A practical lesson from God that’s stayed with me

One of the things I love and appreciate about Baba (God) is what I call His “teacher heart”. He leads, guides, and teaches me with patience, grace and aptness that I can only describe as divine. He has taught me so many lessons over the years which I have carried with me and have drawn from so many times. This particular lesson – keep your eyes on the God you serve, not your circumstances – is an example of this. Whilst it wasn’t a concept that I was hearing for the first time, this teaching took on a deeper and more personal meaning for me in May of 2011.

For context, I was going through a difficult time at that time. In the year leading up to that morning, some of the major changes I’d gone through included starting my first “big girl” job, moving house, becoming a born-again Christian, losing my daughter the day she was born due to a genetic condition and seeing two close relationships end in a very unpleasant way. I was learning to lean on God through all these changes and challenges. Much to my delight, I was discovering that I could ask a question of Baba and He would provide a timely, fitting and appropriate response in unexpected ways.

Sometimes, such as on this particular morning, I wouldn’t even have to explicitly ask the question. I was on a taxi on the way to work and in the state of mind that I was in, I felt like I was watching life happen from within a bubble. When I am depressed or going through a difficult time I tend to be absent-minded and more forgetful than usual. I got off the taxi at my stop and left my work laptop behind without even realising it! I remember floating into my office building, making it past all the pleasantries, walking into my office, switching on the light and immediately feeling confused. 

Why was my desk so bare? Where was my laptop? Why did I feel like something was amiss? Then it dawned on me in a weird, slow-motion sort of way. I remember panicking and immediately rushing out of my office to retrace my steps whilst simultaneously praying. I was already imagining the worst and relaying all my thoughts to God as I went. What were the odds that I would find the laptop? When was my last backup? Could I recover all my data from backup? Would I be able to ensure the security of my data on the laptop? How quickly could I replace it if need be?

I imagined someone finding my laptop even as I went to search for it. How happy would that person be at their good fortune? What were the chances that they’d want to return it? I must say that my faith in humanity failed in that moment as I thought those thoughts. Then another thought, seemingly out of nowhere, occurred to me. Simply put, focus on God, not your problem. I immediately felt that it was God speaking to me, reassuring me. However, my mind soon returned to worrying about the problem at hand. Where would I even begin to start searching for my laptop? Then I remembered something.

I’d sat next to the taxi driver which meant I’d helped him collect and count fare from the other passengers. Someone had paid with a busted, counterfeit R5 coin that the driver refused to take. No one owned up to it and so I reluctantly decided to just take it as part of my change. I’d thought that would be the least confrontational and “Christianly” thing to do. Had it not been for that incident, I wouldn’t have remembered anything about the driver or the taxi I rode on. Now, I knew exactly what the driver looked like and details about the car like the seats having yellow stripes on them. That incident with the R5 coin which had annoyed me, in retrospect, now seemed like providence to me. 

After trying to catch up with the taxi and quickly realising that would be futile – there were different routes a taxi could take – I was told my best bet was to wait at the taxi station for the car to show up. That was the hub where he’d inevitably return to after each trip. I quickly rushed back to the station and waited for what seemed like an eternity. What happened next not only cemented the lesson I was learning – keep your eyes on your God, not your problem – it renewed my faith in humanity. It answered a question I hadn’t even realised I was asking. How am I going to get through all this?

The driver of the taxi had arrived back at the station and spotted me long before I spotted him. He managed to get my attention and beckoned me to the car. I noticed how he carefully took my laptop from where he’d kept it safe for me and handed it back to me with a smile like it was no big deal. It was a big deal for me. I thanked him profusely and made my way back to work armed with treasures: my recovered laptop, my renewed faith in humanity, gratitude, and a life lesson from Baba – focus on God, not your circumstances. I keep a busted up R5 coin to remind me lest I forget.

Love,