By Esther, Indonesia
Recently, my four daughters had the opportunity to be part of a trip to the U.S. with the dance school to which they had received a scholarship. (Click here to read that story.) The tour of the U.S. focused on promoting Indonesian culture through traditional dance performances.
L to R: Abi (22), Sharon (18), Susi and Elli (20).
During the preparation for this trip, our family was in the process of applying for a visa so that we could remain in Indonesia. This took longer than expected, so we continued to pray.
A week before the trip, we found out that two of our girls would not be granted a visa due to their age. This sudden change in our situation caused us to pray more desperately, and we depended on the Lord for a solution.
We faced another obstacle when we realized that our two girls had overstayed their visas by 20 days, as the agent working on our case forgot to extend our current visas while in the process of applying for the new ones. We were told we would have to pay a US$ 1,000 fine as a result.
Throughout this test, we clung to the Lord, standing on His unfailing promises. I felt that our strength to overcome this challenge would lie in truly realizing God's power in our lives. This power comes through prayer and expectation, and I believed that He would perform some awesome miracles.
Susi and Sharon performing Srikandi,
in traditional costume.
The agent had to take the girls’ passports to work out their visa extensions, leaving only four days before the tour would depart for the U.S. Time went by, and one day before the girls’ trip, my husband called the agent to remind him that we needed the passports that very day.
You can imagine our consternation when we heard that the extensions were not ready because the head of Immigrations would not be available until after the weekend. We immediately stopped and put the situation in the Lord's hands again.
My husband was asked to meet the agent at the immigrations office that day, so the rest of us prayed desperately. I also called some friends to help us pray for this situation.
Toward the end of the afternoon, my husband called and said, "There is a small possibility to get the visa extensions, so pray!" After hearing about this door the Lord was opening, we again prayed and claimed that He would open this small door widely! I believe that it was only because of our insistence to put Him on the spot that this miracle was happening.
During this time of desperation, I felt so blessed to experience such unity of the spirit with my children. I prayed in my heart for this unity of spirit to be with us always, and that this experience would remind my children of the awesomeness of our God, and His ability to turn any situation into a miracle for His glory.
Just two hours before Immigrations closed, we heard the wonderful news in answer to our desperate prayers, “The visas were extended.” The girls’ passports were returned just in time for their trip. What a testament to our awesome God. All we could say was, "He did it again!"
This miraculous answer to prayer boosted and strengthened my faith a million times over. How can we say that prayer doesn't work? Only those who lack knowledge of God’s Word can say such a thing. We have an awesome God!
The girl’s dance troupe in costume for Pandawa Lima, a traditional performance.
In the end, the girls got to travel to the U.S. with the rest of their troupe. They visited and performed in five cities and also got to visit and meet their grandma, aunties, uncles, and cousins for the very first time.—A happy ending, and I am sure only the beginning of many more miracles.
If He can do it for us, He can do it for you too, and for anyone who has faith to believe that prayer can remove mountains of obstacles.
Girl’s dance troupe after performing Swan Lake.
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