In my last post, I mentioned about preparing for a trip and here I am writing from my aisle seat abroad United Airlines-which for the record hasn't been as bad as people told me...except for the fact that I don't get my own movie screen, but that just justifies my cheap ticket. I still got to watch Frozen though and finally understood all the hype and references that's been all over my Facebook news feed.
So where and why am I headed?
I'm going back to Korea and down to Southeast Asia to visit my exchange friends and church family there. I've been nostalgic and holding onto memories for as long as I've left and this trip will be partly discovering if there's anything more in store for me in Korea besides partly being a vacation and reflection of what's to come. I probably won't be blogging here as often, but my travel blog (Phollow Me There) will definitely be updated with adventures and stories to tell as I go.
As sappy as I am to leave for an extended period of time (as always), I couldn't have felt more confirmation about embarking on this trip. I've been praying for God to fill this trip up with divine appointments and boy did He blow me away this early morning.
On board my first flight from YEG to SFO (San Fran, a young mom and her two year old sat beside me in the window seat. She looked friendly enough for me to start a conversation so I asked her where she was off to. This led to her telling me about how her husband just came back from a mission trip to Africa from Redding, California where they currently reside and she had decided to visit home in Edmonton with her daughter while he was away. I wanted to be sure so I asked if she was a Christian and she confirmed my suspicions as I shared with her that we had the same faith. I could tell she lit up as I did at the fact of our mutual foundation.
I'm so glad I broke the ice (though I'm sure if I didn't she would've) because the more we conversed, the more I realized how uncoincidental our meet up was. Her husband is actually studying at Bethel theology school in Redding and they had moved here on a student visa. They're home church happens to be Sherwood Park Alliance-how neat is that? The Alliance world sure is small. I told her a brief background about my newly graduate self, and shared with her my travel plans in exploring what is next for me. It felt so comfortable to talk with her as if we were friends from the start.
We stopped conversing as she was hoping her daughter would fall asleep and I had the same hope for myself knowing that a long day of air cruising would drain me. Towards the last leg of the flight, I decided to write in my journal to document this divine appointment. I felt embarassed because from my peripheral I saw her glance over and I kept trying to manoeuvre my writing in a sly way so she wouldn't know I was writing about her. I guess there'e not much you can hide when you're right next to each other. Anyhow, shortly after I finished wriiting she brought up the topic of me being in fashion and how she realized what a "light" I could be in an industry that can be quite the other way around. She asked if she could pray for me and laid her hands on my shoulder to do so. She mentioned how divine this moment was and I knew she definitely had looked at my journal because my title was "Divine Appointment #1".
I don't recall everything she said, but her prayer moved me to tears. I realized how amazing God is and how much He was looking out for me despite my worries deep down. I felt she was very on the ball about me in her prayers and I even think she's gifted prophetically. Before we departed on our separate journeys, we exchanged contact information and she even extended a welcome to me to stay with her family if I ever wanted to visit Bethel and Redding.
This has got to be the best in flight conversation with astranger sister ever! God melts my heart. Here's to many more of these divine moments.
P.S. She told me she was very thankful because she had been praying for someone nice to sit beside her and her daughter-in her twos, but not a bit terrible.
So where and why am I headed?
I'm going back to Korea and down to Southeast Asia to visit my exchange friends and church family there. I've been nostalgic and holding onto memories for as long as I've left and this trip will be partly discovering if there's anything more in store for me in Korea besides partly being a vacation and reflection of what's to come. I probably won't be blogging here as often, but my travel blog (Phollow Me There) will definitely be updated with adventures and stories to tell as I go.
As sappy as I am to leave for an extended period of time (as always), I couldn't have felt more confirmation about embarking on this trip. I've been praying for God to fill this trip up with divine appointments and boy did He blow me away this early morning.
On board my first flight from YEG to SFO (San Fran, a young mom and her two year old sat beside me in the window seat. She looked friendly enough for me to start a conversation so I asked her where she was off to. This led to her telling me about how her husband just came back from a mission trip to Africa from Redding, California where they currently reside and she had decided to visit home in Edmonton with her daughter while he was away. I wanted to be sure so I asked if she was a Christian and she confirmed my suspicions as I shared with her that we had the same faith. I could tell she lit up as I did at the fact of our mutual foundation.
I'm so glad I broke the ice (though I'm sure if I didn't she would've) because the more we conversed, the more I realized how uncoincidental our meet up was. Her husband is actually studying at Bethel theology school in Redding and they had moved here on a student visa. They're home church happens to be Sherwood Park Alliance-how neat is that? The Alliance world sure is small. I told her a brief background about my newly graduate self, and shared with her my travel plans in exploring what is next for me. It felt so comfortable to talk with her as if we were friends from the start.
We stopped conversing as she was hoping her daughter would fall asleep and I had the same hope for myself knowing that a long day of air cruising would drain me. Towards the last leg of the flight, I decided to write in my journal to document this divine appointment. I felt embarassed because from my peripheral I saw her glance over and I kept trying to manoeuvre my writing in a sly way so she wouldn't know I was writing about her. I guess there'e not much you can hide when you're right next to each other. Anyhow, shortly after I finished wriiting she brought up the topic of me being in fashion and how she realized what a "light" I could be in an industry that can be quite the other way around. She asked if she could pray for me and laid her hands on my shoulder to do so. She mentioned how divine this moment was and I knew she definitely had looked at my journal because my title was "Divine Appointment #1".
I don't recall everything she said, but her prayer moved me to tears. I realized how amazing God is and how much He was looking out for me despite my worries deep down. I felt she was very on the ball about me in her prayers and I even think she's gifted prophetically. Before we departed on our separate journeys, we exchanged contact information and she even extended a welcome to me to stay with her family if I ever wanted to visit Bethel and Redding.
This has got to be the best in flight conversation with a
P.S. She told me she was very thankful because she had been praying for someone nice to sit beside her and her daughter-in her twos, but not a bit terrible.
this was so awesome to read. i am incredibly stoked for what's ahead of you sarah!
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