My Journey to Business Class

Ever since God called me to follow mom, as how Elisha followed Elijah, God has blessed us financially miraculously. We left everything, not just for my discipleship but also for the ministry. This included who we married and how our kids were to be educated -- homeschooled. God has favoured me ever since the beginning of time but I have never literally counted the blessings until a business person did the math and remarked about how blessed we were without even trying. We were unintentional about the property we chose to purchase for ourselves and our financial journey since. 

God's favour was always there when it came to miraculously healing her of terminal illnesses and surgeries. He has healed her of everything from septicemia and stroke to totally disappearing a kidney stone. She has stared death in the face multiple times and has a collection of testimonies to share.

Several months ago, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. She undertook treatment but the whole process came as both a shock and a disappointment. She is still waiting for Him to swoop in and heal her instantly any day now... Still waiting.

After her treatment, mom was basically bedridden. Not as bad as I imagined but still terrible. She wouldn't join us for meals the last few weeks. I could count the number of tablespoons she was eating in one hand. At times, it was down to two. Given a choice, she would be drinking her meals instead. 

This is by far one of the most difficult flights I have every boarded. Our flight back to SA from the Gold Coast was postponed to the next day, because they didn't have any wheelchairs left for that flight. That was fine with us, so the next day, we travelled to the airport. When I rushed in to grab the wheelchair for mom, a Jetstar agent broke the news to us that our flight had been changed -- the plane from Bali that was supposed to bring us to Adelaide diverted to Melbourne. Thus, we would have to board a smaller plane which would take us to Melbourne to transit on another plane which would take us to Adelaide. Our other option was to transit via Sydney. We were lost for words. Mom would not be able to take that journey. She would be in pieces if we arrived Adelaide at all. 

Mom requested for our flight to be reimbursed so we can catch the next flight from any airline, if there was one. He consented to reimbursing us for the flight. Thus we sought for another option -- we finally agreed to travel yet the next day. 

The Jetstar agent offered to grant us $250 Jetstar vouchers that could be used for our next flight if there was need for one. Each. I thought he meant it as reimbursement. I said we paid more than that per person if we included seats, food and baggage. 

He proposed we kept the receipts for our hotel stay and transport, as they might reimburse it.  Then he took out seven food vouchers, worth $10 each, for meals and drinks at the airport but they were for the next day, so I asked if I could have "2 of it for today and the rest for tomorrow instead" because I didn't know how long we would be stranded at the airport, our transport having already left. He told me not to worry about it, and took out another seven for today. I was dumbfounded. 

But my sister soon arrived with the car to bring mom home. And her husband came right after, with the second car, to pick the kids. We didn't have time to use the first seven vouchers due today. And didn't have time to pass them to any strangers passing by either. I felt quite sorry about that.

We jumped in and headed home. Then it came -- my email notifications kept beeping -- email after email -- of the $250 vouchers for each of us to book another flight. Booked at the right time, this could mean two flights each. The kids didn't get any but they accidentally gave Eleora two vouchers. So that's 6 in all. Which comes up to $1500 worth of flight credit. Wow. I can do this all day.

When we got home, I grabbed our new boarding passes to see where we were seated -- in case they separated us. They did. Mom and the youngest two was way in front. The rest of us had our original seats: way back in row 31. And when I say mom was way in front, I mean Row 2. But we can't have two littles taking care of grandma. So dad and I went to sit with her. Thus, the beginning of my journey to Business Class.

The next day, I made a bee line for the healthiest shop I could find at the airport. Grabbed a protein smoothie or two for mom. But there wasn't an Asian food store other than Japanese and Vietnamese. Just cold rolls and sushi. Sushi it was. I thought about how I had to be honest about the dates on the voucher and all. But we were running short on vouchers so I did what no one would do. I showed them the dates and asked if they would still take it. They graciously accepted. So that's $140 saved on food.

God's ways are higher than our ways. I guess it's just His way of saying, "Yes, I can heal you in an instant but I have something up my sleeve -- you've just got to trust me a hundred percent and be patient about it. So here's an upgrade to business class, $140 for lunch, overnight stay at a hotel if you need, transport to the airport, and $1500 worth of flight credit, to remind you that I am God and that I am more capable than you think. I have my reasons and you will find out what it is eventually. Enjoy the flights."