In December 2019, I had a very clear directive from God to resign from my teaching job in Vienna at the end of March and return to Australia. I was reluctant to leave before the end of the school year but wanted to be obedient, so I gave my notice. I had been praying with a Christian Science practitioner about an illness and found I was completely healed shortly after taking this step. 

Fast forward to the middle of March, when I had only two weeks of my teaching job remaining and had booked a flight back to Australia for April 1. Suddenly, the Austrian government announced that all schools would close because of COVID-19, and restrictions were put into place. 

I had very little food in my refrigerator at that point, so I headed to the grocery store. However, when I tried to pay for the groceries, neither my debit card nor my credit card was accepted. The store manager couldn’t explain why my cards wouldn’t work, and he suggested I go to an ATM and get cash. But the banks were closed, and my card wouldn’t let me into the bank building, so I had no access to the teller machines inside. I had to leave the store without my groceries.