Months before our Shanghai trip I have a dilemma whether to go or not due to personal mind boggling reasoning. In the end, I decided to go and just trusted that God's plans are better than mine and followed the advice of my parents. I'm also tired of trying to figure everything out and just put into mind that if the visa got approved then it's a sign that God wants me to go. It did so I went.
What made this trip different was the various things I've experienced and felt. I've experienced a lot of first during this trip. It's the first time that I arrived at the airport 1 1/2 hours before departure time. Usually I'm already there 3 hours before to give ample time for security, boarding and immigration queue. For this trip we were still queuing at the immigration 40 mins the departure time. I was already getting paranoid, worrying that we might not be able to catch the flight. But, we did. The plane took off but had to return to Manila because a passenger urgently needs medical attention. We were asked to get down the plane and was informed that the next flight was still at 6pm. It was the first time that I've experienced this kind of scenario. Good thing the ground crew was very helpful and accommodating. My boss and colleague who we were supposed to meet at Hong Kong decided that we take the earliest flight the next day for safety reasons. We followed and informed the ground staff of our decision. The next day we woke up at 2am to catch the 5:35am flight but due to some computer booking error we missed the flight and got rebooked to an 11am straight flight to Shanghai instead.
During those moments, I've felt that maybe God doesn't want me to go. Maybe this trip was not really meant to be. But when we finally arrived and was warmly welcomed by my boss and colleague, the mood changed. I felt hopeful. I felt that things are going to be better starting that moment. It did and I am very thankful for that. We went for what we came for -to attend the furniture fair. We also got the chance to explore the beautiful city of Shanghai.
Looking back now, I believe that God do really works in mysterious ways. When things don't go the way as planned and frustration and helplessness creeps in, we should just entrust everything to God. After all God sees the whole picture, we just see what's on the present. Pondering on after everything happened I realized that there were a lot of blessings in disguise during this trip and I learned that the only way to see them is if we keep a positive attitude and just trust the Lord. I'm actually blessed to encounter this first experiences because with it I was also able to feel the presence of God in my life.
