By this time tomorrow

Quietly sipping on my cup of herb tea, I reflect on the events of the past few days. I was in Philadelphia at my sister’s wedding after all, and I made it to Dallas to meet with my WAN (Woman Act Now) sisters over here. So your question probably is how did this happen between my last post and now? An awesome testimony which I happily share!

Truthfully, I had absolutely and completely given up on this trip and surrendered totally to the will of God. I had sent my sister an email to say I couldn’t make it. I had cried my eyes out and then, recognising that I couldn’t stay in that place of pain any longer, I (somewhat unwillingly I confess) dried my tears and had then allowed God’s peace to wash over me. In that ultimate state of surrender and acceptance I went to bed. But God.......

Oh yes! The greatest testimonies in the world always add up to just this.....  ‘But God’

My God, the Lord omnipotent; the One who knows the end from the beginning; the One for whom nothing is impossible; the One who speaks and it is done; the One who commands and it stands fast. Yes people, as I went to bed defeated but at peace, God had stepped in. Yours truly just didn’t know it yet. 

I awoke to the annoying blinking red light on my phone. A missed call......’who could be calling at such an ungodly hour of the morning I think?’. Oh wow! Its my agent. I am somewhat hesitant to call back. I had made my peace and wasn’t willing to push in my own power anymore (truthfully I had also cried for both the disappointment present and future so I didn’t want to go through that again). Anyhow, at what I now know for sure to be the prodding of the Spirit, I did call back. Near breathless, she said she got a last minute opening for my husband to be at the embassy the next day (in Abuja no less) and an appointment for me a few days later (on the same day as my sister’s wedding). As I began to heave a heartfelt sigh at the hopelessness of her ‘great news’, she announced that the embassy in Abuja would attend to a husband and wife on the same day in so far as their appointments were within the same month.

Hmmm! Well my hubby and I decided that we take ‘this one last chance’ and see what would come out of it. Did I have my doubts, oh yes I did. But I figured that since it didn’t look like I could go anyhow I might as well just get the visa renewed and end the drama. In retrospect I marvel at the attitude I had chosen to adopt and I thank God that He is faithful even when we are faithless. Midway through the afternoon, God spoke to me and said I should confirm my ticket for Friday night. Again, I must confess in truth that this was one of those moments when I had to decide if I was speaking what I wanted to hear into my mind, or if I was really hearing the voice of God. But the voice was consistent, it was persistent, and it was so strong it was almost audible. Thankfully, I chose to yield and to obey.

Next day, hubby and I were in Abuja. We shared a prayer of faith and just gave the situation to God to take control and work His perfect will. From the moment I woke up and all the way up into the embassy, I rattled on in tongues for I knew that victory could only come from an intervention by the Lord of Hosts Himself. OMG, the protocol officer at the entrance  looked at our papers, underlined my date, and then simply and passed both of us in...... Unbelievable! I could barely breathe. God had definitely sent favour ahead of us. The embassy staff were friendly, rather jovial really. They didn’t look at any of the multitude of documents that we (okay I confess, I)  had come prepared to inundate them with. The visa was granted within 5minutes. A sister who had been standing in faith with us had said to me ‘ask and you will be given your visa ahead of time’. Recognising that the Hand of the Lord was upon us, I asked and the embassy agreed to give us the visas the next day Thursday. The rest as they say is history. I don’t think the magnitude of it all dawned on me until, confirmed ticket in hand, I found myself on board a flight to Atlanta on Friday.

What have I learnt from all this?

First is that God truly watches over His Word to perform it. He is truly the same yesterday, today and forever more. In times past He performed a ‘by this time tomorrow’ miracle, and He is still doing that even today.  I was reminded that in God’s economy it’s never too late. No, God is always on time.....His time, and nothing is impossible for Him to do.

Secondly, the Lord will never allow us to succeed at anything whereby we may inadvertently ascribe the glory to ourselves. That is why it is so important that we move in His strength and in His will for us, acknowledging Him in all our ways. When I had truly laid it all down, then He stepped in and proved that He is God in every situation. When I finally humbled myself before Him, He exalted Himself in my situation.

Third, the Word of the Lord is that many times we do not get what we want because while we ask, we ask amiss. Our motives must be pure before God. We can’t bribe Him and we can’t use emotional blackmail to get him to cotton to our often selfish and self-serving perspectives. He is all seeing and all knowing, a fact which we sometimes forget. Just as I was able to declare ‘Not my will but Yours Oh Lord’, when we make our requests before the Lord we need to ask Him to guide our thinking and emotions so that we do not desire amiss and ask things of Him that are not in line with His will for us.

Lastly, this experience has again confirmed His Word that He cause ‘all things’ to ‘work together’ for our good. He will cause a stirring wherever He needs to in order to bring His will to pass. He will cause strangers to serve you with a smile, He will cause protocols to be set aside for you. He said that His plans for us are of good and not of evil, to bring us to an expected end. So so true! He brought me full circle to a good place and to an end that I had been struggling in my power to attain.

Yes, I am so glad that I made the wedding but more than this, I am so glad for how I was able to attend. I am grateful to God that He used this experience to remind me of things that I had inadvertently taken for granted, and that He made a message out of it all for me....all to His glory.

My sister and friend, What is that thing that is looking impossible in your life? What is that thing that you have been breaking your head over and trying to make work in your own strength? Relax, be at peace, hand it over to God and let Him show you that He is still very much in control.

I pray a ‘by this time tomorrow’ experience into your situation, in Jesus mighty name.

Shalom