Answer from the mouth of lions

When your ability to live among the people God has called you to is put in jeopardy by paperwork, it suddenly goes from being mind-numbingly boring to taking on utmost importance. The past 2-3 weeks have been tense, as we were told that our stay in S province had become illegal, and we may be arrested and thrown out of Thailand. No we have not been involved in criminal activity, it is just that no one realised that 6 months before we moved here, we should have rented an office, found a staff worker, submitted papers and received permission to open a branch of our organisation here. Without it, we were told we cannot live here as our visa is to work, and at present we are only legal to work in U province. Complicated. So we were given our options by the Head Office.

Plan 1 - Go to Laos (4 hrs)

It seemed the least disruptive option for us was to go to Laos, get a different kind of visa and continue living in S until the paperwork arrived to open the office. We would then have to continue doing these 'border runs' every 3 months. So we collected all our papers, and left S (with me half asleep and not well) at 3:30 am to drive to the Lao border.
...We didn't even get past the Thai border controls. It turned out we were not only illegal to stay in S but illegal to leave the country. We were told (after many phone-calls and brain scrambling conversations) that our only option was:

Plan 2 - Go to U province (4 hrs), then to Laos and back (1 hr), then do Plan 1 again (4 hrs) 

This would be exhausting, very expensive, time wasting and still risky at every step. We may even end up stuck in Laos. Yet we were told it was the only option. We prayed hard as we drove to U. I mobilised my prayer groups, desperate for a way out of this awful mess. Prayers rose together as people across the world stood with us.

At U we first had to stop by our staff worker's house to collect paperwork on the way to Immigration. She is also a good friend. As she tried to piece together the complexities of what had happened and why, and what our options were, she seemed imbued with peace and wisdom. She insisted on going to Immigration with us. She had plan 3 in mind:

Plan 3 - Do not go to Laos but live in 2 provinces until papers are received for S. 
She went in, all calm and confident. She laid out our dilemma and asked the officials what to do. They suggested another way:

Plan 4 - Do not go to Laos. Continue legally in S. Oh and no more border runs.
Our jaws dropped open. From the mouth of those who had the power to arrest us, fine us, or just make life plain unbearable for us, came the miracle that was Plan 4. A plan we never knew existed, or was possible. A plan which allows us to remain where God has led us, with minimal paperwork, expense, time and energy expenditure. A plan only God could have engineered.

My last post was about spiritual warfare. It seems strange to the western mindset that red tape and visa bureaucracy is an issue of spiritual warfare. The past 2 days have proved otherwise. He loves to answer the united cries of His children. He foils the plans of the enemy. He not only shut the mouths of lions for us, but opened their mouths to tell us His answer.

But I believe there was more God was after here than sorting our visa problems, or even showing us His power. He has always been after the character of our heart. That is why James gives us the upside-down wisdom to "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colours. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work in you so you become mature and well developed, not deficient in any way" (James 1:2-4 MSG)
God created us with such purpose! It's not about me or my problems, but about learning to be like Him. He wants me mature and complete, lacking nothing!  I know I'm not alone in facing issues and problems in these days. They are a sheer gift, if we will only let them do their work in us. Will you join me in thanking Him for them? Will you open your heart, and let Him do the hard work?