Faith in action

Let me tell you a lil story about faith.

When I took leave for a whole week, before a work event, I'd thought I booked my flights. Whilst on a vacation, a lil voice whispered more than once about flights but I was convinced that I booked them. So despite the numerous nudges, I still didn't check. When I returned home, starting with preps to go travel to my work destination (East London, South Africa), I searched my emails for an email with my travel itinerary from our agent but could not find anything. I emailed her to check and her response floored me. She wrote, "you never confirmed".

I then asked her to put me on the waitlist and proceeded to prepare for my departure even though I didn't know for sure I would still go. I packed my toiletries, PJs and clothes to wear at the event. Late that afternoon, she informed me that the airlines responded advising that they can't confirm waitlists because aircrafts are full to capacity. I thanked her for trying but never unpacked my stuff. Behold, 2 minutes after I texted my manager to tell her I did not get any flights, the agent called to say she found a flight for me. It was a red-eye return flight out of Johannesburg on the day of the event. I was so grateful and in awe but when it hit me that the flight times available aren’t my favourite, I hesitated momentarily.

Lessons from this experience

• God will always meet you at your point of need but you have to do your part and stay ready. If you don't and He comes to meet you, you might accuse Him of meeting half your needs - not realizing that you actually put in half measure and he met you where you were.

• Faith without works won't work. We need to couple our faith with action otherwise we risk losing out on what should be. Our blessings are a measure of our faith. Yes you were born a blessed being but you need to put in the required actions and work to claim the blessings with your name on.

• By nature, we are intuitive beings but we need to tap into our intuition regularly. A thought doesn't just cross your mind for no reason. Intuition goes along with curiosity. We need to be curious enough about our thoughts to reflect on where they come from and what prompted them.

• Practice gratitude. Be careful of the desire for more; for something better than what you are given. Most importantly, be mindful of where the desire comes from. Sometimes you will be presented with a solution or an opportunity but if your heart is set on not seeing the opportunity or solution as a gift in itself, you risk losing all of it altogether.

I groaned at the late return flight I would have to catch, pushing my luck by asking her to check if there wasn't an earlier flight. When she said "no but I can put you on the waitlist for an earlier one", my intuition kicked in, reminding me of what it had taken to get me to this point. At this, I immediately realised my ungratefulness and asked her to book the flights as they'd become available. Imagine if she put me on the waitlist for an earlier one and then there's no cancellation. Then I'd need to make alternative arrangements to sleep over, unplanned.

In a twist of events, I almost missed this same flight I struggled to get. I miscalculated the morning human traffic at the airport. The que at the security check point was the longest I’d ever experienced in my years of catching early morning flights. Putting into practice and learning to trust my intuition, I changed the que and moved to another one. It looked shorter. I stood there for about a minute when I spotted an airport attendant. I approached him and asked if he thought I'd make it since my flight had already started boarding.

He said "no mam. You should go right to the front because those queuing here are early for their flights". What he said affirmed my earlier thought of skipping the line. Something I was afraid to do. With the green light from him, I proceeded with - "excuse me, excuse me. Thank you. Excuse me" - until I reached the front of the line where I quickly scanned my boarding pass and walked through airport security. I escalated down to my boarding gate and on time I was. *PHEW*

For someone who is relearning how to ask for help, this was a bold move I did. I felt courageous in acknowledging my shortcoming that morning. Truth is, I had miscalculated the human traffic and as a result, I was late, almost missing my flight.

A reminder lesson for me? Definitely that asking for help and guidance from others does not belittle you but empowers you towards greater and even better things, which you are deserving of. I could have felt embarrassed and shy to take the humility walk, but I wasn't and for that, I pat myself on the back. Not because I skipped the line 🙃 but because, as a recovering perfectionist, I have grown to accept that I'm flawed and it's OK for others to see and experience my humanness. It's ok to make mistakes and own up to them without feeling shameful.

This journey of self-discovery has been such a blessing to me. But what's been absolutely life changing is putting the lessons learnt into practice. If you don’t, you experience a cycle of the same feelings, same experiences, over and over. I honestly don't want that for myself or for anyone.

Start your journey today. It is never too late.

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