In April 2022, as soon as we got back to America, we quickly began the meticulous process of applying for our Portugal residency Visas. Hearing it would take about 2 months, we allowed for 3, preparing to return the end of July. As our travel date approached and we had not yet heard anything from the Portuguese authorities, we went to prayer. Our prayer team was in unity that God was at work and we need NOT change our travel dates. When we were TWO days from departure date with NO permission and no passports, we regret to admit that panic started to rise. Our staff and our prayer team held firm –“God is making a way!” Communication to the Consulate finally got through to reveal that our passports were available to us ONLY IF we personally picked them up in New York City the NEXT DAY in a 1-hour window that the office would be open! 5 hours later, one team member headed to New York to pick up the team’s passports and fly directly to O’Hare to meet up with the rest of the team for the outgoing flight to Portugal!
In summary: We really do wish He would give us more margin! Did He accomplish this in the timing that we would want? No, it felt like He was running late! But did He accomplish what He said? Yes! With exquisite timing. Why did He wait? We don’t know. We would have given up and changed our plans, but He did prompt us that we wouldn’t need to change our travel dates. Did He do it? Yes! Did it require us to be faith-ful and adaptable? Yes. I guess that’s what training for life-in-alignment looks like!