Inspiring Stories of Faith. I Asked for Proof. I Got It.

I am a believer, mostly, in good things, the Universe, positive thinking…you know what I mean. While I am optimistic, I also tend to be realistic. My Mom would always laugh at me when I wanted proof for something. She’d simply place her hand on her heart and say, if it feels right there and the head doesn’t argue too much, that’s reasonable proof to have faith.

It isn’t like I am wholly skeptical – but it is easier for me to accept the abstract when there’s proof. And yes, I’ve had plenty. I remember a comedy scene in a movie where someone says he won’t believe what he can’t see and the other guy says: “You can’t see God, does that mean you don’t believe there’s one? You can’t see air, does that mean you won’t believe it exists? You can’t see love, does that mean you won’t accept it is there?” and goes on and on. Quite funny.

Faith is like that. I still secretly think, sometimes, let it happen then we’ll see. But my son is not like that. And neither was my Mom. Perhaps he gets it from her.

She certainly had the last laugh on that one!

So let me tell you the latest “proof” I experienced, thanks to my son. Yes, I am convinced he’s responsible. And I have deep faith in his prayers.

Inspiring stories of faith. Oh yes. I got my proof!

It happened three weeks ago.

A normal day like any other. After sending Vidur off to school, I went about my morning routine and settled down to work around 10 am. A bit later than the usual 9 am, being a Monday, because I rather like to do some speed-cleaning on Monday mornings. Could be the music in my head or simply the energetic feeling Monday brings. No blues here – unless we’re talking about what color am wearing.

So – a peaceful morning ensued. I worked. I had the music on.

At 11 am, I got up to stretch and move and decided to shower. I did. And dressed in a rather nifty full-sleeved black t-shirt. I love it. Across the front, it has an elegant strip of thumbnails of Michael Jackson. Paired with snug faded dark blue jeans it felt pretty good and humming a happy tune, I resumed work.

Took a brief break for lunch at 1 pm

At 2 pm, I wandered around the house and decided to head off to Vidur’s school. With a song on my lips – I am a habitual hummer – I grabbed my bag and hoisted it on my shoulder. Got my shoes on. I was thinking how pleasant my shampoo’s fragrance was…and also congratulating myself for buying that new kohl pencil that promised not to smudge. It did not.

Feet comfy in my shoes, I caught my reflection in the bookshelf glass, admired myself for a second and sashayed out the front door, smiling.

So imagine my shock when my front door did the dirty on me and banged shut. I was stunned. I thought, what the what? It never does that. Something about the mechanism – and it never auto-shuts. So why now? Oh well, I thought. I noticed my neighbor peeking out his door and smiled at him and dug into my bag for the keys…remembering too late that I had meant to pick them up from the table. I hadn’t.

So…yes, people. I was locked out of my own house. With two pairs of keys probably laughing their heads off inside. I recalled that as I walked in the door in the morning, my land line was ringing and I had dropped my bag and keys on the table to pick up the call. I usually put the keys back inside my bag. I hadn’t, that day.

Hmm.

My neighbor was watching all this and asked, now what? I guess I looked a bit panicked. My mind was racing however – and I told him I’d call someone to pick the lock. He offered to make the call – urging me to carry on to school. I tried to calm down. I did count to a 100 before my pulse rate returned to a reasonable normal.

I took the bus.
I went to school.
Did what I went to do.
Met Vidur and told him what happened.
He asked, what to do now?
I told him let’s take one thing at a time.

And the boy said – don’t worry Mom, I am praying. Everything will be okay.
I smiled.
We took the bus. Got off at our place.
Crossed the road and went to the bakery.

I believe all problems taste better on a full tummy.
So I got Vidur something to eat.
While we waited, I saw his lips moving fervently and when I raised an eyebrow, he signed to me to say he’s praying.

Then we came back home to see if the neighbor had had any luck with the Man but was told he was out of town. Now, this Man had helped us unlock our door about 14 years ago – which is why I thought of him. That is another funny story – that time, we were locked inside the house.

Anyway. Now we had no choice but to walk to the nearby market and find the locksmith. The problem with these guys is – they hardly stay put in one place. We had to try nevertheless…so Vidur left his bags in the neighbor’s house and we set off.

As we stepped out of the building, Vidur put his hand on my arm and said, “Mi, please repeat this prayer after me” and chanted. Automatically I responded. Then he said, “Have faith. The right solution will come”.

I was thinking, please God, a miracle!

See, the thing is, we could have waited for Sury to return in a couple of hours, but he was out of town and expected next week.

All worked up, I told Vidur we’ll cross the road when I saw a two-wheeler coming towards us. I signed to Vidur to let it pass, but when it came closer, guess who it was! The guy I was trying to contact! I could have wept for joy. I am sure he was sent to me! Arms flailing, I said, “stop stop stop” and he did. Probably thought I was out of my mind, which, heh,  I probably was – and the moment he parked his two-wheeler, I told him what happened.

What was Vidur doing? Watching with a serene smile on his face, lips still moving in prayer.

So I escorted this guy back into the building and upstairs, telling him not to damage the door because we recently had it repaired.

He smiled at me and asked if my verandah door was open – at back of the house. Rolling my eyes, I said, of course not. But suddenly remembered it was, with only the outer mesh door latched. Then I understood what he planned to do – through the neighbor’s verandah, get into our verandah and try to open the back door. Oh clever. Luckily the neighbors were home. He managed to get into our verandah across the chasm separating the two second floor flats as we watched with our hearts in our mouths.

He looked around and found an old metal handle that I had somehow never gotten rid of. He bent it, manipulated it through the mesh and managed to unlatch the door. And walked through to the front door to let us in.

If this is not a miracle, I don’t know what is. So many things could have gone wrong. But they didn’t.

Vidur insisted it was because we prayed.

We took stock of the silver linings in the situation:

I had my purse, so cash
I had my phone
I had a book to read
Vidur and I were both together and not exactly helpless
The neighbors were home, or we couldn’t have accessed our verandah
I hadn’t shut the verandah door as I usually did before going out. Thank God for being careless.
We had both eaten lunch and had cash in case it was likely to take some time to open the door.
Vidur had his school books – in case he wanted to get started with his homework or study for a test
We had a lovely terrace where we could go and sit comfortably – under the water tank until it cooled a bit

So it really wasn’t a dire situation. But I am somehow convinced, yet again, that keeping the faith through prayer kept us positive.

As these experiences add up, they strengthen my tendency to think positive and work towards the outcome I want. I am grateful to my son for keeping the faith unwaveringly in tough situations. This qualifies as one of my inspiring stories of faith.

What do you think?

Have you faced a situation that looked bleak? How did you handle it?

Please share in the comments or email me at vidya at vidyasury dot com