Dear friends, this is my first blog entry and am happy that it is a testimony. 

Last month we went on a 4 days trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Every year we go on a trip as a family but this was the first time we were travelling abroad. And it turned out to be a fantastic trip carried out by the hand of God.

 An International holiday with family was a dream for us over the last 3-4 years but could never gather sufficient funds to have one. From last year I started praying for a holiday abroad, though it was mostly an on & off prayer. Earlier this year we felt that we may be able to squeeze in the required funds to make it to Malaysia, since it is the most economical “foreign country” as compared to others. We targeted Dusshera holidays and were working in secrecy without giving any hopes to the children.

For the last 6 odd months I was constantly checking on ticket prices, hotel rates, sightseeing tickets, currency conversion, local transportation, telephone cards etc.to strike the best bargain. Meanwhile kids also got a wind of our plans and they were excited from head to toe. We were planning to make the air ticket booking in August.

But there was one hitch. The ticket cost was coming over the credit limit available on my credit cards. I then applied to Citibank for an increase in the credit limit. They asked for few documents which I promptly submitted. But after 3-4 days they rejected my request. This was very surprising since they had often troubled me in the past with offers to increase the credit limit which I was not very comfortable and had refused. We were disappointed but then looked for the next option which was to pay most of the fare by card and the rest by cash. For this I was planning to go to the airlines office to make the booking.

Then something crazier happened. Both my credit cards were disabled by Citibank, the very next day. It turned out that they had issued me a replacement card the previous month but did not carry forward the outstanding to the new card. And hence I was seen as a defaulter and so they blocked both my cards. It was very disheartening and then it took me about a week to untangle the whole mess and get the credit cards enabled once again. Though the bank apologized we were quite upset by the episode. By then the ticket fares had shot up for the dates we had in mind.

All the while I was really praying towards the holidays and had surrendered everything to the Lord. And one blockage after the other made me think that perhaps the Lord is telling me to drop the plans. Though it would’ve been heartbreaking for the kids I had sort of abandoned the plan in my mind. All I was praying was for the strength to break the news to our kids.

Then came the turning point. The very next day there was a big announcement from Air Asia slashing ticket prices to Kuala Lumpur. To our total surprise the tickets were almost half the price of what they were just a week ago. And now the total cost was coming well within the credit limit on my card! Our holiday plan came back to life again. Finally we were able to book our tickets for nearly half the price of what we would’ve paid had we booked earlier.

We then faced another obstacle in the form of illness. 2 out of 3 kids were down with cold, cough and wheezing. Even with medication they were still sick. By God’s grace they were fine throughout the journey. Though the sickness did not go away we were able to manage it well. 

Everything out there in KL turned out to be fun and excitement. Though this was the first trip aboard kids were able to adapt to the new environment, the food, public amenities etc. without any problem.  We could bond even more as a family and enjoy the time together. Finally we touched down with lot of good memories.

 Yet again the Good Lord showed His plan for us is perfect though we failed to see the big picture. Those obstacles in the beginning saved us money. Those moments of disappointment taught us to bank on Him and not on a credit card. And those moments of sickness made us reach out to Him than to a bottle of medicine.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. (Jer 29:11)

Thank you Father!