devotions and reflections

In 2005 I attempted to aply for a visa to enter the US as a medical missionary trainee. My brother just got there a year ago and I was corresponding with a divorced American SDA. Although I had planned about the missionary thing a long time ago but it seemed that I have more reason now to go to the US.

I fasted and prayed and asked God for a sign which I got. So before I my interview I was holding on the positive sign God gave me.   It wasn’t still rainy season but I asked for a rain to come before May ended and there’s only a couple of days left so I thought it wasn’t going to rain that month. But two days before June came, a heavy rain fell from the sky and it flooded my soul with so much happiness because my prayer was answered. And it wasn’t just a light rain, It was a heavy one.

However, when the consul interrogated me he decided to refused my application. I thought, “Is God mocking me?” Why did He give the sign I asked for? And when I told my correspondent that I didn’t get a visa he told me that he couldn’t come to Thailand as well as he feared flying. So had to stop communicating to each other.

I was so much hurt because I felt abandoned and dejected. And the amount of prayer and fasting I did for many months proved fruitless. It was so much disappointment for me. Anyway, I went back to my teaching job and moved on. I decided to forget America even if the president himself offers to give me a visa and an airfare. I would defiantly refuse it.

A couple of years later I met the man whom I have never dreamed existed. Although he is not SDA but I think that since we believe in the same God so he’s considered a believer. Afterall the Bible didn’t say “do not be equally yoked with a person who doesn’t belong to the same church.”

So this wonderful man and I decided we wanted to tie the knot. Comes the procuring of a visa I hesitated a little bit. I hate embassies and interviews with the consuls. But thank God, British Embassy does not interview as long as you give sufficient evidence. Two months later I got my visa and flew to England to meet my groom-to-be.

Now I’m settled in Norwich which is just the finest city I could ever be in. The people in the church are all warm and I have never been as comfortable with anyone but here. I feel that I really belong here.

But sometimes I still don’t understand why God didn’t let me marry that divorced American SDA. My husband doesn’t even go with me to the church but he lets me do what I want and he even changed his diet to conform to mine.

It’s still not clear why but I know God will give me his answer in His own right time. As what Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to give you a future full of hope and not harm.” This is what I’m holding on to.

So be it, Lord.