Can you take me higher? the 30th what a day!

     As you are probably aware our visa, indefinite leave to remain status in this country has been up in the air for quite sometime. If you are not aware of the situation we applied for this final visa to the UK back in June and as yet have not heard anything. There is a 6 month window that the Home Office promises to respond but we did not expect to have to wait that long. Waiting seems to be an aspect of life which Rebecca and I get plenty of practice. We excitedly and nervously sent all of our passports, paperwork, pictures and money off to the Home Office by post and then simply never heard anything for months. Long months of hearing nothing, it reminds me of back in the day what it might have felt like for missionaries who travelled to far off lands only to be able to communicate through letters that took months to reach distant shores. It must have felt like they were cast aside, out of sight out of mind.
     As our last blog entry said we engaged our church family into our situation, we invited them to stand with us to pray that we'd get the visa, get the passports, be able to travel to the US, be able to carry on with the adoption process and ultimately continue living here without immigration issues. At the very end of the meeting on the Sunday, a man by the name of David Graham suggested to me to contact our MP, Sir George Young. I thought that was an interesting idea and most likely one from God. I ran it past a couple other people, they thought it a good plan too so on the Monday I sent an email to him, not sure of what it would elicit but it certainly could not hurt.

     By the Friday we had a letter from Parliament signed by Sir Young that he was doing all that could for our situation. This blew us away, here we are simply residents (not even legal for long-term) and he, who was in a higher place was working on our behalf. It doesn't take a clever theologian to see the analogy there, we humans calling on Jesus who is infinitely  higher than we are in all ways working on our behalf. He is seated at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf, on your behalf. Anyway it was great to know that we had someone higher working behind the scenes.

     Fast forward to today, and just about an hour ago the doorbell rang, my heart raced, Rebecca leapt up to answer it, I heard an unfamiliar voice and then Rebecca say OK. A bit more silence and then she bound into the room with an envelope that looked much like one we have been eagerly awaiting. There they were our passports, other documents and a formal letter stating that our approved residence permits would be in our possession within 7 working days. 
 
      Bigger news just happened... Our residence permits were just delivered by a jolly bald man, he didn't realise what he was giving us, we had big smiles he then had big smiles:) Being able to connect with someone higher is amazing, and knowing that the Lord hears our prayers is about as comforting as it gets.          have a listen to Higher by Creed