Friends,
To enter and remain in Thailand, I have applied for a nonimmigrant visa which allows me to stay in Thailand for up to 90 days at a time within one year. This is a very scary process. For one, I have mailed off my passport to Washington, D.C. and no matter how much tracking and insurance and confirmation the postal service can provide, I'm still worried for my passport, not to mention all of the personal information in that priority express mail envelope with it. And second, there is always the fear that my visa application will be denied, or the consulate will need additional information, or it will take too long to secure my visa in time. The fear is very real and very worry-inducing.
Yesterday, while I was thick in worry because my mom had mailed my previously-expired passport instead of the current one to me on accident, I realized that something was running through my head. It took me a minute before I knew what it was.
May your preparation be worship...
A friend gave me money for my trip to Hong Kong in 2012, and wrote this on the envelope. May your preparation be worship. One of my early posts on this blog featured this sentence as I was grappling with the concept of preparing for this seemingly impossible task. May your preparation be worship. This was the first thing I told my peers, fellow education majors also doing their student teaching overseas, when we sat together for fellowship the Sunday morning of CCTECC training. May your preparation be worship.
It rang in my head and heart the way strong words or loud noises ring in our ears. I felt those words like I felt my worry, and the desire to worship has started to overpower the feeling that I need to worry.
What I have come to realize today is that the God who works all things out for our good and His glory even has control over the postal service and the embassy. This means that even when I think everything could be running at a much faster pace, for example, His hand is on these plans I'm making. His plans are already made! His eyes are watching my passport. His voice is speaking to the people involved in my preparations. His hands are making arrangements I don't even know about yet. His feet are going places I have never been in order to prepare them for me and to prepare me for them. I worry and fret, but He is good and He is in control.
Would you join me in thanking Him today?
