Why I Stopped Trying To Fix My Visa Problems

January 3, 2015

Out of all the lessons that God is teaching me on my journey back home to Melbourne, one of the most important is “stop trying to fix things.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to my female readers that like most men I view myself as a “fixer.” Quite honestly it’s my opinion that the desire to fix things is literally hard-wired into males DNA.

It really doesn’t matter that my lack of ability means I can host a show called “how to hang a picture in two-hours” on HGTV [1]. Whenever a problem arises in life I immediately step into “fixer mode.”

 

I believe this is the reason God brings situations into our lives that we simply cannot fix.

1. Financial hardship or loss of job
2. Physical problems
3. Broken relationships
4. The unexpected crisis situations of life

For me that unfixable problem is definitely returning to Melbourne with a Permanent Visa.

A number of different factors [2] have resulted in my application taking longer than expected. As you can imagine this resulted in my rushing in to fix things.

There’s just one problem…I can’t do anything to fix it while in the States.

But of course that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to try.

Over the course of 2014 I,

1. Emailed my Immigration Lawyer once a week
2. Mailed letters every other week
3. Called the office
4. And even sent some mean emails [3]
5. And what did all this get me? Nothing

As 2014 came to a close I couldn’t help but be frustrated at the epic failure of all my attempts to fix things. But then the Lord helped me understand a very important truth.

My job isn’t to fix things,
My job is simply to obey

There is a huge difference between these two things even if it doesn’t seem that way.

Fixing is all about my strength and ability (John swings in on a vine to rescue the damsel in distress)

Obedience is about admitting to God that I can’t fix the problem…and asking for His help.

Yesterday I wrote a brief email to my Immigration Lawyer asking if there was anything that could be done to help my application. When he responded two-hours later my desire was to immediately send a quick reply. But then I stopped myself and asked the Lord, “What do you want me to do right now?”

That question led me to:

1. Read his email roughly thirty times, and get a clear understanding of exactly what he wanted
2. Contact co-workers in Australia for help in supplying the needed information
3. Spend some time praying and asking the Lord for help
4. prepare for what needs to be done next
5. In short…much more than a quick five-minute email response that would probably accomplish very little

The Lord knows that men are fixers (He created us that way) but goes out of His way to make sure our first response isn’t “fixing” but submission to Him.