God is in the Details

I have seen the Lord move.  I have seen Him orchestrate circumstances which were beyond my control.  I have seen Him answer prayer and I am grateful.

After my interview last week I got straight to work on gathering all the paperwork.  My first task was to send off for a police background check.   In order to do this I needed a passport photo.  No problem - off to the chemist to take care of that.  Next, get someone to endorse the photo to say that it is a true likeness of me, shouldn't be a problem, but wait, the person who endorses the photo has to have known me for at least 2 years, has to be a professional and can't be a family member.  This caused a little problem.  Everyone around the place where I am currently living hasn't known me for 2 years.   The only professionals I know that are close to me are my family - yet I can't use family.  Think Michelle, think. 


Then, I remembered that the next day I was going to be in Swindon meeting friends from Leeds (who I also have only known for less than 2 years).  Well, Swindon is my home town so I thought maybe the Pastor of the church I grew up in could sign it.  So I sent him an email but by the time I left the house the next morning to go to Swindon he had not responded.

Anyway, we met with our friends around lunch time at a local park.  We had a wonderful time catching up and the kids really enjoyed playing together for a couple of hours.  When we left I still had no reply from my Pastor so I decided we should go across town and see if there was anyone at the church who could sign my photograph.  Now, the church is only small and the office is not constantly staffed so I was praying on the way over that the Lord would allow someone to be there who could help us.

You can imagine how disappointed I was when we arrived to find the parking lot empty.  We still walked around to the church office, hoping that someone was there, but there was no reply to Jeremiah's banging knocking on the door.  We walked slowly back to the van asking the Lord what we should do next.  I tried calling the Pastor on his cell phone, but I was out of credit on my phone. Okay Lord - what now? 

Just then another car arrived.  An older lady (who I didn't know) got out and walked towards the office.  We decided to follow and found her in the church.  I explained who I was and what I was needing and asked if the Pastor was around.  She informed me he left for vacation in Greece that morning!  Oh dear - was there anyone else who could help?  She suggested Ann, who was a retired social worker and lived close to the church.  She has known me most of my life.

I called Ann and she was at home and agreed to come to the church to sign my photo.  While we were waiting for her, the first lady proceeded to tell me that she normally wouldn't be at the church at 4pm in the afternoon but the church needed cleaning for an upcoming funeral.

Then when Ann arrived she told me that she was surprised that I caught her at home, because she had been out shopping most of the day and only arrived home just a few minutes before I called. 

Both ladies could easily have been unavailable, but thankfully the Lord had different plans and I was able to get my photo endorsed. 

If I had not found someone in Swindon to sign my photo then I would have had to have sent it to America for someone to endorse which would have delayed my application by at least 2 more weeks.  Instead I was able to send off for my police check last week and it came back today.

And in case anyone wonders .......... It came back clear - no criminal record for me :)

Michelle