God has another plan!

This has been my toughest and longest season so far!! Ever gone through a period in your life where God feels distant? A season where you feel like all your prayers aren't going beyond your ceiling. A season where you're uncertain about what you should be doing and there are many voices in your head... Where you feel like God's kinda gone quiet on you and left you groping in the dark.... Well that's been me this season, and it's been so frustrating!

On Tuesday I'd had it, and was seated on my bedroom floor rug leaning on my bed. I had my headphones on, playing Rick Pino's song 'Pioneer' and Jason Upton's 'In your presence', on replay. Many thoughts went through my mind as I attempted to pray, but I ended up pulling my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them, burying my head and breaking down. As I sat there, it brought memories of three years ago when I'd sat in that exact same position crying, at the Dubai airport.

As the events of that day played in my head, my crying subsided and an unexplainable peace came over me as I remembered how God came through for me that season. So I wiped my tears, picked myself up off the rug, made me a mug of cherry & cinnamon tea and got working on pending assignments on the laptop as I played me the Smooth Jazz Christmas album (don't ask).

Here's the story........

In 2010 I made plans to go visit my sister in Germany. So I got all the necessary documents ready and dropped them at the Visa application centre. The process was that, one dropped their documents, they were forwarded to the embassy, and they would call you for an interview if need be, or you'd be asked to just go pick up your passport. I was never called for an interview so aramex delivered my passport at the office a few days after. On opening, there was a stamp on one of the back pages, written in German. I opened the German embassy site and sent a mail asking what the stamp meant, and what I was to do, since I don't speak German. I got a response from this guy whose name I'm not at liberty to disclose. So let’s call him Jay. Jay explained to me that I'd been denied visa. I asked him the reason I was denied visa since I had all the documents and proof of returning after my visit. He had no explanation so he asked me to reapply which I did. A few days later, aramex once again delivered my passport at the office. I squealed in joy as I spotted my one month visa all cute & typed out in German, with Jay's name at the bottom, as the guy who had issued the visa. I mailed him my appreciation and got packing.

Come 31st July 2010 around 10pm Dubai time, I called my sister and my family from the cab, informing them that I was on my way to the airport. My KLM flight was scheduled for midnight. I was so excited!!! I hadn’t seen my sister since 2008. After checking in, and window shopping through the duty free shops, I headed for the boarding gate. After about 45mins the gate was opened and we queued to board the plane. The guy checking the boarding pass asked me to step aside and give him my passport, which I found odd as I was the only one he did that to. He then rudely informed me that my visa didn't allow me to go through Amsterdam so there was no way he was letting me board the plane. Imagine my shock!!! I went like "Say what now?"

I tried reasoning with him by explaining how one buys the ticket first before applying for a visa and that the guy who had issued the visa knew I was going through Amsterdam when he did, so he'd not have given me a visa that doesn't allow me to or he'd have given me a heads up to change my flight. I also asked him, how come I'd gone through immigration, managed to check in, got issued with a boarding pass, even for my connecting flight and all these people I went through checked my passport and no one had stopped me? I also explained that I was just going to transit through Amsterdam. But he wouldn't hear any of it, he was beyond reasoning with. I called my sister and explained what was happening and then gave this guy the phone to speak to her, but he rudely explained and hung up on her. He then slammed my passport and cancelled boarding pass on my hand, told me to go look for my luggage and walked away as I watched the plane take off without me, in disbelief.

I then sat there trying to figure out what had just happened. My sister called me and asked me to go try get another ticket with a different airline, that had its transit points within Germany. Majority of the flights were going through Turkey, Austria, France or Amsterdam, but luckily I found one with Lufthansa that was leaving for München at about 4.45am Dubai time. The problem is, it was bloody expensive and I did not have that kind of money on me at that time. My sister offered to buy it using her credit card but they declined saying the name on the credit card must match the one on the ticket since it was a phone transaction, and because of security and blah blah blah!

It was now 2am, I was tired, hungry, had no idea where my luggage was and was now frustrated. I contemplated getting a ticket to Kenya instead, but my sister talked me out of it. But we were now out of options, and the flight would leave in two hours and I had no ticket. I called my family in Kenya to inform them what had happened. I then backed up and leaned on the wall, slid down to a sitting position, knees pulled to my chest, arms wrapped around them, as tears ran down my cheeks. People walked past me wondering what was wrong with me while the guys in the ticketing booths just stared at me sympathetically. I then buried my head and cried me a river. As cried away, Smokie Norful's song 'God is able' started playing over and over in my head.

