Vienna, Visa's and Vivisection

I have been feeling really agitated and anxious today. Why? Because, tomorrow morning we are driving back to Vienna to try once again to pick up our visas. If you remember, last time we went to Vienna to pick up our visas ended up being quite the fiasco – you can read my blog about it here.

So, tomorrow we are off to try again. We are planning on leaving at 4:30am and will be driving this time. Thankfully some wonderful friends, David and Sarah, have agreed to go with us this time. So, we are planning on making it a fun road trip and plan to hopefully try to see and enjoy some of Vienna as well instead of just spending all our time at the embassy. So, I am excited about that aspect of it. I really enjoy David and Sarah and look forward to spending time getting to know them better and exploring Vienna with them.

…but, the visa side of the trip has got me pretty knotted up. Really I just keep worrying that they are going to pull the same BS that they pulled last time. Basically last time we did everything they told us to and then they said it was wrong and wouldn’t give us our visas, we asked how we could make it right and what we needed to do to get them and they told us, then we did what they told us we needed to do and they then totally changed their story and told us we couldn’t do it that way, so again we asked what we needed to do to actually get them and they told us and that is what we have now done but I am just so worried that we will get there and they will have changed their story again and won’t give us the visas. It really is just a ton of bureaucratic red tape – which I hate. So, yeah, we are praying that it would all go smoothly this time and we would be able to quickly get our visas and have everything we need for them. And we would sure appreciate others joining us in praying this as well! J

Anyway, here’s a little Celtic prayer I’ve been saying to calm my spirit as we prepare for tomorrow:

Peace between me and my God. Peace between me and my God. May I tread the path to the gates of glory; May I tread the path to the gates of glory. On your path, O my God, And not my own, be all my journeying. Rule this heart of mine that it be only Yours. Great God of wisdom, Great God of mercy, give me of Your fullness and of Your guidance at the turning of each pass. Peace between me and my God. May I tread the path to the gates of glory. Rule this heart of mine that it be only Yours. God’s path would I travel, my own path refuse. May I tread the path to the gates of glory.

Amen.

Rejoicing in the journey - Beth Stedman

PS - the vivisection part of the title was just to get your attention, but really I think the process of getting visas can sort of feel like vivisection some times ;)