Power in the Name

photo credit: paintingvalley.com

So, my last post was over a month ago making it my longest break from the blog. A lot of factors but I am happy to be back. I made a promise to God to tell this story and maybe it will speak to someone who may be as fearful as I am about certain things. Phobia is defined as an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something. I define it as the easiest way to not live. Fear limits us and prevents us from experiencing life’s best and it also attracts that which we fear the most. 

On a recent flight, I came face to face with my fear. Flying had always been my biggest phobia but not after what happened in that flight; I finally realized that if God does not destine it, it will never happen. I had a funny feeling about this particular flight but I always had such feelings anyway each time I had to travel and so I believed that it was exactly the usual pre-travel anxiety. 

I would have nightmares for days anytime I purchased a ticket for a trip and would see myself in a plane or helicopter crash and I would pray and pray and pray like I knew my life really depended on God. I would march an invisible break in turbulence and call on the Lord Jesus, His mother Mary and all the angels and saints of heaven to come to our aid. 

On this particular day, the first thing I did was to get to the church and bless God for the lockdown, the chapel was empty and not buzzing with people going in and out, disturbing other faithfuls with the sound of the door; I was all alone.

I said it out to God, “Lord I am afraid of this journey but please be with me” “Mother Mary, pray to Jesus for me”, I got more prayers from the priest as I left the church and with the assurances of all the prayers said I set out on my journey. It was a very big plane and when my seatmate started to talk about how big the plane was, I knew that he was just as nervous as I was. A good percentage of humans are nervous about flying but try not to show it, the only thing is that there are different levels of nervousness.

One hour into the flight, the fasten your seat belt signs came up and we were prepared for the usual shake but not this time, this wasn’t your regular turbulence, it had come to kill and destroy. All of a sudden there was a drop, the type that makes your heart drop in your stomach and of course, we all chorused “Heeeyi” Like it wasn’t bad enough, the airplane went into a free fall and the whole place turned into a church; some were screaming, others were praying and speaking in tongues and for me, my hands were thrown up with my rosary beads raised towards heaven. I called on God like I had never called on Him and kept shouting “Mother of Perpetual Succor, Pray or us”.

I prayed to God to save us if He could find one worthy person but when I remembered that in the days of Lot when Abraham interceded for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah that the Lord did not find even ten worthy men, I quickly asked the Lord to save us because of the little children including my son who was trying to understand what was going on. When the devil said to me that some of the victims of an infamous plane crash sometime last year were also children, I then asked the Lord to save us for the sake of His son Jesus Christ that died upon the cross for our sins.

In that short moment, I began to wonder if we would hit the bare ground or the roofs of houses or if there was water below us, I should have known but I usually avoid the map during trips. I wondered which would be better, hard ground or water; which would be a less painful way to die? As Catholics, we are taught to accept any kind of death but this was one that I would not accept and trusted that God would answer our prayers. I called on God to protect me from such a tragic death with my son; I thought of my poor husband back home and how he would receive the bad news. I prayed to God to save my son for I'd heard him tell God to save us and that he was too young to die.  After the flight regained pressure and started to ascend miraculously, my seatmate turned to me and said, “Aljazera, would have been the first to announce the tragedy. God forbid!!!!!!!! In summary, I witnessed the last moments of crash victims.

The air hostesses were all crying and those who travel a lot know that the magnitude of impending danger can sometimes be established from the reactions of the flight attendants; on this particular flight, they were crying and when I engaged one of them later on, she told me that such had never happened in all her years of working as a flight attendant. She had taken off her gloves and nose mask but did not want her colleagues to notice and she said to me that she realized that only God can save.

She said further that she was depending so much on gloves and nose masks to stay alive but suddenly realized that those two items could not have saved her if the plane had gone down. She had learnt a very big lesson that resonated with me; God saves us from anything He wants to save us from after all; some people still caught the virus regardless of how covered and careful they were. We just do our best and leave the rest to God.

We had an average of ten hours of turbulence mild and strong ones inclusive; it was like a never-ending journey. When we eventually landed at the airport we, the passengers just began to clap, offering thanks and praises to the ONE who said it was not time. At some point, I knelt down in the airport and thanked God for saving us.

While in the train en-route baggage collection, those in the same cabin as I started to discuss the incident that we all shared in common. There were two young men who sat on the same row as I did and they shared their own experience on the near-fatal incident. I found my voice then and told them that they appeared to be cool because I even saw one of them laughing after the whole event. The older one said that they were brothers and all he kept thinking of was their mother who dropped them off at the airport and how she would lose two sons at the same time. 

The younger one said he was laughing at how we all reacted to the whole episode and when I asked him if he wasn’t afraid, his response taught me another lesson; “if it’s time it’s time”. But then, did the bible not say that more years were added to the king’s life when he showed remorse and called upon God for mercy. The young chap went on to laugh at his older brother for telling him that he loved him for the first time in their lives. This statement made us laugh for the first time after a traumatic experience.

Those who had other flights to catch were worried that they would be too nervous to get on another flight, someone rented a car and drove several miles to his final destination forfeiting his already purchased flight ticket. This experience is one that I do not wish my worst enemy and I am forever indebted to God for His mercy and finding me worthy to be alive in the land of the living.

I promised God a lot of things and so if you are my friend and notice I am acting in certain manner, please note that it is me trying to fulfill my promise to God.

finally, there is power in the Name of Jesus and Mother Mary, my mother is a powerful intercessor.