“Prayer does change things. Prayer does make things happen quite otherwise than they would have happened had the prayer not been made.”
Emmet Fox
In 2013, as part of the application process for an American “Green Card”, I had to provide the US Embassy in London with my vaccination history and, if there were any gaps, get the necessary shots I needed before a thorough medical exam by a private doctor in London.
So, before heading to London, I made an appointment with a local nurse to go over my records and get any boosters I needed. I was pretty sure I was up-to-date with everything, but on the way to my appointment, I prayed a quick prayer that everything would go smoothly and quickly.
Once there, the nurse informed me I hadn’t been vaccinated for something that was mandatory for my visa and that I’d need one shot per month for three months.
“Uh-oh”, I thought to myself. I was meant to be in London in four weeks! A delay of three months would mean that my medical, my interview at the US Embassy, and ultimately our moving date would all be impacted. We needed to get State-side before winter or the house we’d be moving to would need to be closed up until the following spring, by which time my entry visa would have already expired.
I started to inwardly berate myself for not getting my vaccinations sorted sooner, and then I prayed: “Please, please help me! I need to be in London next month.”
I left the nurse’s office dejected and worried. I stopped at the reception desk to book the three required appointments at monthly intervals and headed out the door, still berating myself. It was just like me to leave things to the last minute and now I had really messed things up.
However, I had prayed for help and help was already on the way, as by the time I reached the carpark I heard my name being called. I turned around to see the nurse running after me. She’d discovered there was a fast-track option to have one shot per week instead of one per month, meaning I’d be done in three weeks instead of three months!
So, with a week to spare, I did make it to my medical in London as planned, then my interview at the Embassy, and John and I moved to Maine in November 2013, before the start for a very, very cold and snowy winter!
Louise x
