Traveling is not for negative thinkers! All kinds of things can go wrong despite the best of plans and precautions. Arriving in Bangkok late at night we are hit with jet lag and a bit of culture shock. Our 20 hour flight gets delayed so we miss hooking up with another friend’s arrival at the airport. Mary finally arrives but her luggage doesn’t. My new iPad purchased for the trip quits working. The political situation is escalating in Bangkok. A scheduled “shut down” of downtown intersections has been scheduled for Monday’s protests…or possible coup depending which newspaper you read and who you talk to. Tickets for the bus to Cambodia need to be booked for Sunday and there’s only 18 left. We need visa photos and SIM cards for cell phone and… I’m overwhelmed.
But not Mary! She’s the epitome of positivity! Bus tickets are the first priority so we try to go on line to book them and get stumped by the language barrier. No problem for her! Off she goes to get the Thai gal at the front desk to help us out. The tickets can be booked but the money has to be paid at the nearest 7-11 ( Yes, they’re in Thailand). Transportation? She jumps on the back of a motorbike taxi, her bag clutched tight and off she goes. 20 minutes later, that problem is solved. The rest can wait. So we take a leisurely stroll to a first small temple, have a sumptuous meal of pad thai and cold beer at a roadside food stand, and then enjoy a refreshing swim in the hotel’s small pool.
It hits me then. I’ve written a book on the principles of manifesting faith but have gotten soft on living them out. Mary does them naturally. With her big smiling laughter and a quick “Oh it’ll all work out, you’ll see,” life is an adventure to her. And so it should be! There’s a reason things work out for Mary. She’s using one of the components for activating personal faith – or creating positive reality. It’s from ancient wisdom in Philippines 4:7-9.
“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Why? Because only then can these things can be manifested into our lives. (See page 158, Chapter 14, THE CELESTIAL PROPOSAL, avai)
So of course, Mary’s luggage arrives at 4:00 AM the next morning. But now some kind soul has double sealed it in plastic so naturally nothing at all is missing. The next morning, we walk out into the concrete jungle, into the cacophony of noise and bustle of Bangkok, and tucked in a little alley is a tiny photo booth where we each take our pictures for visas. A few more blocks is a helpful cell phone counter, where with infinite patience and limited English, two T’hai clerks set up our new cell phones so we’ll be connected if any of us run into trouble. Then we run into three English-speaking business men who know which mega mall in the city has an Apple dealer. By taxi, we spurt across the city, find the right floor of the electronics store and I lay my iPad on the counter. With a quick of hand, it flashes into action. The young Thai lad gets a spontaneous hug and claims it was only a little magic. Having loaded it full, and too fast with apps before the trip, it only needed to be rebooted – with his secret key combination.
Now I’m in Thailand, my faith affirmed, and my mind set on positive. That’s the most necessary of things to bring for your journeys anywhere!
Jane Catherine Rozek 