The last month has been interesting to say the least. At the end of January, while driving down a street that I have driven many times during the last 12 years in Brussels, I was stopped at a traffic light. Suddenly, a man comes flying through the glass of the passenger-side window, rips my purse from the front seat and runs away. This is the first time in 20 years of international travel that I have had a purse stolen - and it happened just a few minutes away from where I live.
Two weeks later, while I was eating lunch at our school, a man walked onto our campus and into my office and stole my laptop and my wallet (again!).
With both incidents the police were called, reports were filed - I even chased the young men who broke into my car (only for a little while until I realized that this was probably not the safest thing to do!). I was mad, I was hurt (in my spirit and literally the first time as I cut my hand on the broken glass reaching for the bag), and actually felt like it was all just too much at one point.
So what lessons have I learned from this?
First - don't drive through this part of town alone - and definitely don't drive with my purse on the front seat (although this is the habit for most women who drive alone!).
Second - always lock my office door - even though I was sitting less than 100 feet away from it, and even though we are a Bible school where things like this shouldn't happen.
Third - these men can take my stuff, but they cannot take my joy, my security, or my purpose for being here.
Fourth - God is our ultimate protector - even when bad things happen, He remains very good and tremendously faithful! To illustrate - a nice person found my first wallet and threw it in a postal box, and a very nice postal worker made the effort to call me and return the wallet. Of course the money was gone, but everything else was still inside! God knows what we need!
Saturday I bought one more wallet and yesterday I made plans for the purchase of a new computer. Life goes on. No thief can take what I refuse to give - and I will not give up!
Today I am just very thankful to God who called me to live and work in Belgium. I'm thankful for His protective hand - even during difficult seasons. I'm also thankful for His joy and peace that always remain.
1 comment:
Oh, Shannon, I am so sorry all this happened! I saw some of your comments on FB, but I didn't know exactly how it happened. Especially the first one. In South Africa, the "smash and grab" kinds of robberies take place all the time, and we see the reports and are warned so much, that most of us are careful to keep our bags out of sight in the car. But when it's new in your area, and you don't expect it, how could you know??
Well, I pray for peace for you in your heart, your spirit, and in the realities of your daily life!
Post a Comment