A few weeks ago when we realized that this whole visa process was going to take WAY longer than we had (it could have easily been 2-4 weeks after we were supposed to leave), we were very discouraged because we saw an overwhelming and immovable mountain in front of us.  We sent out an email asking for prayer and God began to work in our hearts, giving us His peace about the situation.  Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  We learned that verse was true through personal experience.

But there was still the mountain in front of us, so we kept praying and kept asking for prayer.

And now, God has done the impossible and moved a mountain.  Our visas were approved in PNG about 24 hours ago, were transmitted to the Embassy in Washington D.C., were processed in Washington D.C., were picked up by FedEx today, and are being overnighted to us.  We should receive them by 8:30 am tomorrow and we fly out at 3:30 pm.  God’s timing is perfect.

As a testimony to how awesome our God is, just the processing part in Washington D.C. is “supposed” to take 1-2 weeks but was done in 1 day!!  AND, the approval process in PNG was “supposed” to take 3-4 weeks, but only took about 2 weeks (and they even took a few days off for Easter).

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt… you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

It was a bit of a roller coaster today because when we got the phone call that our visas were in D.C., it was hopeful that they would be processed and mailed, but not definite.  They said FedEx picks up even at 6:00 or 7:00 pm, much later than we were expecting, so we were encouraged.

We had until about 6:30 pm EST to change our tickets to Australia or we would lose them entirely, which would be a very costly loss.  I kept checking the tracking number on FedEx’s website and didn’t see anything.  We had decided to take the step of faith and not change our flights, even though we didn’t know for sure.  But at 6:25 pm EST (just minutes before we would no longer be able to change our flights), I called FedEx and they said they had been picked up at 6:06 PM and were scheduled for delivery tomorrow at 8:30 am.

What a wonderful gift God has given us.  As one person said, “We are living in the middle of a miracle!”  Please KEEP PRAYING that the visas will actually arrive in time for our flight.

In Him,

James and Christina