It's been a very long time since I've really blogged. In some ways, that means there are a million things I could write about/should have written about. Which perhaps is what has kept me from writing. Once I started missing important things, what random thing could possibly warrant a post? I'm not sure what I'm about to write is any more important than describing my awesome roommate Arnila, the people in the small group/Bible study I started meeting with last semester, my epic Christmas vacation, or any of the other "profound" thoughts I've been thinking over the last several months. But unless I intend to let the blog die, I have to start again somewhere, and I want to share this story.
I was talking to my mom the other day and she was telling me her own story, of how God recently told her, "It doesn't always have to be hard." Now, we all know life isn't always easy. And difficulty is not any sign at all of a lack of God's blessing. In fact, God reveals himself and his glory and his grace through difficulty in amazing ways. But sometimes, when life just seems like it's always hard, we can forget that God's heart is not that we would have difficulty in every step. It's a tenuous balance to hold: turning blessings back to praise AND blessing God in the midst of the darkness (as a very popular Matt Redman song suggests). But what I know is that God is good, and because he is good, sometimes he makes things incredibly easy for us. He raises up the valleys, makes low the mountains, and levels the rough ground (Isaiah 40:4). And for doing this, he deserves to be praised!
This was not the story of my two years in Kyrgyzstan. Ha! But in so many ways, this is the story of my past two years in grad school. That whole story, however, would take a long time to tell. So here is just a snippet:
Tomorrow, I am leaving for two weeks in India, where I'll be helping with and assisting a World Vision conflict analysis workshop as part of my masters thesis research. In the planning of this trip, one thing after another has come together without a hitch. To partially finance the trip, I applied for a research grant through my university last October, and was awarded the maximum amount of $1000. My plane ticket totaled $1040.64. I intended to pay for the remainder of the trip (hotel, meals, in-country travel, and incidentals estimated at about $2000) with school loans, which I thought was a more than worthy use. I was shocked to find out in early January that World Vision would be covering those costs entirely, making this trip across the world almost free. Additionally, World Vision has made all my in-country travel and accommodations arrangements, including having a car from the hotel pick me up at the airport; you know, someone standing there with my name on a card waiting for me :-).
I was expected to cover a few things for myself, which of course I was more than willing to do. One, was international health insurance. Little did I know that when I purchased Orbitz's travel insurance (included in the price of my ticket), this also covered emergency medical expenses, coverage that met World Vision's requirements. International health insurance: check.
I was also required to pay for my visa, which I did actually have to pay for :-), but the application and the documents went through with zero problems in a matter of days. Visa: check.
The final requirement was to update my immunizations and get an antimalarial medication. I visited the doctor at the campus health center, who gave me a typhoid booster and a prescription for an antimalarial. She didn't think my insurance would cover the prescription, but I figured since I was paying so little for the trip, I could afford to pay for it myself.
Today I went to the CVS near my house to get the medication, and just out of curiosity, I had them check my insurance to see if it would be covered. To my surprise, it was! Which brought the grand total for the prescription to a $5.90 co-pay.
Just the other day I realized I would need an electrical adaptor for my computer and other electronics. It was kind of a bummer I hadn't thought of it earlier, since I didn't think most stores would have what I needed, and I didn't have time to order online or run around to a lot of different places. I thought maybe I'd go out to Target later today (about an hour round trip on public transportation), but then as I was walking to CVS, I remembered the hardware store right across the street. Since I had to wait an hour for my prescription, I decided to go in and see if they sold adapters. I walked in the door and asked the woman standing there. She told me they did sell them, and pointed me to a nearby wall. The first one I saw was the one I needed, clearly labeled "For India." I was in and out of the hardware store with what I needed in less than 2 minutes.
Back at CVS, when I paid for my prescription, I was able to use a coupon I had received last time I made a purchase (I know CVS has invaded the West Coast, and I am definitely not its biggest fan, but they do often have good coupons!). Sometimes the coupons are kind of random and not useful, as this one would have been on most occasions: $25 Gift Card with Purchase of New or Transferred Prescription. Honestly, I think this is the first time I've ever had a prescription for anything besides eyeglasses, and I just happened to have this coupon? I got the gift card, which essentially brought my antimalarial medication to the price of -$20. I actually made money on it!
I used the gift card to buy some other little things I need for my trip, and I also happened to have a CVS coupon for $5 off a $25 or more purchase, bringing my total savings today to $30. When I left my house, it had been sunny, but by the time I left CVS, the clouds had rolled in again and it was sprinkling. That's when I remembered the "Free Medium Hot Chocolate" coupons I had for McDonald's that expire on February 11. So I went to the McDonald's that is about 100 yards from my house and got my free hot chocolate (delicious!). While I was there, I asked God to show me what to do with the other coupon, since I wouldn't be able to use it before I left (and before it expired). On my 2-minute walk home, a homeless man approached me and asked if I could give him any money. I told him I am a student living off loans, but that I had a coupon for a free hot chocolate if he wanted it. I know it isn't everything he needs, but maybe it will at least keep him warm for a while.
I know these are little things, but the point is, they are exactly the little things I needed, at exactly the right times. And they show me that God is thinking about me, and he is making my way for me. You might say these are just coincidences, or that I just got lucky, or that God has bigger things to worry about than $25 CVS gift cards and free hot chocolate. I'm not going to argue with you on these points. I just wanted to share my story, and that I am turning these blessings back to praise to God, and thanking him that sometimes, things really are easy, just because he loves me.
