I am going to share a series of testimonies of the miracles God did for me during the pandemic.
It is something very special that during a period filled with so much gloom, doom and loss of all proportions, God was still doing miracles for His children. The father of lies (devil) wants us to believe that in difficult and trying storms, nothing Great can happen. It is an absolute lie! In the last few years, I have come to revise the phrase “Everything happens for a reason” to two statements. “Everything happens for a reason, and Everything DOESN’T happen for a reason” and “Something Great, comes out of every tragedy”. Naturally at the time we are going through these trials we may not see that famous human question “WHY?” but just know and trust it definitely is not in vain.
My first testimony in this series, is one of those I really don’t know “WHY?” it happened.
The pandemic came with many new things. Lockdown, which before the pandemic, I had only known as something that’s done in prisons when there’s a riot, courtesy of those movies you see on tv. Then there was “flatten the curve” which in the beginning of the pandemic, I felt was Matt Hancock’s favourite words. Then the one people came to know personally was the PCR test. When the skies had opened up, you had to do this test if you wanted to travel. I wanted to travel so I needed to take the test which I already knew was a horrible test to do. When I found a company that offered an alternative way of obtaining the PCR test, of course I was up for it. This one involved a spit test as opposed to probing your nose and throat. Then the calculation process began.
In all my years of travelling, I had not experienced anything like this but then again, I had never experienced a pandemic. I had to calculate when to order the test, to make sure I received in time to 1. Do the test and get it picked up so that 2. The lab can receive and process it and 3. Get the result in their timeframe but 4. Also, within the window of what the country I was visiting required, and all this within my work schedule which once set, was not flexible. I started and finished work when most places were closed. If I did it on the weekend, by the time I arrived at my destination, the results would have expired 2 days before, so I probably wouldn’t have been allowed to fly and that ticket would have been wasted. I worked everything out, watched the video of how to do the test to make sure everything went right. Yeah, something didn’t go right!
On the day I was to receive the results, I kept checking my phone to see if I received the results, nothing! I called the helpline. “I’m sorry the test came back inconclusive” I asked the lady what she meant. I already knew what it meant but sometimes in shock you just have to ask such questions, while you process and gain your composure. Basically, I would need to do another test and pay for it again. It was also too late for them to send another kit in time for the above calculations.
When I finished the call, I was just like “aki God what is this”. On top of this, I’m at work, its busy so I can’t spend the time I need to find another place to do it. Oh, the best part is this is now happening Wednesday evening and I travel Friday morning, meaning I need to find somewhere to go that same evening. If not, find somewhere I can go to in the morning before work and have the result on the same day! And I know what same day will mean in terms of British Sterling Pounds. I am Stressed!
After work, I start searching if there is anywhere nearby, I could go. Everywhere is closed. If they were not closed, you had to have received the kit before. You were then able to drop your test off, up to 9pm. The centres in the next town would also be closed by the time I got there. I was increasingly stressed, frustrated, and angry. There was one place that may have been open, so I quickly drove there. I couldn’t find it, so I called the place to get directions. “Hello, Security”. Yeah, that’s NOT a good sign. The centre had closed when I was still at work. The internet lied, I’m so “shocked”.
With all the frustration, I just had to cry and lament to God. I get on my phone again and search for places that will be open the next day as early as possible so I can get to work. I find a place! Glory to God! At this point, I don’t care where it is and how much it is, so long as I can get the result on the same day. The appointment was at 7am, which meant I had to wake up at hours I usually reserve for flight travel. In addition to that, I would then need to drive an hour and a half to get to where I was working that day. Besides that, because I needed same day results, the price was now nearly three times what I had paid the other company. I had to.
I arrived 10 minutes before my appointment time. They were very flexible and saw me before my time because in any case, I was going to administer the test myself because it was… the nose and throat PCR test. Jesus have mercy! I hate that test. I did it and headed straight to work. Everything was ok on this usually congested road, and I got to work on time. From lunch time, I started checking the portal for my results, nothing. I checked again, nothing! This is now Thursday evening, my flight is in less than 24 hours, and you can’t check in online or at the airport without the result. I send a webchat message and the advisor says the result can come out anytime up to midnight (just like I was told at the appointment).
At this point, there is no plan B I can try to set up, it is what it is. Of course, I pray and I’m just like now God its in your hands. I finish work, still nothing. The worry worry person that I am, I now start to come to terms and make peace that I may not travel. I get home, I’m just in a sombre mood. Just there. No excitement for the trip at all. When the first test result had come out, I had thought of the price of the potential wasted ticket, now I wasn’t even bothered. It is what it is.
I console myself by saying if I was meant to go, I will go. I check my email time to time, still nothing. At around twelve minutes past ten pm (I still have the email), I get an email from the company with the subject “Covid Testing Certificate”. Even before I read the email, I know this is going to be good and sure enough it was. Literally 11hrs 48 minutes before departure, my prayer is answered. Now I am excited that 1.I finally got the result I wanted and 2. I am going on my trip! Glory to God!
I don’t know why events happened as they did but this would be the first of many times during the pandemic, God would teach me that He sees, He hears and knows everything. Even when I doubted, made my peace that I wasn’t going, He taught me despite my less than mustard seed faith in that situation, He didn't disqualify my prayer because I didn’t follow the criteria. Those are things my fellow humans would do.
He answered my main prayer that then answered subsequent prayers. He knew I would be so upset If I didn’t go for the trip, so He answered that prayer. He knew how much I had spent on the ticket and couldn’t afford to lose it and buy another one, so He answered that prayer. He knew I needed a change of scenery, so He answered that prayer.
My lesson was to always have faith like a mustard seed and “Fear not…I am with you…I will help you”. Despite my worry worry, true to his word, God helped me. We are told “Believe…and you will receive”. My belief was iffy, yet God in His faithfulness saw it fit that I should still receive. What a Great God!
I would need to remember this because in that same trip, this was just the first, in the saga of PCR tests.
Tune in on Wednesday to see what happened.
Related Verses
Isaiah 55:8-9, Jeremiah 29:11, Isaiah 41:10, 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, Isaiah 43:1-5, John 16:32, Psalm 52:9, Psalm 73:26, Romans 8:28, Exodus 14:14, Psalm 27:1, Deuteronomy 3:22.
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Next post: 26/10/2022
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May The Lord Bless you and Keep you
Lessons from our loving Father. We are forever learning and we always have to make room to learn even more.