Welcome to the November 1st 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.
The Story Of My Week
I am writing this from the road instead of being at home
I showed up at the airport to travel for work and they told me I couldn’t board
Their reason - there was a new requirement for the country I was flying to. I asked them to show the details - they didn’t
The main guy directing activities was the one giving me a difficult time.
I called my office and they were also not aware of this new requirement. I even called the airline help desk.
The guy I spoke with was very helpful. He agreed that I didn’t need the requirement to travel. He even asked me to pass the phone to the guy at the boarding gate so he could clarify things with him. The boarding gate guy refused to speak with him. And they work for the same airline company!
Long story short, I didn’t board the flight. The guy at the airline help desk moved my flight to the next day. He said that was all he could do since he could not speak with the boarding team.
There was another guy at the boarding gate who was also very helpful but the main man was not listening to anything else.
I wasn’t going to do a short re-enactment of Tom Hanks' “The Terminal” so I found a cheap hotel near the airport.
I hadn’t learnt my lesson from some years back to always have at least one change of clothing in my carry-on luggage. I show up the next day to the airport in the same clothes after doing a bit of “survival” to make the clothes last overnight
It was a different set of guys this time at the boarding gate. And they didn’t ask for the aforementioned requirement.
I don’t blame the other guy. I have learnt to always see that nothing happens to me by chance.
God is more concerned about me and He is always at work.
The extra day is a sign of God’s grace even if I don’t understand
I chose to believe in God at work
The airline staff at the check-in counter told me to file a claim for my hotel and other costs after I told her my story.
I'll be doing that later.
Now it’s time to fly.
Things I Learnt
1-Faith is Built Stronger With Clarity: Over the past month, my family has been going through a new phase
The biggest blow out was something that would impact our financial health. We wouldn’t have been so affected if God hadn’t told us a while back to follow a decision that would require a significant financial commitment
Before we started negotiating, we had a clear word that we should stand on our position and God would give us favour
Well, the matter dragged for about a month and we didn’t get any breakthrough in negotiations
The final thing was that I would have to present our case to the overall boss.
Ahead of it, we fasted for 3 days so we could reassess our motives, be sure we were in the right place, and trust in God’s favour for the direction He was leading us
After the fast, I had rehearsed what I was going to say. Less than 2 minutes into the conversation, the boss cut me short and told me to just tell my position.
I told him that and he said I should leave it to him. The whole call was for just about 4 minutes. I didn’t have to talk too much
The next day, he asked for a call and wanted to know what I wanted.
The bottom line, we got enough for the family to put us in a good position to fulfill how God was leading us.
The only reason we could let our faith run through this was the clarity we had on what God wanted for our family in this next season
It’s easier to fight the fight of faith when you know why you are fighting
Thank you, God for victory
2-To Stand is not to Fight: During the last one month as my family was navigating a situation that required negotiating with other parties, God have me a word. He said I should stand for our position
It sounds simple enough. But I realized that there is a difference between “standing” and “fighting”
At some point in time during the whole situation, God had to rebuke me that I was fighting instead of standing
It was pretty difficult for me. I didn’t know where one stopped and the other started
The story of King Jehoshaphat was used to teach me that lesson
“But you will not even need to fight. Take your positions; then stand still and watch the Lord’s victory. He is with you, O people of Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Go out against them tomorrow, for the Lord is with you!” 2 Chronicles 20:17 NLT
They were told to stand, not fight. They had to take their positions but they were not going to fight it
I had to learn to do that
Stand, take my position but not fight
Not fighting became a sign of faith. Something I had to grow into.
I am not sure I completely learnt everything but God’s grace pulled through for me.
The trial may be over but I still want to learn more about how to Stand and not Fight
Perhaps, it will become a lifetime experience for me
Something I keep learning about and not grow out of.
Only time will tell
Postscript
May you find peace knowing that God fights for you more than He wants you to fight your life battles (Amen)
Tata,
Tola
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