Hey everyone!
It’s been a little while, but I’m finally back in Sydney and I couldn’t be more thrilled. 2020 - what an insane year. I know how lucky I am to have been able to spend most of it overseas and exploring and ‘discovering myself’, but what a ride it’s been.
My trip was full of ups and downs, moments ranging from exploration and bewilderment to just utter chaos and distress. Life really be like that sometimes - it can be all chill one second and then the next a complete curveball is chucked at you and it just yeets all notions of consistency into oblivion. But I think you need the good and the bad to be a stronger and better person. The bad illuminates the need to have the good and makes you thankful for it.
As I am sitting here, in my comfy penthouse quarantine, reflecting on the past 10 months, I see the ways that God has worked in his own miraculous timing, how he has used me and particular events to not only reveal himself more to me, but to other people in my life as well.
The video is more of like a video diary into what actually went down in that insane week before returning home, and this post is more like a follow up reflection of it all. To see what actually happened, please go watch that video first!
In case you can’t watch the video though: here’s a ‘quick’ timeline of what went down…
Airline needed results of a negative COVID test conducted 96hrs before check-in. My flight was scheduled for Sept 20 at 2:30pm.
It is really really hard to get a COVID test in Paris.
All labs and clinics were giving me a turnaround time of 8-10 days to get a COVID test…making it redundant to do a test at all and leaves me in an interesting vicious cycle.
Paid 100 euros to register for a test at a facility recommended by my airline.
Waited 4 hours to do the test with no confirmation of when results are to be released.
Spent the day after looking for other clinics that would possibly give me a test and quick results - one just said no, the other had over 200 people in line.
Contacted the embassy
Juliana from the embassy said that she lived really close in the area, so she decided to walk to the lab herself and ask for my results. I got them immediately and I am overjoyed.
I shipped off my luggage.
I received and email saying that my flight on Sunday is no longer available and that the next possible flight to Sydney would be 25 November. I am no longer overjoyed.
The next morning at 10am just after telling my parents the bad news, I received a phone call from International SOS.
They tell me to prepare myself bc they have found a flight at 3:30pm that day.
My uncle rushes home, I pack up my life and we are at the airport by 12pm.
At the airport, I am informed the university will not cover the flight through International SOS, and to ask the embassy when the next flight is.
I am told by the embassy to use any means possible to catch that flight.
I call my parents, they transfer me $8000. I buy the ticket
5 mins later I check in.
1 hr later I’m flying home, on 18 Sept, 2 days earlier than anticipated.
One thing that I won’t stop reiterating is how insane the Lord is in his timing and purpose.
There were just so many ‘coincidences’ which made it blindingly obvious that me coming home was a miracle, orchestrated carefully and lovingly by the Lord. Here are some:
If it weren’t for our fav consul Juliana, getting those test results for me, I still would not have been able to board that supplementary flight.
Out of the 8 labs recommended by my airline, I happened to choose the one within walking distance from our fav consul Juliana.
If I did not contact International SOS randomly, I would never have even known about any flight.
If I did not ship my luggage a day earlier, I would not have been able to board the flight.
I got the Hilton for quarantine? And I got the penthouse?!?!
I believe all these things were made possible through the power of prayer. I really had no idea just how many people prayed for me over those few days.
My auntie was honestly one of the biggest rocks in my life, not just through that week but also through that tough week but also through the entire time I was overseas. She would wake up every morning at precisely 6:30am to pray with some sisters at her church. Although I have probably been a Christian longer than her, never before had I ever seen such raw and genuine love for Jesus. She served and loved with her whole heart, always praising God in even the smallest of good things. And during the tough times, she continued to praise him, completely trusting in his timing and in his goodness.
At a time I was at my most frenzied, running from place to place in complete vain, I will remember how she told me, “just let it go”. I had done everything I could have done, and although all hope seemed lost, it was blindingly obvious that I lacked faith. I kept spiralling, crying on the phone to the embassy and International SOS, begging them to help me. But had I turned to my Lord, the actual creator of all things in this world? Not nearly as much.
My auntie told me to calm down. I was on the same damn side as the creator of the universe and beyond. Everything was in his control and everything was for my good. My auntie was prepared to keep me at her house until November. She even gave me the keys to the house.
And then the next day, I was flying home to Sydney. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to her.
My parents were also another rock. I found it incredibly hard to keep updating them - they were probably dealing with it tougher than I was. Some days I’d find my mum texting me at what would’ve been 4am in the morning in Sydney, just to be sure that I was okay. I can only imagine the rollercoaster of emotions they went through as well. But one thing I will never forget, is what they told me when I called the at the airport, asking them for money.
I told them about the flight home, which would cost them roughly 3500 euros. I have never asked my parents for that amount of money, and asking them for it was somewhat gut-wrenching for me. At this point, I am absolutely losing it and bawling my eyes out on the phone. They didn’t get mad, they didn’t hesitate for one moment and transferred me. In fact, they told me - thank you for asking us. If this is a problem that just money can solve, then take it. We just want you home.
I just felt so much guilt. I felt so undeserving and so helpless. Their willingness to go to any lengths to get me home is just a fragmented indication of how much they loved me. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.
Beyond my family, there was an immense group of people backing me, praying for my safety and praying for God to reveal his goodness in all of it. I had people from uni and people from my church praying for me consistently. And beyond that, my parents’ church was praying for me, my mum’s bible study and their families were praying for me. My friends’ churches were praying for me. Complete and utter strangers that I do not know personally were praying deeply for me.
As my uncle was walking to the airport, he asked me, “is your dad praying for you?” My dad did. He doesn’t pray very much - but he told me that he did not stop praying for me this whole week. My uncle is not a believer, but even he acknowledges this was all a miracle.
So overall, not only did this whole experience humble me immensely, it also served as a testimony to others. It revealed so much to me, forced me to give control back to God, but at the same time, God used someone as broken, as proud and as helpless as myself to prove his might and dominion over all things. He broke me down to my most emotional and weakest state, but he used me for his glory all at the same time.
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