Where to Begin...

Over a year ago we began planning a family trip to Disneyland. We planned on going with some dear friends to do the Star Wars 5k and get in some park time. So, we ordered our park tickets, we figured out our airfare, we booked our hotel, we made our plans and hung our hat on how we thought everything was going to happen.

Now, I am a planner. My husband is a planner. What I mean by that is, we don’t just do “flighty” things. Even when we do something spur of the moment, we pray about it, we get our ducks in a row and we make sure we have a backup plan in place. That is exactly what we did for this trip. You know what they say about the best laid plans… They often go awry.

Two – three weeks before our scheduled trip, complications began to crop up and our original plans began to fall through. We were thankful that we had a backup plan and immediately began implementing it. We also began praying daily over our trip and reached out to leadership and our prayer chain for prayer.

It all began with the flight. See, we had enough credit with the airline to more than cover the cost of our 5 round trip tickets, so there would be no out of pocket expense. We were told, back when we began getting everything lined up, that we could use that credit to purchase all of our tickets, so when the time came to finally book them, we called up, flights already researched and rates confirmed. We told them what we needed and when it came time to settle payment, we told them we wanted to use the credit to cover it. It was then that they informed us we couldn’t use the credit.

Say what?! Here we are, a few weeks out and now you are telling me that we cannot use the credit?

Okay fine. We’ll drive. That means leaving earlier and cramming the drive into one day on the way back so we can be back on time for our obligations, but we are invested already and we are doing this, so it will have to work.

Naturally complications with the mode of transport isn’t enough so bring on the next wrinkle.

At the time we began planning the trip, we had planned how we would cover the cost of the trip, but those plans did not work out. So naturally we jumped on our back up plan. (Again, thankful for having a backup plan.) We sent in all the paperwork we needed to get the funds from an investment. We had all of our ducks in a row, all of the paperwork completed and all of the documentation we needed and we had it submitted in plenty of time to allow processing and disbursement in time with a safety window for any “unexpected delays”. Or so we thought. Best laid plans…

Two weeks out:

Hotel booked… Check

Travel dates figured out. Driving options researched. Route planned.

Gas cost covered. Check.

Number of days in the park planned… Check.

Meals planned… Check.

Waiting on remaining funding.

We continued praying daily for covering for our trip, funding to be finalized and peace while waiting. We again asked leadership at church and our prayer chain for prayer. This is where the battle with doubt and fear began. We still felt sure that God would make a way, so we kept plugging along in faith.

One week out:

Hotel booked. (Still not paid.)

Travel (driving) set and covered.

Number of park days and which days determined. (Still waiting for funds to order.)

Meals planned and covered.

Checked the hold up with funding. Apparently USPS has dropped the ball. Now we have to wait for delivery. Called investment company to verify that they can expedite and have the deposit made in time based on delivery date estimated by USPS.

Realizing we should have had a backup plan for the backup plan.

We increased our praying to multiple times/day, we included the kids in prayer with us and decided to just begin to thank God for the funding, even though it wasn’t in place yet. We updated our leaders who were praying with us and for us and spoke with several people about whether or not we should still go. We felt that we were not supposed to give up on this and they confirmed how we were feeling. Together we prayed for and believed that God would make a way. That our investment thus far would not be lost and that He would provide a way, whether through the natural or supernatural.

"Say what? Natural or supernatural?"

By that I mean, we agreed and believed that God would either speed up the processing of funding or make a way where we didn’t see any other option. Now, I know this may sound crazy, but that is where faith comes in. Faith is believing in, or in this case for, what we cannot see.

So, we packed our bags in faith that funding was coming and would be in place in time.

One day out:

Bags packed. 

Food packed. 

Car packed.

Still. No. Funding.

USPS cannot find our paperwork, they believe it will be delivered to the investment company two days after we leave, which would be the first day in the park and two days of hotel costs later. We called the investment company, they confirmed that they could process the paper work and deposit the funds the same day. (They have already pulled the funds and set them aside for deposit.)

So now it comes down to a decision… Go or cancel the trip…