“ Your permanent resident card will be mailed to you in 40 days”, the immigration officer said reassuringly. I felt relieved that I’m almost through the process. “This isn’t hard as I expected.”
I was ushered towards another area to get my luggages and to be cleared before leaving the airport.
The man on the counter initially asked for my passport. Confidently, I searched for it in my envelope. Then I missed a heartbeat.
“I can’t find my passport?”, I said while digging deeper to my documents. Obviously, the officer recognized my anxiety. “ From which area did you last pass by?”, he interrogated.
“I just finished submitting my documents to the immigration officer. I believe I left it on his desk.”
He was very accommodating that he ushered me back to the immigration section. I prayed along the way.
Remarkably, my airport experience ended differently. I was able to get my passport back. (Don’t ask where I left it–not on the officer’s desk to begin with.) I gained new acquaintances from the people who tried to help me. (They saw how pale I became. I’m grateful they didn’t call 911.). More importantly, I learned more about God and His promises.
In Genesis 29:13,15, God said to Jacob,
“13 The LORD was standing beside the ladder and said: I am the LORD God who was worshiped by Abraham and Isaac. I will give to you and your family the land on which you are now sleeping. 15 Wherever you go, I will watch over you, then later I will bring you back to this land. I won’t leave you–I will do all I have promised.”
Though there are moments I miss my life back home, I choose to hold on.
My relatives and their friends have been very supportive.
Technology kept me in contact with my family.
Adventure’s very much available out there. A disturbed sleeping pattern will never be an obstacle.
However, after a day of connecting with people, after a day of exploring this new place, after a day comes to an end and I’m left alone, I can’t help myself longing for home. I am still overwhelmed with the reality I have to start over again.
In my devotional time, God led me to Ecclesiastes 3: 1,6,11 to comfort me in this new season of my life:
“ 1 For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.”
God allowed a new season in my life for me to trust Him wholeheartedly. He knows I have a blessed life back home but He intentionally brought me where I am now.
“6 A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.”
Pursuing progress means detaching myself from what is holding me back- from the comfort I used to live with. I got reminded, everytime I would feel discouraged, I am indirectly saying, God made a mistake bringing me here; He revealed to me that I am already making an idol of the life I had before. In a Fatherly way, God reassured me, He is more than enough.”
“11 Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.”
I need to wait on God for He is patient with me. I need to focus on Him and not see my growing concerns. I haven’t yet seen the bigger picture that He has in store for me. It is a blessing I haven’t. It draws me more to hope in the Lord rather than try to understand. The more there’s hope, the more there is room for experiencing Him more.
“When long and steep the path appears or heavy is the task,
Our Father says, “Press on, My child; one step is all I ask.”
-D.De Haan
In reality, I should be greeting myself everyday, “ Happy New Season with the Lord!”
THE RACONTEUR 