Flight Prayer Answered!

Okay, I think this is the last of the posts I had written but never posted. This one retells the story of how God helped me make it home with my cankle...I am sure anyone who would read this blog has already heard the story, but it's worth telling again...I wrote this one November 21...


Leaving Germany had its share of positives and negatives- i.e. getting to see my family and sunshine vs not being able to play or be with my team…But one huge negative- I was NOT looking forward to the flight home with my cankle…

I prayed and prayed that my foot would be okay on the flight. I prayed that He would work something out so that I could have my foot up- to keep the swelling from getting outrageous over the 11 hour flight from London- or that He would somehow miraculously just let my foot not swell up… I was really unsure if God would provide some way for me to keep my foot up or if He was going to just get me through the pain of having it down and I was nervous about it.

After my first flight, less than 2 hours from Berlin to London, my foot was already throbbing. The nervousness (is that a word?) was building… I went to Customer Services and asked about getting put in a seat in front of the wall so that I could put my foot up, but all of those seats were full. They didn’t have any other options for me either. I was prepared to endure the flight.

As I waited to get to my seat my mental toughness dissipated. I was nearly in tears- waiting in line to check in, then waiting in the aisle of the plane for all the people ahead of me putting their bags into overhead compartments- being up on my foot was getting more and more painful. I was dreading the flight. Dreading.

I found my seat at last, an aisle seat (I did thank the Lord for that) near the back of the plane. I got the things I needed from my bag and decided to put it up top to make more room for my neighbors. I sat down and waited….my neighbors never came. As it came closer and closer for the time for the attendants to close the door I felt a great sense of hope- would I really have an entire row to myself???

I asked the nearest flight attendant if I could move to the window seat and stretch my leg across the seats- I explained to her that I have a sprained ankle (I didn’t want to take the chance that someone would ask to move into one of the seats). She told me that it would be fine so long as they didn’t need to move someone there. I nearly started crying again- this time from relief and joy at how God had answered my prayers.

The pilot came on over the loudspeaker- we were slightly delayed because two passengers would not be coming on the flight after all, and the airline needed to get their bags unloaded. The woman across the aisle from me looked at me and smiled- we both were thinking the same thing- those two people were from my row. I pointed heavenward and mouthed “thank you”…she smiled again. I waited with anticipation to see if anyone would get moved into my row. No one was. I really think that as people asked to move around, the attendant never offered the seats I was in.

This was a huge gift to me and I am so thankful for it! How crazy- an entire row on an international flight!!!! When I think of how many seats are on that huge plane, and how many flights there are aday, I know that it is God’s gift to me that the two seats unused were the two next to me. It probably ended up being the easiest international flight I ever had- I laid down, propped my foot up on the side of the plane and hoped my the people behind me were sympathetic rather than upset that they had 3 people in their row…oh well….