When Unrelated Events Converge

Image from the Internet

This whole community quarantine really makes you think.  My slow mind finally connected the dots of seemingly unrelated events.  And, once again, my OCD God has shown me His attention to detail and his loving protection over my family.

On my last business trip to the US, COVID-19 was still just a new form of corona virus.  I, honestly, was just very mildly concerned about traveling.  But, while on staycation the day before my departure, one of my best friends handed me her roll of "Thieves" oil (for the non-oilbolaryo like me, it's a mixture used by thieves to prevent themselves from catching the virus while ransacking houses of families who died during one of the epidemics).  I used it and kept it handy along with the mask.

I had two different sets of workshops/meetings this round, so I got to spend a quality weekend and a half with my family in Dayton; had two massage sessions with my spirit healing masseuse; dinner and dessert with a childhood friend; hung out with a new friend; and shopped ... for tons of gummy vitamins, which I don't usually buy. This time around, I bought a huge bottle each for men, women, women over 50 and a bottle of chewable for my niece who hates gummies.  I stood over my luggage stuffed with all these vitamins and thought, "Gem, you overshopped ... AGAIN".

On my flight back, I packed the masks my aunt managed to buy in my check-in luggage. I debated whether I would get one for myself as I flew back.  I wanted to save it since stocks were running out in Manila.  While I was preparing my emergency medicines, I found three (THREE!) masks in my P&G medicine kit.  I had enough to carry me through my multi-leg flight home.

During my final weekend, my Uncle kept asking me when I would bring my parents and my son to the US.  So, my Aunt and I started discussing plans to take them with me on my next scheduled trip in March-end (supposedly).  When I got home, I started applying for my parents' and my son's US visas.  I kept getting issues with their accounts, that the earliest interview schedule I got was for March 23 - just days before I was supposed to fly out.  I debated on whether I should book their flights already, but I struggled with some decision points in terms of coordinating their flights with mine. So, I decided not to book yet.

Meantime, my parents started noticing how their schedules seem to get reorganized so that they're calendars are suddenly becoming free from March-end onwards.  Their out-of-town engagements were getting moved or cancelled.  We thought, it must be God's will for us to fly out and take a couple of weeks off in the US.  But the interview schedule was not adding up.

On a different note, I had been having issues with the requirements and fees imposed by the BOD (board of directors) of my homeowners association.  This issue had dragged on for months, since October 2019 and just escalated prior to my US trip.  Suffice it to say, I have not started building my house yet.  At this point, frustrated is an understatement. 
I talked to my mom about it, "What am I missing?  What is He trying to tell me?"
"As you said, 'We are called to Active Silence and Active Faith'.  Let's wait"
Before I flew out, my aunt told me, "Listen to the signs."

Then, COVID19 was named and things changed overnight.  My business trip got cancelled as the virus started jumping to other countries and the threat became very real for the Philippines as well.

As it turns out, my compulsive vitamins shopping was inspired.  We are all religiously taking our vitamins daily. 

Looking back, those little protective measures during my multi-leg flights to and from the US must have helped somehow --- if only to give me peace of mind while I watched out for symptoms during the 14-day period.

If my parents' out-of-town engagements pushed through, they would have been exposed to more people, risking exposure to the virus and they would have been locked out of Manila.  We would have all been very anxious being apart during the community quarantine. 

All the frustrating issues with filling up applications and setting up interview schedules at the consul, resulting to a much later schedule than I wanted, ensured I didn't book any flights.  It would have been very frustrating cancelling and getting charged fees.

Had I started building in October or November, the building of my house would be stalled now and might not be in a good phase to stop.  It would also mean we would have hired more people that we would now need to pay without working.  It would bleed my limited funds and compromise my mom's.

I see it now, how all of these unrelated events were simply God watching out for me and my family; how the frustrating "bad" things were actually blessings in disguise  (but I should know that by now).

If He perfectly engineered all these for me and my little family, how can we not trust that, despite all the "bad" things that have happened because of COVID19, there are even bigger blessings in disguise coming out of it?

How many blessings have you spotted so far?