Frustrated, I click the lock button on my phone, plop it on the passenger seat of my car, put the car in gear and pull out onto the road. I reach over and turn up the radio. “You have 2 options.. you can be angry, or you can be thankful”, says the man on the radio. “Woooow”, I think to myself. I throw up my hands and let out a clearly annoyed sigh. “FINE, Papa. I’ll be thankful.. I’m not sure what there is to be thankful about in this situation, but I’ll figure something out..”
Let’s Rewind a little….
On 7/29 I received notice that my passport had been received back at the Visa Application Center after being sent to the Indian Embassy for my visa to be approved. The next day I received an email that the Visa Center had lost my return envelope and I needed to send another. I was very frustrated by their apparent carelessness in losing parts of my carefully put together application packet. But I was thankful that I had saved a PDF copy of my shipping labels and emailed the Visa Company a copy of my shipping label. My passport was “shipped” that evening.
Over the next few days I stalked the USPS tracking website for information about where my package with my passport was. Every time it was the same answer — That the label had been created but that the package had not been received by USPS.
This morning, I decided enough was enough, and started to make some phone calls. I called the Visa Application Center and they assured me that the passport had been shipping out from them on 7/30. I called USPS and they assured me that my package had never been received or scanned into the USPS system. I called back to the Visa Center and asked for the specific post office branch that serviced the Center. This is when I find out that the phone numbers on the website are not for the actual Atlanta office, but rather general numbers for all branches of the Visa Center, and all calls funnel into a call center in India. The people there at the call center obviously had no information about which USPS branch services the Atlanta office, or for that matter, the actual phone number for the Atlanta office.
After several hours of phone calls, frustration, and crying.. I finally came to the conclusion that my passport was truly lost in the universe. I then went from frustrated crying to WEEPING at the thought of not being able to launch due to a ridiculous passport issue. I was at the end of my rope.
As I wept in my car, I sensed H.S. telling me to ask others to pr@y over the situation, then to leave it be and w*rship. I posted a request on my Facebook, asking others to join me in covering the situation, and asking Papa to cause the passport to be found, whether it be at the Visa Center, at the Post Office, or in my mailbox. Then I turned on my KLOVE and proceeded with the things on my to-do list.
I was then reminded of the email I had received last week about my missing return envelope. This particular email was not sent through the general, automated system of the Visa Center but rather from a worker AT the Atlanta Office. I quickly sent off an email asking them to 1. Check to see if the package had not been sent as planned. 2. Check to see if the package had been returned to the Center for a postage issue. 3. Provide me with the information for the USPS branch used by the Visa Center.
Now we are back where I started this story.. me throwing my phone on the seat and driving down the road to get some -real- work done. The radio telling me to make a choice, be angry or be thankful. Despite not being able to think of many things I could be thankful for, I found the few things and began thanking Papa for them. Thanking him that I had a passport to begin with. Thanking him that, even when it doesn’t give me the information I want, I have the technology to seek information, and not have to wait blindly for something to show up–or not!
I proceeded with my errands, listening to KLOVE on the radio whenever I was in my car. After a while I stopped to get something to drink. As I sat waiting for my tea to be ready, I checked my email. And there it was… An email from the person in the Atlanta Office! They had checked and found that my passport HAD been returned to the Visa Center by the USPS. MY PASSPORT HAD BEEN FOUND!! I was elated.. still am actually!
Driving back to my office to create a NEW shipping label to email to the Visa Center, I began thinking back over the past week. I realized how silly I had been.
I was SO frustrated at the Visa Center for losing my original return envelope. “How Irresponsible of them!”. But looking back on the entire experience, I realize that if they had NOT lost my envelope, they would have had no need to email me directly, and I would not have had an email address for someone IN the Atlanta office! – Without that email address, I would probably still be trying to figure out how to directly contact the Atlanta office. I even might have ended up having to DRIVE to Atlanta to talk to them in person. All because they did NOT loose my passport the first time? Wow!
What a reminder that we need to be thankful in ALL things. Even the things that frustrate us, make us angry, or don’t make sense. Because we have NO CLUE what is happing down the road. This small frustration may be setting us up to get through a much greater frustration that is headed your way! Furthermore, there is no telling how quickly I would have heard a response back had I not obeyed Papa and H.S.’s promptings.. to be thankful. To ask others to intercede, then let it be and w*rship. I only wish I had not drug my feet and had obeyed immediately.. perhaps I would have gotten the good news even sooner?!
Moral of the Story: Be Thankful, and Be Obedient.. Even when neither make sense!
