English Article: 23 Kilos, One Leap of Faith | Christeena Gladson

Six years ago,I had just graduated with my degree in the middle of a pandemic. The world was uncertain. Universities were closing. Offices were shutting down. Flights were being cancelled. Nobody really knew what the next few months would look like. And yet, within a month of graduating—actually, not even a month—I made a decision that would change the course of my life.I packed my entire life into 23 kilograms and prepared to move to Ireland.

I remember the questions people asked.

“Why do you need to do a Master’s again?”

“Why leave your parents?”

“You’re their only daughter. Why would you go so far away?”

“Why Ireland?”

“What if it doesn’t work out?”

And honestly, I didn’t have all the answers. I didn’t know what my future would look like.

I didn’t know whether the decision I was making would work out.I didn’t know what life in another country would ask of me.But I believed that if God was leading me, I could take the next step even without knowing the entire road.

The journey started before I ever reached Ireland. Even applying for my Master’s was an experience I will never forget. The very day I applied to the university, the pandemic began affecting everything. Ireland started shutting down. Universities closed. Offices closed. Normal life came to a standstill. Usually, you would expect to hear from a university within a month about whether your application had been accepted.

But for me, months passed.

No offer letter.

No answer.

Just silence.

And the longer I waited, the more uncertain I became.

I still remember one evening around 5 p.m. sitting with my mother and saying,

“Maybe they’re never going to get back to us. Maybe we should start thinking about something else.”

My mom said, “Okay. Let’s talk to Dad.”

We were ready to think about another plan.

But God wasn’t finished with this one.

The very next day, around the same time, I received my offer letter.

After months of silence, there it was. And in that moment, it felt as though God was quietly reminding me:“I haven’t forgotten you.”

Then came the visa. The visa process during COVID was another journey of its own.

Every time I needed to get something done, I had to go to an office.

And strangely, the pattern kept repeating. The office would be open on the very day I needed it. Then the next day, I would hear that there had been a COVID outbreak and the office had been shut.

Again. And again.

There were so many moments when I wondered,

“Why is everything so difficult?”

Eventually, my visa application was submitted.

Then came another setback. My visa decision was held.I remember receiving a call from the embassy and being told that if a particular document wasn’t submitted, my application could be rejected within a few days.

For a few seconds, my heart sank.

Why, God?But somewhere inside me was that quiet reassurance again:This is not the end.

And somehow, the document was submitted and the process moved forward.

Then, finally…My visa arrived.

One last question before we left, knowing how uncertain everything had been, my parents and I wanted to be sure.The three of us sat together and before booking the flight, we bowed down before God and prayed.

We asked, “God, if this is really Your will for us, if this is the path You want us to take, please give us a sign.”

It might sound funny to someone reading this.

But in our family, we had seen my father’s online transactions decline many times for the most random reasons. Whenever he needed to make an online payment, he would often have to try again.

So, almost jokingly, but sincerely, we said:“God, if this is Your will, let the ticket booking go through.”

My father entered the details. He clicked to make the payment.

And this time…it went through on the first attempt.

We looked at each other. It was such a small thing. To someone else, it might have meant nothing.

But to the three of us sitting there, after everything that had happened, it felt like another gentle reassurance: “Go. I am with you.”

Two days later, my bags were packed And by packed, I mean my entire life had somehow been reduced to 23 kilograms.

Then came the day.

I was 24 years old.My father was driving.My mother was beside us.My pastor was also in the car.And I was sitting there with my bags, heading towards the airport.

I remember looking around and knowing that I was leaving behind everything familiar.

My home. My parents .My country. My childhood.

And perhaps because of that, leaving wasn’t just physically moving from one country to another. It was an emotional departure for all three of us.

But we believed God was leading us. So we went. And then, on the way to the airport…our car met with an accident. Of all the things that could have happened that day, this was not something any of us expected. The car was involved in an accident while we were on our way to the airport.

For a moment, everything stopped.

And suddenly, I was wondering what would happen next. Yet again, I found myself holding on to the same thought: This is not the end And thankfully, we were safe.

We continued our journey And eventually, I reached the airport I boarded that flight And I left.

A world wearing masks

Today, when we look back at COVID, sometimes it almost feels like a distant memory.

People talk about it now almost casually. But in 2020, it wasn’t casual. It was frightening.We were living in masks And I remember travelling to another country wearing a mask and PPE, carrying my 23 kilograms, stepping into an unknown future.

Because sometimes faith is not about having certainty.

Landing in Ireland didn’t mean that life suddenly became easy.

There were struggles. There were battles. There were moments of loneliness. There were seasons of sickness. There were moments when I wondered whether I had made the right decision. And there were times when my faith was strong and times when it wasn’t.

I completed my Master’s.

What began as another uncertain step became a five-year journey with the same company. Life began taking shape in ways I couldn’t have predicted when I first arrived.

And then came another beautiful chapter. I got married.

And then came the chapter that would change me in a way I could never have imagined. I became a mother.

And there is something deeply emotional about that realisation. My story began with me as someone’s daughter—an only child sitting beside her parents, leaving home for the first time.

Today, I am mother to my little boy, holding my own little one and looking back at the road God brought me through. Looking back, I don’t believe that every difficult thing happened because God wanted me to suffer. I don’t know why every delay happened. I don’t know why every obstacle was part of the journey. And I don’t pretend to understand everything.

But I know this :God met me in every one of those moments.

Everybody’s journey is unique. What feels like a delay in one person’s life may be a completely different kind of journey in another’s.

For some people, the waiting is about finding a job.

For someone else, it may be completing their education.

For another, it may be getting married or having children.

For some, it may be financial circumstances that seem impossible to change.

For others, it may be sickness, loneliness, loss, uncertainty, or a battle that nobody else knows about.

We can never truly know what another person is carrying. And sometimes we look at someone else’s life and wonder why things seem to be happening for them while we are still waiting for our own breakthrough.

And if you are waiting for something today, I want you to remember that your waiting does not make you forgotten.

Whatever your situation is, don’t give up simply because you cannot yet see the outcome. Keep trusting God, even when you cannot understand what He is doing.

Because the God who carried me through my unknown is the same God who can carry you through yours and a faithful God who never left.

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” — Philippians 1:6

 

Christeena Gladson