a ride to Rangiora and back, but I felt the Lord was saying to just wait. Shane said he was getting the same message, but around lunchtime, I was beginning to stress, and wondering if the Lord was going to say He actually wanted me to fly at a later date (which didn't actually make any sense considering how He'd already organized everything to date, but the mind does odd things when under pressure), or whether I was supposed to be making some phonecalls looking for rides, etc. I was close to tears and fighting the desire to put the whole trip in the too-hard basket and go and hibernate for a couple of months. About 1pm I did make one call, but the lady wasn't home. I said I'd ring back in half an hour. Turns out the Lord was making sure I didn't do things any way but His. Within 20 minutes a vehicle pulled up our driveway and tooted the horn. Somebody who didn't make a habit of dropping in on their way through town had followed a prompting from the Lord to come and see what we needed. The result was that we had one car re-registered and with enough fuel for a trip to Rangiora, two trips to the airport, and more besides. Praise the Lord! It does pay to be obedient when the Lord says, "Just wait."
When I arrived home from Rangiora, I found that my new passport had arrived. Now I needed $70 plus courier fees so that I could send the passport away to Wellington again, this time to the Indonesian Embassy for a travel visa. I needed to have it on its way on Thursday at latest so that it would be ready in time. Glory be to God again! A friend of my mother, who we visited on the way back from the airport, having no idea of my circumstances except that I was going on a mission trip to Borneo, donated enough to cover the visa application plus some of the ticket price to Auckland. The visa application was sent on Thursday morning.
Now I just had to find a way of collecting it in Wellington on my way north rather than hoping they would courier it back in time. With the Lord's help it is all working out. My tickets to Auckland are booked; I am flying from Christchurch to Wellington. A relative who lives there is going to collect my documents from the embassy and deliver them to me at the Wellington airport, where I have a 3-hour wait. I am blessed to know so many wonderful people! I then fly from Wellington to Auckland, where I have another 3 hours before I need to meet my travel companions so we can check-in for our international flight together. It's great to have that sorted!
I have also been gifted a new, light-weight suitcase suitable for this trip. My old one weighs about 5kg when empty, which is not conducive to packing for a 20kg baggage allowance. My new one is also bright blue, which makes it much easier to spot on the luggage conveyors. =)
The funding for the first two months, promised some time ago, has been deposited, and someone else has promised to continue the weekly accommodation allowance once that is used up. That rather took my breath away and I had to have the statement repeated slowly... hehe.
There are a few things still needed, but after such timely provision by the Lord all week (and for the last however many months!), what can I do but trust Him completely? I remember that we have made that scary dive from the pinnacle and are swimming to shore, safely past all the sea monsters, and it won't be long before we are on secure ground again, ready to face...what? The jungles of Borneo, no doubt! Lol.
Today I am supposed to be doing a trial run of packing, but so far I've done lots of other things instead. I hate packing. =(
Not only has God provided; He has done what I said I would like Him to do: cut things fine so that it would only be possible for Him to accomplish it, so that only He would be glorified. It certainly hasn't been easy or quite comfortable, but it's been wonderful all the same. I love to serve such a mighty, powerful, faithful, and caring God!
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