I have been meaning to write this post for a while and I just wanted to show you that I have finally got around to it! hehe
And you might be wondering why I've changed the background of my blog again, but someone was having trouble reading it and I hope this will be better :)
Anyway, God really blew me away with the amount of little details that He took care of for my trip to Rarotonga and the wedding and I have wanted to write it all down so that I have a record of it before I forget! I'm sure that other people (like my sister & new bro-in-law) could talk about the details he took care of for them too, but I can only write about the ones I know about...
At the end of October/beginning of November last year I took my new car for a drive up to visit my sister near Christchurch and did some shopping while I was up there. The 2 main items I bought were some new summer sandals and a new summer skirt. At this stage I had absolutely no idea I was going to Rarotonga. I could see that my sister and her boyfriend were probably going to get married, but I was expecting that they would get married here at home and I also wasn't expecting it to happen as soon as it did :)
So when they got engaged on the Sunday before Christmas I was pleasantly surprised, but when they told me the wedding was going to be in Rarotonga and that they wanted me to be there, I think I probably went into a state of shock and to be honest was quite overwhelmed at the thought of travelling to a beautiful tropical hot paradise with a chronic illness that leaves me with very little energy. I only had a couple of days to decide if I was going or not because they wanted to book the tickets so that they got them at a special price. I felt that God wanted me to be there (and of course I didn't want to miss my sister's wedding!) so I said I'd go. At this stage I had people telling me to get a wheelchair at the airports and I thought I'd probably be ok without one (little Miss Independent strikes again). I thought my sister would have already booked the tickets the day before, but I woke up on Christmas Eve remembering standing in long queues at Auckland airport years ago, and decided a wheelchair would be a good idea to save me lots of walking and standing in queues, which can be even more tired than the walking! I contacted her and it turned out that she hadn't booked the tickets yet - praise God! It meant she had to spend ages on the phone booking the tickets instead of doing it online (thank you!), but she managed to get the wheelchair booked for me and it turned out to be the best thing, because if I had had to do all that walking I most likely would have been in pain long before I got to Rarotonga and might not have recovered in time for the wedding. You can read more about the wheelchair and the special treatment we received in my post "The Wheelchair made all the Difference" here http://debbiesdoodlings.blogspot.com/2009/04/wheelchair-made-all-difference.html
Ok, so the tickets were booked on Christmas Eve and then we had Christmas. Some time in January we found out that our holiday house was booked and that I would be sleeping in the lounge, most likely on a mattress on the floor. I knew that this would mean not getting enough sleep and started to freak out a bit about travelling over there, being exhausted and having to cope with a lack of sleep for the week. Around this time, while I was freaking out ;) God gave me Isaiah 41:10 which says "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand". He also said that He would take care of the details and I hung onto these promises from Him, trusting that He would do what He said. When we arrived at the house we found that there was actually a bed set up in the lounge and that my sister and her fiance hadn't needed to get a mattress from the other house for me as they thought they might have to.
Another detail about the house was that it was so close to the beach. We just had to cross a rugby field to get to the beach. And the best man's sister lives in Rarotonga and she had booked the house and got it much cheaper than what they usually charge because she was a local :)
Ok, so back to me in NZ getting ready for the trip & wedding. Once I knew about the wedding, I soon realised that the gold strappy sandals I had bought up in Christchurch were perfect for a wedding on the beach. I was a bit concerned about a dress to wear for the wedding. I wasn't expecting to find anything here in town that would be suitable and was thinking that I might have to pay someone to make me a dress. One day I walked into a shop to buy the wedding present (which I got for half price) and there was the dress! And it was in the after Christmas sale! It even fit me without me having to shorten it, which if you have ever seen me in person you would know is a miracle! I was so shocked at finding something so suitable that I asked the sales assistant if I could return it if I changed my mind! LOL! And then I realised that the necklace and earrings my sister had given me for my birthday that year went perfectly with the dress! God is amazing! My other sister (not the one getting married) walked into another shop in town and got herself a dress for the wedding for $20!
So that was my outfit for the wedding taken care of. Before we went to Rarotonga, Dad had been planning to hire a scooter (which is what most people do over there) so that they could go right around the island and see everything. But when we arrived and he saw how hot and humid it was, he decided an air-conditioned car would be much better, so he went and hired one. While I could have gone on up to town on a bus with my sister to do some shopping, it was much better for me that Dad could take me shopping in the car. It saved me a lot of walking in the heat which would have been quite tiring for me. Thank you Dad! And thank you to God for providing this mode of transport for us! It also meant we had the car for the morning of the wedding, so we didn't have to walk from where we were staying to the restaurant which was down the beach, but quite a bit further from where we went swimming. It would have been a hot walk!
It is very obvious that God has brought my sister & new brother-in-law together. It is also very obvious that He was arranging everything for the wedding and for those of us attending it. Someone said that it stopped raining 5 minutes before the wedding and I can tell you that it didn't start again until we were sitting at the table in the restaurant for the reception and it was heavy! We had sunny weather for the wedding ceremony (I felt like I was melting while we were waiting on the island for the bride to arrive!) and then it clouded over and cooled down a bit.
Something else that happened involved 3 couples who were my sister's friends who also went to the wedding. They all booked their own accommodation, not knowing where anyone else was staying, although they probably knew the wedding was on Muri Beach. It turned out they were all staying at the same place which was right at one corner of the rugby field, i.e. the rugby field between our house and the beach!
One couple had a beach front room. Another couple had a problem with their booking and they were upgraded to a beach front room. The other couple mentioned that they had stayed there 4 years ago for their honeymoon and that this was their 4th anniversary and they were upgraded to a beach front room too! Wow, God was really treating all of us!
Oh, I forgot to tell you about the skirt I bought in Christchurch. Well, I was sitting here thinking what am I going to wear while I'm over there? I had a couple of singlet tops but they really only went with a pair of shorts that I took with me. Maybe I was being blond or something, but one day when I was shortening my new summer skirt it clicked! It was perfect for Rarotonga, even looking a bit Rarotongan (I have named it my Raro skirt), and it's 100% cotton, including the lining!
It has always been a dream of mine to go to a tropical paradise like Raro, and I saw this trip as God giving me a desire of my heart. Of course, it wasn't just about me, it was more about my sister & new brother-in-law, but I just wanted to write about what I saw God doing for me and others regarding the trip. He is a faithful God and He will provide all that you need to accomplish anything He is calling you to do. Praise Him!!!
