Everything is possible for him who believes (Mark 9:23)
Because of the nature of my scholarly ambitions, often I have to hunt for potential sources. Not any random interviewees, but rather, those related to the particular story that I was working on. This can be easy or hard. It is easy if you narrow or restrict your sources to representatives from certain organizations or bodies. But, what if you want to look for an individual, a normal, everyday netizen, who serves a purpose for your story? For example, if you were doing a story on marital disputes between middle-aged couples, it would be well and easy to contact civil lawyers, marriage organizations, counsellors, psychologists or prominent speakers on that subject. But, how about if you go on a hunt around for a middle-aged couple currently going through a marital dispute?
So, I was doing a story on how a particular hit cooking show had led to the emergence of culinary wannabes. But did I know anyone around me who went from cooking noob to chef wannabe after watching the show? Nope. Did I know anyone who were fans of the show? Nope. Did I even know anyone who watched the show? The answer again is no. All negatives didn’t paint a pretty picture. I didn’t know how I was going to find the sources that I needed for my story, and the best solution I could muster with my finite intelligence was to limit my story to representatives of official organizations, chefs and the like.
So, what did I do? I turned to God for help. I asked him to help me find an individual that was a fan of the culinary programme. What did God do? He didn’t help me find one individual. He gave me many.
In the span of a few days, I went from not even having one person to interview to finding over 400 people to interview.
YES. You read right. I said 400. I found 400 fans of the cooking show, whom I were able to directly contact, and many of them were willing to be interviewed and delighted to participate in my story. In fact, because it was impossible for me to interview so many, I had to limit my interviews to approximately 50 people.
God’s bountiful providence threw me off guard. I was utterly shocked and amazed, and thought to myself, that God must be trying to tell me something. On hindsight, I discovered how God answered my prayers – I went from pathetically desperate to find even one individual (even calling up a prominent Australian food editor to ask him if he knew anyone) to being utterly gobsmacked stunningly amazed at the reservoir of sources that were at my story’s disposal; I went from obsessing over finding one individual to cherry-picking among the crowds.
It was like a water dam had burst open.
And, that’s not all. I was working on my story, and was just finalizing details and prettifying my masterpiece one day before deadline when – BAM! – God gave me a ridiculously amazing idea. Apart from being ridiculously awesome, the idea was given to me at what I thought also was a ridiculous time – just a couple of hours away from deadline.
At first, I thought it would be impossible to execute the idea, because of the pressuring deadline, and also because the information I had to consummate that vision was incomplete. I was ranting to God, “You did this on purpose, didn’t you? Why couldn’t you give me more time to do this??!!!! Did you really have to tell me this at the very very last second?!!!”
With so little time before deadline, I contemplated whether or not to embark on this creative endeavor. But I have a weakness for perfection. It was simply too good an idea to resist. I remember sitting in front of the computer monitor, staring at my nicely laid-out design, and contemplating my options. 1) I could just ignore God and do it my way, which would be so much simpler and convenient for me, since it required no extra work or; 2) I could work my arse off the next couple of hours trying to piece together the creative vision God had planted in my mind.
Of course the answer was delightedly obvious. I worked my arse off.
All this while, I doubted. What if my sources didn’t get back to me in time? What if I couldn’t complete my work before time? What if what if what if? But, I felt in my heart that God wanted me to trust Him, and I heard him saying to me that since He had given me the idea, He would provide me with the resources, and all I had to do was to have faith and trust in Him. And, so I prayed.
Amazingly, the individuals whose names I specifically prayed over got back to me before my deadline. The ones, I didn’t, didn’t.
Turning that utopian vision into reality was no easy task. I sent off desperate emails bordering midnight, my pillow had hardly warmed before I jumped out of bed; and, after hours and hours of working my arse off and struggling to keep my eyelids open, I found myself staring at a workpiece which was anything BUT the image I had envisioned before I embarked on this project. It was too amazingly wonderful that I knew I couldn’t have accomplished this masterpiece without Him.
Birthing something is never easy. Sometimes, all it takes is a leap of faith, hard work and trusting God for the impossible.
