He Made it possible!!! We may make our plans but He directs our steps

Hello dearest ladies.

I am just so excited and I knew I had to sit down and type my praise.
(So I am sitting down to focus just on praising my HH and the amazing things He has done for me this week and to share it with you all for encouragement.)

I am reminded of the bible verse from Proverbs 16:9 from the amplified bible ‘ A man’s mind plans his way [as he journeys through life], But the LORD directs his steps and establishes them. ‘The mind of a person plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. NASB’

This whole week I have been trying to make ‘my’ plans but the Lord had so much better planned & in store for me to come.

Going back quickly to last year, I had heard Keziah mention the Wise woman’s retreat and thought I would love to join.
At the time I didn’t know any details and thought that I’m sure the ministry would let me know when it was happening thinking that it was a long way away.

Then this week I had seen the praise report of the Wise Woman retreat taking place in Cape Town in February. I still didn’t have any details about it but thought to myself I should reach out to one of the ladies in the ministry team to find out the details…

Well my HH already knew my heart’s desires and led Atarah to contact me this past Monday ( at the start of the week) with the dates and then put me in contact with Keziah to let me know more details of the retreat. And I found out that it was happening the first weekend of February……(only 13 days away at the time)

Eeeek only a few days to try to arrange and make plans, arrange finances, book flights and find out if I could take a day’s leave- it’s a bit hard when you are part of building a small educational business and have schools relying on you and appointments booked months ahead.

But remember ladies we have a wonderful HH who makes all things possible 😊 !!!!!

So in my heart, I really wanted to be able to make the trip and meet all the wonderful ladies I have met online through the ministry and be a part of this wise woman retreat. So I prayed about it and said Lord if you want me to go then will you make a way. And if it’s not Your will then let me enjoy the time with you while I stay at home that weekend and be at peace about it.

Now going back to me trying to make my own plans to attend…

I knew I had some savings and I thought I could use that to pay for flights and the retreat (because in my head I thought I had enough savings). I checked my savings account that evening thinking I could book everything that evening (not even seeing if I was able to take off work yet)… … … It turned out that I didn’t have enough savings for flights and the retreat. I felt quite despondent and frustrated that I wasn’t in the best financial position or better position to afford flights and the retreat.

I ended up crying about it on my way to work on Tuesday morning still feeling frustrated about it all. I prayed in the car and said Lord if you want me to go then You make it happen And I will give this to You and be at peace about not being able to attend.

At work that morning, I had a coffee meeting with a friend I work with, who I am helping build this small educational company. I was still feeling a bit frustrated about my situation but at peace that I was going to stay at home over the retreat weekend. I opened up a bit to my friend to express that I was frustrated about the financial situation I was in and not being able of affording a short weekend trip. In my mind, I was just sharing my frustration as we ladies do sometimes (afterward I thought ‘Ohhhhh no!!!!!’ I am supposed to keep quiet and not complain about my situation!!!! ) So then I was even more frustrated with myself, but there was nothing I could really do, and just had to go on about my day.

Later that Tuesday afternoon my friend called me to say that she and her husband would like to thank me for all the work that I have done in helping to grow the business. And as an early Birthday present, they would like to pay for my flights down to Cape Town and that I deserved to take a short break and do something that I have wanted to join in on.

Ladies, I was in shock as I had not expected something like this… I actually didn’t know how to accept it at first as had all these thoughts that I should not have shared my situation and that I don’t really deserve something like this ( all lies from the enemy !!!) After I got over the shock and then prayed to say Lord I don’t want to get too excited, do You really want me to accept this gift, and is it Your will that I go…. Wanting to be obedient and not want to make my own plans but follow His will.

Another thing I want to mention is that I do have a cousin in Cape Town – who has had a restored relationship through trusting the Lord to do it (although she doesn’t know anything about RMI) and this is one reason/testimony why I have hope for my restoration and why I kept on searching for God’s help in my situation which led me to RMI over more than a year ago. So I called my cousin to let her know about this gift and I might be able to come down to Cape Town. She told me I should accept it as a gift and let the Lord bless me!!! So we made tentative arrangements.

Now going back to me trying to make my own plans …. I had to still arrange to get time off work which somehow the Lord allowed happening and I could take off the whole Friday (usually the busiest day of my week), which means that I can fly down the Thursday evening and spend time with my cousin and she would bring me to the retreat on Friday.

So now I have to smile at how good the Lord, my Beloved HH is to me.

From finding out, I could take off work, and being able to afford flights & the retreat, I tried to book flights, however, every time I tried to sit down and book flights I would have no power (load shedding here in South Africa), then I had a family crisis to deal with this week and had family visit last minute on Saturday (so this was making me panic as I knew flights would get more expensive the longer I waited)
Finally, on Saturday evening I found some time to sit down with my HH and book flights, etc.

The flights had gotten more expensive but they were still within budget. Once I had found and selected the flights on a ‘usually’ cheap airline I proceeded to check out and do the online payment however I was not receiving the OTPs (one-time pins) to confirm the payment. I tried several times and eventually had to phone my bank to find out what was going on as I hadn’t received any OTP and that it seemed they were being sent to another person’s phone???!!???? The bank tried to rectify the issue but it didn’t seem to solve the problem as I still didn’t receive anything. By this time it was getting quite late and I knew soon I’d have no power again. I had to then reselect flights and they had gotten more expensive!!!!

Then all of a sudden my sister called me saying she thinks there is some strange scam as she keeps getting OTPS from the bank and wanted to warn me ….. I laughed and explained I was the one trying to book flights but I wasn’t getting OTPS and I have no idea why she would be getting my OTPs.

And now flights had gotten more expensive. By now ladies I was wondering if I was meant to go to the retreat or if it was the enemy and wondering how the Lord would work this whole situation out for my good!!!!

Within 15 minutes my sister did an online search and found me cheaper flights with two separate airlines and one that is ‘usually’ more expensive, she found it to be cheaper, so she booked and helped me complete the online payments one minute before my power went out ( one minute to midnight) quite literally at the last minute. And it took me around two hours earlier on my own to try….

Isn’t our HH just wonderful!!! 😊 .

So now I have flights booked – at a price below budget ( so some spending money left), I have a day off work, I get to meet all the wonderful ladies in SA from the ministry at the WW Retreat and I get to spend some time with precious family.

So as Erin usually ends her Be Encouraged videos I’d also like to say ‘Be Encouraged, ladies!!!!!’