Upon leaving training camp I felt the weight of years of fear and angst gently lift off my shoulders. There’s an empowerment to being totally transparent and flowing in the freedom of the spirit. It’s really nice.
And then there was the Visa Application. It would be a bit over-dramatic to say this process shattered my new inner peace but it did provide a new angle to an old lesson: life is full of complicated to-dos and when you feel like it’s too much for you, trust God. It makes life better.
I spent about 3-4 hours yesterday filling out the forms, buying postage labels online, etc. Today was supposed to be simple- go to staples and print stuff off, assemble the package, and drop it off at the post office before noon. Lets just say it didn’t quite go like that. Thankfully I checked Facebook this morning and everyone was posting all sorts of questions and problems going on with their app process. Course alteration #1 change my forms. Then I realized I had no clue where my passport pictures were. Course alteration #2 stop by Walgreen’s and get some (Minus the cute hair and such I’d had the first time I did them. They’ll have to settle for my t-shirt and pony tail look.)
After some running back and forth and such I finally got to the post office at 11ish am. I went up to the counter, explained I already bought my labels and asked for a pair of scissors to cut them out with. AFTER I super taped them on (those things were not coming off on my watch.) I brought my completed package back up only to be told I bought the wrong label for the envelope I was sending. And apparently I got a small box label for the return envelope I had inside my package. (I can just see the application processor’s face when they see a return box frame instead of an envelope. They’re going to call me the weird box lady for sure.) Course alteration #? 15 minutes later, 1 irritated mail clerk, and 1 exasperated Katie and my package was sent in at 11:59am. (No joke- it’s on my receipt.)
Needless to say the day wasn’t all craziness. God blessed me at every step. He even helped me out with an unexpected BOGO passport pic deal so I only spent ~ $25 instead of $50. Even now I don’t know 100% whether everything is filled out correctly but it’s out of my hands now. I’ve decided that I can’t get wrapped up in all of the hairy details these next 6 weeks. God has established that he wants me to go so he’s going to take care of everything.
Of course that doesn’t let me off the hook, I still plan to carry through on my part of all of this, I merely am changing my view of what my part is. My job for the rest of my life is not to just work hard and make things happen. My job is to trust God and go with his flow. This was a slightly stressful day but because God was with me every step I was able to laugh at the twists instead of getting overwhelmed entirely. He really is good. I’m looking forward to becoming a little more like him.
