sunday thoughts #3

tender mercies.

you hear about them all the time, but sometimes when they happen to you they're hard to recognize… well not this one, this one was more like a miracle

it happened a little over two weeks ago, july 22nd to be exact. 

i was on my way to fiji, and excited as a kid in a candy shop and a kid on christmas morning combined,

so yeah you could say i was pretty pumped. 

we flew from vegas to LA and everything was going just great, but then the well fed polynesian lady at the baggage check at LAX had other ideas…to sum things up, there were a few problems with my passport that we were unaware of, and in a matter of seconds, going to fiji turned into a pipe dream. 

i was absolutely devastated... the rest of the people walking around in the airport probably thought that i had gone through the worst breakup everrrrr. it was bad.

after emptying my tear ducts, i realized i was alone in the LA airport which in turn made me realize that my tear ducts were in fact not fully emptied… which made me realize that that drunk guy that kept pointing at me was kinda creepy which made me realize that the bathrooms are actually a good hiding place… and i could go on, but i think you get the picture.

it all kinda felt like a movie, really.

like a really sad version of monte carlo where selena gomez doesn't get her lifelong dream of going to paris cause she just gets stuck in the airport. 

ya, that'd be a sad movie.

anyway.  

one thing led to another, and the next thing i new i was in a nice stranger's casita in LA… right before i went to bed (for 4 whole hours woot woot) i couldn't stop thinking about how this was the craziest situation i've ever been in. 

but in a weird sort of hopeless yet optimistic way, i was kind of excited. this was going to be quite the adventure… (quick note to all you wanderlustful/adventure thirsty gals...you know who you are: "adventure" isn't always as fun as it sounds, it is definitely exciting, but sometimes it really really sucks)

fast forward to the next day aka the most stressful day of my life.. this is about how it went in quick bullet point form:

- my dad picked me up at 6

- we got to LA at 8

- the passport place only takes walk-ins from 7-8 in the morning

- crap what do we do now

- let's wait in the walk-in line anyway just in case someone cancels an appointment

- mom is talking to immigration people this could work

- except oh wait i don't have a plane ticket

- let's get on the standby list and pray that somebody decides they don't want to go to fiji anymore

- let's go to the beach so i'll stop freaking out

- a trip to the LA temple might help too

- pray pray pray pray

- I'M LEGAL I'M GOING TO FIJI

- but oh wait i need a plane ticket

- YAY I GOT A PLANE TICKET

- but oh wait the airline didn't get the email from immigration in fiji

- BUT OH WAIT EDWARD BROWN FROM FIJI CALLED AND SAID TO LET ME GOOOO YAYA THANKS EDWARD YAAY I'M GOING TO FIJI

- *they hand me a plane ticket*

- *i run off to security before they can change their minds*

so ya, it was a day filled with up and downs and hope and tears and everything in between.

but, the point i was getting to by telling you this forever long story is that prayers work.. i know that people were praying for me in this situation and i felt those prayers throughout the day. even though it was an incredibly stressful day, every time i said a prayer, i just had a feeling that everything would work out… some way, some how. and it did.

i know that i was supposed to go on that trip and meet the people that i met in fiji, i know that i was able to go because Heavenly Father knew that i needed that experience. 

i also know, that everything happens for a reason. people kept telling me that when i was stuck in the airport, but that was about the last thing i wanted to hear. if i had to be stuck in LA instead of going to fiji, it had better be a dang good reason!! but looking back, it's easier to see the bigger picture. maybe i would have gotten hurt those first few days, maybe i needed this experience to humble me, maybe the fijian lady that took my place on the weekend excursion that i missed needed that experience, or maybe the kids in my group needed to meet her… the reasons could go on and on, and i'll never really know for sure why this happened for me, but looking back i'm grateful for this experience and all that it taught me.

tender mercies are there if we only look for them.

miracles are real.

if we knock, it will be opened.

if we ask, it will be given.

xxo

katie jane.