I suddenly felt an overwhelming peace wash over me. I wiped my tears, picked myself from the floor, and decided to go look for my luggage. There was a whole process that involved me being sent from one immigration office to another, before I was allowed to exit. I was then referred to the lost and found department to look for my luggage, where I had to queue, and then sign some documents before my suitcase was released. As I sat in the queue, my sister called and said she had managed to purchase the Lufthansa ticket for me and I'd be leaving in an hour and a half. After finally getting my luggage, I rushed to the respective terminal for check in.

{My sisters' story...... about 11:30pm Berlin time (1:30am Dubai time), when she couldn't purchase the ticket from Dubai on phone using her credit card, she left her house and took the last train to Tegel airport about 30mins away to try get a ticket but she found the small airport closed. She had no choice but to take a cab home, feeling all tired and frustrated. The cabbie started a small talk convo that my sister wasn't interested in but forced herself to respond to, and ended up telling him what had happened. As he dropped her off he said 'why don’t you call Frankfurt airport and see if they can help?’  When she got to the house (around 12:30am Berlin time, 2:30am Dubai time) she found the yellow pages, placed a call to Frankfurt, and after a long conversation, they agreed to purchase the ticket although it was ridiculously expensive.}  

As I was checking in, the lady at the counter asked me why I'd missed my KLM flight. I explained what had happened. She then called her colleagues including the guy I assume was the supervisor, and they gathered to take a look at my visa as they discussed in low tones. I thought to myself "Oh crap! Here we go again!" They all then apologized to me on behalf of KLM, issued me with boarding passes (even for my connecting flight), and wished me a nice stay in Berlin. I felt relieved once I went past the boarding gate to my seat in the plane. I then called my sister and family to let them know that I was now taking off. Considering how tired I was, I buckled up and blacked out before takeoff.

My sister had bought tickets for us to go to France and Italy but with my visa, I couldn't go outside Germany. Twaz a whole process trying to get those tickets refunded as well as get answers from KLM as to why I had been barred from boarding the plane, but nothing came through. We tried contacting KLM head office with no luck and even tried to contact Jay with regards to the visa he had issued, but he had nothing to say apart from, I shouldn’t have been barred from making a transit through Amsterdam.

Being confined to Germany was the best thing that happened to me. I really bonded with my sister and had beautiful encounters with God in the bible studies and Sunday services we attended-which I wouldn’t have coz I'd have been busy running around France and Italy. I had the most amazing time, met amazing people who am still friends with, and got to visit Hamburg.

31st August 2010, I headed back to Dubai. I went to my travel agent, explained the issue and asked them to follow up with KLM for me. They asked me to send a scanned copy of my visa but nothing came through. I got tired of following up and just told God to intervene in that situation. November came, God called me back to Kenya, so I resigned and headed back home. I then started Bible school in February 2011. Come September 2011, my school fees for that semester were due and I didn't have any money and had no idea what I was going to do. I couldn't attend classes until I'd paid something, so I was sent out of class on a Tuesday morning.

The following day I decided to mail my sister and see if she could bail me out. To my surprise, in my inbox was an email from my travel agent in Dubai, telling me that KLM had agreed to refund my money and they needed my account details, so that they could send it (Imagine that!). They'd even forwarded an email from KLM, which was a profuse apology for the ordeal I went through.

The money they put in my account was Ksh. 20,000 more than what I'd initially spent to buy the ticket. I paid my fees in full!! And had enough left to invest in something.

Sometimes things don't go as we plan, but when we put our trust in God, He always turns it around for our good! Nothing catches Him by surprise and His plans are waaaay better than ours. Even when we mess up and end up sabotaging ourselves on His plan for us, He always has another plan to get us back on track.

So now if like me you feel frustrated that your plans aren't going through, or if you feel like you missed out on what He had planned for you, just remember that God has another plan, which is way cooler than ours.

My situation hasn't changed, but my attitude has. I now fully believe and accept that God knows where I am, where He's taking me, and what I need to do to get there; and will be faithful to accomplish His plan in me.

I'll now leave you with the lyrics from one of my favorite ol' school jams by Babbie Mason 'God has another plan'. Enjoy....

Out of the fire, to the flames of another trial
Do you feel that your heart has had all it can take
And nothing is there left to break
In the heat of the fire, He will pull you through
When you don't understand, He is tried and true
No matter the question, there is an answer for you

So when the rain falls hard and the storm winds come
And you think it will never blow over
Trouble under your feet
Nothing over your head
And you find yourself running for cover
Remember, God has another plan.

You may be starting all over,

and praying that things would get better
You've said all you can say
You've done all that you can
But you're back where you started again
You will find in confusion there is peace that lasts
You will know that your trials only came to pass
No matter the problem, God's ways are better than best