Welcome to the October 29th edition of Faith & Life Lessons.
You will see this email full of tidbits from my week. My goal is simple. I hope that from how I live my life, you can find a thing or two that helps you as you try to live a life that matters. I am always trying to do one thing - make Christ-focused decisions in love, work, and life. And this was my week.
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The Story of My Week
This was a pretty eventful week for the family.
It was a culmination of one of the things that we had been working with God on.
It was also a time that I had to just watch God work His thing and trust that He would keep His promise.
About 3 weeks back, I had written about a few days of emotional pressure that I went through.
During that period, I heard God say to me concerning what we were working with Him on "The days to do what you need to do would be very short but you will achieve it all" (I paraphrase).
I never completely understood what this meant.
Well, last week Friday, I got an email which meant the family had to travel urgently as a deadline we didn't about earlier had now been imposed. We had planned to travel but not that early.
Between Friday & Saturday, I tried to see if we could change of tickets. The only available date was for us to travel on Tuesday to arrive on Wednesday afternoon.
This was cutting it close - we would have only 2 days to do everything else.
This was the first time I would be taking this airline and a former colleague had told me that during the summer he was bumped off his flight because they were overbooked.
I could not afford any slip-ups because Thursday was an important day for what we needed to do on Friday.
Talk about fears showing up, on Monday night, I tried to check in online, but I could not check-in for the whole family. Would I have the same experience my former colleague had with the airline?
Fortunately, we showed up at the airport and got on to fly. We arrived on Wednesday as planned with no issues.
On Thursday, we showed up at the office to get the last document we needed.
The problem was that we did not have an appointment for Thursday. I had an appointment for a later date which could not help with the enforced deadline I was working under.
Miracles happen and God gave us favour with the people we met. We were able to get the document.
Getting the document was the first tangible sign that our Friday appointment would be a success.
It was only at that point I told my wife about the word God had told me weeks earlier.
Yes, I was so scared I couldn't even tell my wife earlier about it.
I think part of the inner struggle was that I am the guy who thrives on having a plan A, B C and so on.
This was a situation where the only plan I had was a plan A. If plan A didn't work, we were toast.
It was a whole new level of trusting in God.
Trusting God because of what He said and because I have no backup plan.
Think of it as me standing in front of my Red Sea with Egypt's armies coming at 60km per hour with swords and spears drawn.
It was daunting to live through and exhilarating to cross over to the other side.
But in all, it was a firm assurance that God can keep His Word of promise.
Whenever He makes them.
Even if the time is so short.
Things I Learnt
1-Keep Good Relationships: One other thing I learnt from the whole experience was how people can step up for you in ways you do not expect.
But to get that experience, you need to maintain a great relationship with them.
The guy who stepped up to help us with the document we needed on Thursday was someone I had worked with in the past. I still maintained a good relationship with him.
I would check up on him now and again, send him birthday messages etc.
Not because I was expecting something from him. Rather, because it was my way of keeping a good relationship with him.
This made it easy for him to step up for me when I needed him.
He did most of the talking when we went to the offices on Thursday. I just stood by and watched him do his magic.
And he delivered.
2-Never Stop Asking: A few years I took a course on money. The biggest benefit I got from the course was learning how to ask and never stop asking until I get what I want...or something close to it.
I did a think-back over the whole experience we had this week and the months leading to it.
My ability to ask was one of the things that opened us to more options.
Having options has a way of reducing pressure when things get tough.
Options also ensure forward motion in the pursuit of a goal.
It's not everyone you ask that will add to the options you can work with.
But if you ask enough people, you will get answers that add to the destination you are going to.
Just take the courage to do it.
Ask.
Postscript
May you never lack the courage to ask for help from the people God has blessed your life with. Amen.
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Tola - The Everyday Disciple
I help Christians like you who want to live intentional lives incorporate their faith into everyday life so they can make Christ focused decisions in all areas of life and truly live to make an impact and make God happy.
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