Say a Little Prayer

Me and my wonderful friend!

This weekend I went to Miami to visit one of my wonderful friends from college (hence why this post is up on Monday, not Sunday)! She is studying ecology in a doctoral program down there. She goes to the Everglades pretty much every day to do her research! But I digress... So I went to Miami, which is most easily accessible via airplane.

I love to go to new places and seeing and experiencing new things, but I really do not love the process of getting to those exciting new places. I very much enjoy having control over things in my life (Type-A personality and proud of it), so traveling leaves me feeling rather anxious. It doesn't matter if I am traveling by car, boat or plane, I am forced to relinquish much of the control that I'd prefer to maintain. When driving, you place a lot of trust in the other drivers to not drive poorly. When on a boat or plane, you basically hand your life over to a person you have never (and likely will never) meet. That has to be one of the most frightening every day occurrences in the world. As humans, trust is not something we give very easily, unless it is related to travel, in which case we so willingly place our safety into the hands of strangers. 

Needless to say, I started panicking days before I had to head to the airport. I had stress headaches and nausea just from the thought of going to the airport in a few days. The morning of my flight, I woke up, started getting ready, and then I felt so sick that I thought I was going to have to cancel. I barely spoke on the ride to the airport for fear that anything I said would end up sounding mean or nasty because of how stressed I felt. 

Amazing beach!

I got my boarding pass, went through security and, after a brief wait, boarded my plane to Miami. As we taxied down the runway I felt the oh so familiar gripping sensation around my heart. My breaths became shallow and quick. Tunnel vision was beginning to set in. Then I suddenly realized that I hadn't prayed yet that day. Through my short, almost gasping breaths, I muttered a quick prayer to God essentially asking for protection for me on my trip and to help me feel comforted so I would not have a panic attack. I said the words over and over again until I noticed that my heart rate had slowed down and my breathing was normal.

Next thing I knew, I woke up as we were descending into the airport in Miami. I had the best sleep of my life in those two, brief hours! It was a great reminder about the power of prayer and that verse from Philippians that I love so much: Be not anxious, but pray about everything! God graciously heard my prayers and answered them so I could spend the rest of my mini-vacation at peace and enjoy time with my friend!

Be joyful in hope; patient through tribulation and faithful in prayer. ~Romans 12:12

Pax,

Kay