Testimony – Faith and works – A visa story

“I believe that there is a God! I’ve faced lucky situations in my life before but with you, it’s always so miraculous!”. That’s what the assistant said when she experienced live with me how God instantly turned around a highly stressful visa situation. I encourage you to keep trusting Him and know that: 1) God hears your prayers (even the silent ones); 2) don’t stop trusting Him, particularly when you’ve seen Him come through for you before; 3) when God moves, it’s the perfect move; 4) always back up your faith with works. I hope you’re encouraged. God bless you!

The preamble

On 07 May, I applied for a visa. It should have taken 15 days to process but after 17 days, still no feedback. Ordinarily this would be fine but the complications here were that: 1) I had another visa application to make on day 22 (tomorrow); and 2) a few days later, I needed to attend a business event for which significant financial costs had already been borne. #Haibo

Now, between days 18-20 were a weekend and a public holiday so not much that I could do. Naturally, fear and anxiety started kicking in. First thing I did was write an email to the embassy while the office assistant contacted the application agent. The agents went to check on day 17 if the passport had been returned but no luck. I then contacted the embassy on WhatsApp and was advised to send an email to another address, which I did on the public holiday and resend on the morning of day 21 i.e. today.

Because my second visa application was to happen the next day (i.e. day 22) but the required passport was still away, the office assistant and I started putting heads together to explore all our options. We spoke to the agents who all told us that for the second visa application happening on day 22, my only option was to reschedule the appointment, of which the next available date is in December (7 months away)! They also said that it was too late to change the passport details on the application to my old but soon-to-expire passport. Additionally, it was pointless going to the application centre on day 22 if I don’t have the passport that I used for the application on me. Bottom line: I must get my passport back today. It was a public holiday yesterday so you can imagine that the embassy and visa centre are probably swamped with applications. Also, the application centre had repeatedly told us that the embassy was having significant delays. Even the visa agent’s relative had applied a few days before me and still hadn’t received his/her passport back. Basically, no encouraging news anywhere we looked.

As I sat there discussing with the office assistant, I mutter a word of prayer beneath my breath, that God should show Himself strong on my behalf here once again. This isn’t the first time that I’ve had a close shave with late visa approvals; in fact, this is the third time over the past year. But each time this has happened, God miraculously came through for me and I got my passport back right in time to make my trip. My prayer to God also included that perhaps, God wants to use this opportunity to prove to the office assistant that He exists. In my prayers between day 17-21, I’ve also been telling God that I need a miracle in this situation as I had literally run out of options.

The Testimony and Lessons

Just as we finish the call with the agents who were of absolutely no help whatsoever, I receive an email from the embassy saying that my visa was printed today and that I can come to collect it from the embassy immediately! As the PA and I read this email together, she was filled with so much excitement that she said: “I believe that there is a God! I’ve faced lucky situations in my life before but with you, it’s always so miraculous!”.

Wait, what? Can you believe that? As far as I’m concerned, for those comments of hers alone, all that stress was worth it. God is indeed faithful.

Some lessons:

• God hears silent prayers: Once again, God showed Himself strong, proving that He truly hears my prayers, even when they’re silent (like Nehemiah’s prayers when he stood before the King).

• Don’t stop trusting God, particularly when you’ve seen Him come through before: He has also proven that when I choose to trust in Him, particularly when He’s proven Himself to me before, that He can be trusted time and time again. Read 2 Chronicles 14:9-15 and 2 Chronicles 16:1-10 where God reiterated the importance of continuing to trust Him, particularly when we’ve seen Him move on our behalf in the past. King Asa failed to trust in God when he once again faced an enemy threat, despite God having previously saved him and Judah from the largest army threat ever recorded against Israel in the Bible. Therefore, he missed out on God’s blessing which would have completely destroyed his enemy. The lesson is that even if things turned out differently for me, I must continue trusting in God, knowing that He will work everything out for my good somehow, particularly because I have seen Him come through for me time and time again. If I lose heart/faith, then there’s a negative consequence that awaits me.

• When God moves, it’s the perfect move: I’ve also learnt that when God comes through, He immediately puts an end to all the doubts, anxieties, fears and worries that I was having (Isaiah 48:3 – the God of suddenly). Also, all the options that I was considering immediately disappeared. I’ve seen this happen before. Then I wondered: why was I worrying all along? Only if I had just fully trusted in God and waited to see Him come through, again! Truth is that it’s never easy when I’m faced with another seemingly insurmountable situation, but what’s getting easier is firstly realizing that I can choose to trust in God in this situation, and also recalling to mind God’s goodness and faithfulness in times past.

• Faith and works are like the fist to the glove – always back up your faith with works: Note that my trusting in God wasn’t me simply praying and neglecting to do what I knew that I could do to bring to pass my prayers. As at day 17, I had not explored all my options, so I couldn’t genuinely say that I now wanted to be still and wait on God. I emailed the embassy three times, contacted them on Whatsapp, sent the agents to go check on my passport, planned to visit the application centre/embassy myself etc. After all this could I then say that I had tried all my options. This then gives God room to make His strength perfect in my weakness i.e. when there’s nothing else that I know to do or can do on my own. When I truly have no remaining options, God gets all the glory, but I would have first proved that my faith wasn’t empty by doing all that I could in my own power to bring to pass the answer to what I’m praying for. This is my simple understanding of faith and works.
  
  Ellen White once said: “We must live a twofold life – a life of thought and action, of silent prayer and earnest work.–The Ministry of Healing, p. 512 (1905). Prayer and effort, effort and prayer, will be the business of your life. You must pray as though the efficiency and praise were all due to God, and labor as though duty were all your own.”–Testimonies for the Church, vol. 4, p. 538 (1881).

I believe that there is a God! I’ve faced lucky situations in my life before but with you, it’s always so miraculous!”.

The Office Assistant

Like the lyrics to one of my favorite songs goes i.e. He’ll do it again by BJ Vavasseur:

NB: That other visa situation and the upcoming trip I was stressing about, everything worked out perfectly fine. The other visa was approved and because I have an upcoming trip within the processing window, they returned my passport but said that I should simply post it back to them when I’m ready to travel so they can place the sticker in it. I would not have to re-apply for a visa date (which would have been in December!). In a nutshell, God did it, again!