Traveling with Faith .. Even if it’s as small as a mustard seed.
Ok so by now everyone knows that I love traveling to the most beautiful places in the world when I’m taking a break from my busy life of working and “adulting”. I’m also really big on learning about history while I vacation because I love being educated about the area I am visiting. Well I had an amazing opportunity to visit another region of the historic country of Egypt which was not only a blessing but another dream to be able to continuously visit there and make it usual. But what was so special on this trip is what I learned on my journey while traveling to Egypt.
Let me start off by saying that traveling lately has been so scary and worrisome due to the constant news and updates regarding the recent accidents on multiple flights of our friends, loved ones, and our employees. All of our hearts have been heavy since those tragic incidents. It was on my mind several times to postpone this second trip to Egypt to a later date but something just kept telling me to go and trust God that I am safe and protected by him. I couldn’t let fear stop me from doing what I love most.
I have to be honest that I was still scared because thoughts of something happening on my flight ran through my mind numerous of times, everyday, and night but I had to have faith that God will protect me against the odds, no matter what. I had to keep reminding myself that HE is in control and keep reminding doubt that it no longer serves a purpose in my life.
What intimidated me the most was flying alone on an international flight all the way to Egypt during this time. That’s over 20 hours flight time to get there, that’s not counting the return trip! I was so accustomed to flying with my sister on long flights or with someone on every single trip that it felt so weird flying alone. I almost had a panic attack while last minute packing a night before my trip, but all I did was cry before my trip after calming myself down. I was so overwhelmed and did not want to travel alone.
I had to take several deep breaths while packing and making it to the airport because I had to get over the fear of flying again but this time alone! What added to the stress was me pulling all these over time hours at work, and the stress of working and packing at the last minute. As soon as I arrived to the airport after checking in the main thing that I planned to do was get me a daily devotional journal.
(These photos are taken in a beautiful hotel in Egypt called Jasmine Pyramids Hotel. )
The crazy thing was I was looking at a particular devotional journal at the ATL airport for several months & I was suppose to purchase it, but never did until now. The devotional journal is titled : “ I will trust God with every breath”. The title spoke volumes to me because sometimes in life we are faced with life challenging situations that will force us to make a choice to trust God or not. As soon as I located this daily journal I began to feel my faith grow just from the comfort of having it in my hand. My mind and body was ready to take the trip back to Egypt, those words were just so magical. When they say you have to be at the right place at the right time it true because I got what I needed in the right time when I needed it the most.
So there I was after I purchased the devotional journal that I’ve been meaning to buy for months; let me just be honest…for about A YEAR! lol It had me feeling like I was already on vacation in the land of my ancestors!
& the first page was the welcome into of the author addressing the problems that she previously had in her life going through a divorce, being a full time working mom, while raising her children that were not enjoying their life, but she lets the reader know the story is not about her! She express that we all have a story and go through trails,
But what matters is: What we do with our trails that defines us.
Then the author proclaims that the simple solution to her problems was to simply just trust God. Trusting HIM gave her freedom! The freedom that later blessed her with a new husband, receiving special blessings on her job, and leading to her children attitudes changing. The author summarized it all by stating that we must allow ourselves to trust God with everything to give us the freedom we have been looking for.
The intro words in the journal gave me freedom because it was my faith that defined my outcome. Faith in God and trusting him that my flight would be safe and there will be no incidents onboard that had a bad outcome and no aircraft problems that would cause any tragedies. Now I didn’t say there wouldn’t be any problems because we have to go through trails, but I only said that the outcomes would all be good because I put my trust in God.
While on the aircraft there was a medical emergency onboard that scared the entire flight. There was lady passenger that became unconscious and fainted while on the aircraft while we were flying in the middle of the ocean aka in the middle of no where with no where to land! So many bad thoughts came to my mind because I wondered if anything else bad happened where would we land?!?
There was luckily a doctor onboard but the unconscious passenger’s husband and her spoke another language which was Persian/Farsi. I was terrified because the captain was on the intercom asking for anyone that speaks Persian so the doctor could help her. After about 15 min someone came fourth that translated for the doctor that was onboard. The doctor was able to help her gain her consciousness. It’s so amazing but the doctor did some kind of cure where her feet had to be prompted. I was so thankful and I saw the blessing in everything, the outcome ended well and the passenger regained her consciousness. Whatever was affecting her health at that moment was restored and the doctor stated that she was going to be Ok. Thank God I didn’t panic like usually do because…
No longer than 2 hours later I became sick and the flight attendants were attending to me. I have never gotten sick on a flight so it was very weird! I became very hot and then got overheated. I began sweating everywhere and thought I was going to faint! I could’t think and I just wanted the plane to just stop and be on land. Was it motion sickness or was I ill from something I ate. The near by passengers were worried for me.
I immediately began to tell the flight attendant I needed to be grounded or either lay on the floor. She advised that I must keep my head up and she will get me a pillow to prompt my head on with more ice because I was getting too overheated. Another flight attendant came and asked have I drank any water before the flight or during it. I couldn’t really think if I many liquids before boarding the plane or if it was the usual amount when I fly. The flight attendant then informed me that being overheated is usual when someone is dehydrated because they didn’t drink enough water before a long flight. I began drinking water and eating fruit to get hydrated. About an hour and a half later I felt better.
I am thankful because I really thought that I too was going to faint like the previous passenger. I’m glad I put my trust in God that my flight will have good outcomes no matter what the problem is. I also learned a value lesson about drinking enough water while on a plane. :)
So I’m here to tell you that no matter what problem you face rather big or small in your life always trust God for a good outcome even when you are scared. Even if it’s a decision that you must make that you can’t decide on and it will most likely change a big part of how you see the world, depend on God for every single decision. Trust and rely on him for EVERYTHING!
I began to trust God even more throughout the trip even though I didn’t have enough days off from work covered for this trip. I was planning to stay longer than a week in Egypt, but didn’t have my days covered. At my job traveling while your suppose to be at work is a huge issue and I know I soon needed to get the rest of my days covered for this trip. I told myself enjoy the trip, and when it gets close to the end then worry about it. Or should I say ask God to make a way. <3
So I decided then that I should stop worrying about getting back to work on time and just have faith everything would work out. I wasn’t being irresponsible because I had no control over all of my off days because I was on a schedule that changed weekly, and we didn’t get our schedules on time. Everything was operating off schedule. I had no control over that so I put everything in God’s control.
