I lost a little faith in humanity last week. Despite all the information at our disposal, I was the victim of a phone scam.

I had a call from someone purporting to be from the Australian taxation office. It was notification that I had failed to respond to previous correspondence in relation to money I supposedly owed and due to my non-response, I would be charged with defrauding the taxation office – warrants for my arrest and imminent court action was threatened. Of course I had absolutely no knowledge of anything they were saying.  They made it sound credible and as a result I was sent into a tailspin of panic and anxiety where reason flies out the window and you wonder how you could ever end up in such a predicament.

Despite my panic, they were able to make enough mistakes to trigger my suspicions and make me doubt the validity of the caller. Thankfully due to poor signal the line dropped out and I was able to call the real Taxation Office and discover that it was in fact a scam!!

So, thankfully, no real damage was done…other than to my faith in humanity…

I was reading James 1 yesterday and there is nothing like being reminded to – ‘consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds…’ (James1:2) to put things into perspective!

It really reminded me just how easy it is to be tossed… Doubt is a serious stumbling block… It takes our well formed ideas and puts them into confusion and leaves us feeling that we are in the spin cycle of a washing machine!!

It always tends to be the bumps in the road that remind us that we are strangers and aliens in the land. Today I feel a little more alien and strange than I would normally like, but I am also reminded that the struggle is worth it. I have always believed in the truth of ‘its always darkest right before dawn’. And I think that’s what’s happening here.

Another bend in the road. I can’t quite see around the corner, but I know if I just keep trusting through my season of buffeting, what’s next can be truly wonderful.

I guess there is no other option for me – time to buckle up – I am in this for the long haul!