Facing Fear

Woke up this morning like any other morning and walked out of my room to get the dogs out of the kitchen into the backyard. Thank God, I remembered to bring my house keys with me as I walked out. After letting the dogs out, I figured it was time for coffee and studying the Word before getting ready to go to Sunat in Surco for another stage of paperwork for the NGO. Went to my bedroom door to open it and voila! it was locked. The landlords had never given me the keys to the three doors inside the house and it was one of my fears, what would I do if I locked myself out?! Well, I had to face that fear and deal with it today. Seriously, it has been one adventure after the other since I have lived here. 


So, there I was, 8:15am, in my pink jammies with ducks all over and my fuzzy slippers, locked out of my room and being really thankful to God that I had brought my house keys out with me into the living room so I was not locked inside the house without the ability to go out. My cell phone was inside my room as were my clothes and shoes. So here I was, wondering how I was supposed to go and get the locksmith from the market which was like 6 blocks away dressed only in my jammies and fuzzy slippers. I figured it would have made a great impression on my neighbours!


To my credit, I did  not panic, not once. I must be maturing and realizing that God is in control and this too shall pass.  Several thoughts crossed my mind, like perhaps I should do like the stunt actors do and try to get to my open bedroom windows by climbing out my living room windows and slowly inching over on a ledge. I poked my head out my living room window and realized I have no ledge to inch along on. There goes that brilliant idea. Then I thought that I could do a Romeo and Juliet move without the romance and put up a ladder and climb up it. But, the tree was in the way. And later on, the locksmith even attempted it but the ladder was not tall enough to reach my bedroom window which is actually a really good thing, as Martha Stewart would say. Why would the locksmith attempt to climb up a ladder instead of just using his skills to bust open the lock....hmmm....that is the million dollar question, ain't it?


So anyways, while I was contemplating all my options so that I would not have to go to the market in my pyjamas and slippers, I realized that I had flip flops in my bathroom for shoes and that there were actually clothes drying on the clothes rack and I could actually get dressed and be decent and walk to the market without having anyone think that I am crazy. It was then that I realized that even as God allowed me to be tested with a fear of mine, He had provided the solution already and because I didn't freak out and panic, I was able to do things calmly and quickly and be able to figure out the solution sooner than later and get to the locksmith before other people did and still make it to Sunat to get my paperwork done and meet my lawyer all in record time. 


Every day that I'm here in this house and in Villa Maria, God has been teaching me and training me like Jackie Chan trained that little guy, Will Smith's son. Sometimes with the most mundane of things but I know that every step is preparation for the bigger things ahead that I cannot yet see, but will need to face. I thank you, Lord for forging me to face the heat of the battle yet to come!