Reset

So I was excited to go about my errands yesterday - before the malls
close during the holy week (Thursday and Friday) - when I saw an
ATM with only one person on queue.  Anticipating the long lines that
may come later in the day, I decided to queue up for a transaction I
needed to do within the weekend anyways. When it was my turn, I
thought i’d just go through the motions - insert my card, punch in the
PIN, select transaction and finish. For some reason however, the
screen froze after I entered my PIN - this was the first time such thing
happened to me. I thought: “Did they reconfigure the machine? Do I
have to type ‘Enter’?”, so I pressed “enter”, hoping that would keep
the process going. Nothing happened. “Did I type the wrong PIN?” I
tried pressing the clear button - to no avail; so I just resorted to
pressing “cancel”, hoping the machine would just eject my card so I
can try to create a new transaction. Yet the machine didn’t budge.

Just at that moment, one of the personnel refilling the ATM beside my
bank’s knowingly told me, “just wait for a few minutes, the machine
might still eject your card, unless the card slot lights up again - which
would mean that the machine has already eaten up your card.” I was
so tempted to ask if they can do something about my card - though
I’m pretty sure there’s nothing they could really do since they’re from
another bank.  Just then, another lady queued up behind me - so as
not to waste her time, I explained to her that the machine is currently
not working. She sympathetically looked at me and said “I know it
can be stressful, but just stay calm, relax, and don’t let this ruin your
holy week.” I smiled and said a word of thanks as I dialed on my
bank’s hotline.

After finishing up all the rings and a few more tries, no one picked up
at the other end. So I thought about asking help from my sister.
Seeing that she wasn’t online though, I decided not to bug her at that
moment coz I thought she might be driving. Fortunately, I am friends
with my bank’s manager, so being in a bit of a panic mode, I
messaged her, apologizing that I had to go through her directly (the
hotline seemed unavailable) and explained to her my situation. At
about the same time, I asked my companion to go to the nearest
branch to explain the situation and ask what’s supposed to be done.
Manager friend told me to wait, and as she was trying to contact the
head office, my companion went back, saying that the branch told her
I’d need to go to the bank to sign some papers requesting for a new
card.  After which, the bank would process my request and wait for
my new card - which I will have to pick up most likely at my home
branch. Since I have no word from manager friend yet at that time as
to what’s supposed to be done from her end, I asked my companion
to stay at the ATM (just in case the machine spews out my card
during the time I was gone) as I head to the nearest branch as told.
On my way there however, the manager called me up to tell me that
the head office will reset the machine so it can eject my card and I
can go about my way. I did as I was told by the manager, and in less
than ten minutes after the call, I got my card back. I thanked my
manager friend and once again apologized for approaching her for
this. It really isn’t part of her job to accommodate me, but she helped
me in the best way she can anyways.

Reflecting about what happened, I realized how there could’ve been
different possible outcomes for me. If I listened to the other bank's
personnel and just waited til the machine ejects my card - I'm not
sure how long that would have taken, and if that machine would
actually do such. If I tried and tried hard again and again to contact
the hotline on my own - there is also no guarantee as to whether I
would accomplish anything out of that. Since the first solution that
presented to me with great promise was the process which is
available to a regular client, I might have chosen that so that I could
already do something about the situation immediately - hoping that
my quick action would yield quick results.  Ironically, however, that
course of action might have had resulted to a longer resolution as it
entailed having to apply for a new card right then and there - then
waiting for a new card which most likely would have taken longer,
with the processes being a bit more tiresome with all the (walking
and) paperwork and possibly, following up, and subsequently having
to pick up the card. Since the next two weekdays are holidays, it
would most likely take at least 5-6 days before I could actually have a
usable card - and that meant I won't be able to use it over the
weekend when I needed to. I was blessed to have connections,
someone in a position of power to help me in such situation, thereby
creating solutions that may have been known to me later than the
other one, seemed less concrete to me - as I am not involved in the
process of coordinating with the head office, etc, but is actually more
efficient, required lesser time, and was less tedious to do on my end -
I did not even have to take one step but instead only had to just
patiently wait - as the head office did the resetting right there in front
of me, and just like that, the machine gave me my card back.

For the past few months, my husband and I have been setting goals
for the year - listing the steps that we need to do in order to
accomplish such plans, and carefully scheduling each and every step. 
Yes, we probably prayed about these plans individually during our
quiet times, and occasionally together, but I guess we were
sometimes just too overconfident that everything would just fall into
place. After all, most of the things on earth are governed by math and
science- which I believe we have relatively great knowledge of, so
there’s a high probability that we would succeed.  After all, knowledge,
as they say, is power.

It came to a point, however, when things didn’t go as planned for one
reason or another, and the delays caused great disappointment in me
as they took a toll on my faith.  It was tempting to listen to solutions
offered by other people, or otherwise try to take matters into my
hands, into our hands - trying to do everything in our power to make
sure that our goal would be achieved. We’ve done so much research,
seeking every solution possible - yet all these wealth of different
possible solutions that had variable scenarios and conflicting rates of
success just left us paralyzed. With so many options available, how
do we know which one to choose, which one is best?

Over the past weeks, despite my (/our) grief and discouragement, we
tried to seek God and His will for our lives - this time more earnestly…
and He is faithful.  Through the verses and messages we’ve read and
listened to, we were reminded that God is always good. He is faithful.
He loves us and would never withhold from us whatever is best for us
in His perfect time. He is in control of everything and is sovereign
above all - even over math, and science, and sickness, and
everything else. If it is within His will, and His will is perfect and it
contains whatever is best for us, then nothing can ever stop Him from
giving and letting it unfold right in front of our very eyes.  True, it might
not come right at the time when we are greatly longing for it to, and
yes, it might take quite some time, but with God’s way, the fruition of
the things that we are asking for might occur even sooner than if we
relied solely on our own abilities. We don’t even need to take a single
step. We don’t even need to know or see what’s going on behind the
scenes. We just need to live our lives one day at a time, put our faith
in Him, and wait expectantly for Him to reset things - and give us what
He so wants us to have - an abundant, prosperous life.