“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV
I’ve heard it said that when you travel, don’t forget to pack your patience. There were a few things that happened on our trip to Alaska where that was the case.
If you follow this blog, you’ll remember my post from May 23, Don’t Sweat the What-ifs. I shared some Scriptures I was “packing” to prepare for the unexpected. I am so glad that I did.
Here’s a quote from that post that describes the most important preparation I did:
Trust is the most important thing I can pack. Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT
So, here’s one story from our trip. We booked our flights through Princess EZ-Air. That way if anything went wrong along the way, Princess Cruises would have to get us to our destination. There was no easy way to get from Syracuse, NY, to Fairbanks, AK, to start our journey. We flew from Syracuse to Washington, DC, to Denver, CO, to Fairbanks. It was a long journey, but there were no issues along the way.
However, I was a bit concerned about our return flights from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After we had originally booked our flights, the airline had changed the flight time to much later, getting us into Syracuse the next day. Our travel agent adjusted the flights for us through Princess to a better time with a Canadian airline, WestJet. All seemed good until I realized that I could no longer access the last leg of the trip, operated by Delta, through my Delta app. The whole trip was visible in the WestJet app, and Tom’s complete trip showed up fine in both places.
My travel agent and I communicated up until the day before we left. She had spoken with Delta and was assured that everything was fine in their system, but she was not happy with all their answers and could not get a clear confirmation number from them, so I couldn’t even look up the information. We had done everything we could to resolve the issue, but I was not confident that there would not be a problem. Yet, I knew that even so, I would get home eventually, regardless of what happened.
The time came to check in for our return flights through WestJet. All fine using their app, but still nothing for me in Delta. When we checked in at the Vancouver airport, the gate agent got a puzzled look and asked me if I had the digital boarding pass for the Delta leg. I told him I hadn’t been able to access it in the app, so he printed a paper boarding pass with the ticket number and seat Tom and I had chosen together. We arrived in Detroit for the final flight. But when I tried to scan that paper pass at the Delta gate for our trip to Syracuse, no dice! The Delta system had no record of me for that flight.
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try to avoid a problem, it’s out of your hands. So, how are you going to respond? All our efforts to avoid a problem came to no avail. I had noticed and called the travel agent. The travel agent had done her best. The WestJet gate agent had tried to avoid an issue. All our efforts had not made a difference. So, now I had to decide how to respond.
Throughout the trip, I had been reminding myself of the preparation Scriptures I had “packed.” Sometimes those reminders came to mind in moments when I needed them, and sometimes, I just wanted to keep them ready. Standing at the Delta gate in Detroit, the first verse I remembered was Philippians 1:27, “Whatever happens, conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.” I knew how I needed to behave. Several other moments on the trip, I had needed Isaiah 41:10, “Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” This was not a moment for fear. I needed to trust that “God works all things together for good….” (Romans 8:28)
We waited for about twenty minutes while the gate agents worked to add me to the flight. Every other passenger was on the plane. All we could do was wait and watch without really knowing what was happening or how it would turn out. We had to trust God to work through the gate agents on our behalf. (Proverbs 3:5-6) Trust remains calm even without details. Trust believes that God is at work even without seeing the workings. We had to trust that God was working through the gate agents to get us home. And He did.
Control called. They were ready for take-off. They were told they had to wait for a passenger with a ticket issue. The supervisor called for a status check. The gate agents contacted multiple people until they finally got the code that added me to the flight.
Our seats had been redistributed, so the gate agent issued us new seats. I scanned my new boarding pass. Success! As we rushed onto the plane to take off, we realized he had upgraded our seats to Comfort Plus. Nicer seats. More room. Usually, more money. But God had done more than just get us on the flight, “He is able to do infinitely more than we ask or imagine…” (Ephesians 3:20). A small, but sweet detail.
Dear friend, sometimes your best efforts don’t solve the problem. Most often, outcomes are outside your control. But you can decide to let God use the situation for your good and His glory. You get to decide how to respond. It’s not easy, but it is doable!
It helps to decide in advance how you will respond. The time I took to prepare my heart before we ever left home made a difference when the unplanned happened. I guess that is my biggest takeaway from the trip. My travel agent, the WestJet agent, and I had all tried to resolve the foreseen issue, but the most important resolution was my heart preparation for the unexpected. What about you? How will you handle the next unplanned circumstance in your life?
Don’t forget to pack our patience and prepare your heart.
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