I am writing this blog from the Atlanta airport, which has seemed to be my home for the past two days. Yesterday, my whole team and I were supposed to fly out of Atlanta to Amsterdam at 5:30 pm. I was so excited to finally get to leave for Kenya and to begin ministry there. After spending the entire day at the airport ( a wonderful day, full of conversation, laughter, and anticipation), we arrived at the gate, brimming with excitement. It was there that we found out that the airline had overbooked the flight, and 7 out of the 14 people on our team didn't have a seat on the plane, and I was one of them. I was so disappointed, but I knew that God could provide a miracle and get all of us on the plane. As we waited, seats kept opening up. By the time the plane left, 5 more of our team were able to board the plane and leave for Kenya. My teammate Allegra and I were the ones who didn't get on the plane, and my leader Nikki (bless her heart :)stayed back with us. I am not going to lie…I was crushed. I had been waiting for this moment for so long. Although we are only a day behind the rest of our team, it was so hard to be the ones left behind waiting, wishing we could all be together experiencing the travel adventure.
BUT….God is SO GOOD. Before I had left for this 4 month long adventure, I had so much anxiety. I had struggled with trusting the Lord in everything. Most of this anxiety spouted from the fact that I had just graduated college. I had just boughten a car. I had a mountain of student loans, car payments, phone bills, insurance..etc etc etc…. I questioned whether or not I could commit to leaving and not working so long because I was so worried about money. I brought it to the Lord and prayed that He would provide for my every need, knowing full well that He could and that He would. I knew that this was right where he wanted me and that when I was in the cross-hairs of His will, everything would be alright and provided for. I just didnt know how…yet.
Well…as it turns out, when Delta overbooks a flight, and you involunarily have to stay behind, they compensate you. In fact, they compensate you quiiiiiite well. Delta airlines straight up wrote me a check for a rather large sum of money. This was a COMPLETELY unexpected blessing straight from the Lord. What an incredible, creative answer to prayer. God answers prayers in His timing. I had been praying that God would allow us to be on that flight. He didn't answer that prayer in the way that I wanted, but He answered a different prayer. I am just so blown away by God's faithfulness, creativity, and sense of humor. What an unexpected blessing in the midst of unfortunate circumstances!!
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.-Philippians 4:6
