Durian season is upon us! Woohoo!
But that’s not what I’ll be writing about today.
The weekend service was extremely exciting, with a new song written by our one and only, (Brooke) Chew Hwee Yen and exciting sermon by PJK! These past couple of weeks have been hectic.
First was the trip to Bangkok.
After a string of meetings and discussion, I’ve got the offer to be involved in the project of which the guy flew me to Bangkok for. It’ll be a global roll out of an RFID system, to track reusable assets for a customer who has manufacturing, maintenance, and distribution centers at 26 countries worldwide, and the contract has already been secured.
I had about a week to seriously consider and pray about this job, and during that week God brought to remembrance the amazing stuff that He has done in my life these couple of years. Many people ask me over and over again,”How do you know that this, is God’s will for you?” or “Did you have the peace of God when you made the decision?” and to be frank .. I got a little tired from saying,”You just know!” and I guess the people I tell it to feel likewise.
I usually go through a small (sometimes) cycle of planning, worrying, doubting, praying .. which usually ends up with surrendering and trusting God.
In Philippians 4:6-7,
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It’s clear that when we come to God to present our requests, by praying and petitioning in thanksgiving .. the peace will come. At first, I was worrying about how the job market isn’t stable now, that companies are extra careful with what they spend on and who they hire in anticipation of another economic recession in the near future. And here am I .. moving to a new company (literally), working on a project (which .. I’ve never had hands-on experience in project management, just head knowledge) one of the first of it’s kind in Malaysia, rolling it out globally .. fuh.
I was excited initially. But when reality set in, I was afraid. I doubted. Could I, a 25 year old dude with less than 2 years experience in the working world handle such a project? Yeah, I have been learning a lot ever since I started work, but this magnitude of responsibility?
I doubted. I worried.
This point onwards, is crucial. Prayer, petition and thanksgiving.
I’ve never been known to pray a lot, but rather .. I converse with God when I am rationalizing situations, consequences, or worrying about the future. This time, it was slightly different though. It was the thanksgiving portion that really stood out. Just remembering what God has done and is doing in my life brought clarity to what I needed to do.
During my conversation with Ken, he asked me the same question that everyone asks me all the time. *grrr*
“Do you really know that it’s God’s will for you? If it is .. there must be some kind of an impression, some link, some .. word or confirmation somewhere.” When I heard the word ‘link’, it then became clear. Pretty clear. The link was waaaaay back from here. - Smart Toll System.
Since we’re on links, here are the links of my link. (get it? *hiacks)
- Smart Toll System
- the job search process
- the job selection process (part 1)
- the job selection process (part 2)
- the job selection process (part 3)
- “You write very well.”
Well, what I’m saying here is that .. there’s a progression in my life, a link .. an obvious link to what I know God has started in my life and until and unless God wants a major change in my life, I’ve gotta hear from Him MEGA clearly.
All right then. That’s set, knowing that it’s most likely what God wants to do in my life.
It’ll be a new season, but a lot of changes are coming.
Till the next entry.
I was having a similar discussion with a girl I met at a party a few nights ago. She was like, “Oh my gosh, you can hear from God directly?!?! I oso want!!!” then she started a tirade of questions and “oohhs” and “ahhhs”.
But the thing is “You just know” sometimes doesn’t help another Christian in getting closer to listening to God… A lot of practice, discernment and a whole lot of other factors, leaders, people around you lead you to this ‘listening from God’ doesn’t it?
Sometimes things which are natural to us which are supernatural to others need to be explained in a natural way to people who are not necessarily adopting the supernatural yet… Ey?
I might just blog about this… lOl
God bless!
Just something to share of some of the ways I usually use to know God’s will in making important decisions in my life.
Firstly as you had mentioned is to pray through the decision. Many times this may require a persistant and soul-searching prayer. It is important to receive God’s peace in your heart as well as the faith and strength that God will see you through the decision.
Heart desires and motives. Many times in prayer, God will reveal the secrets/motives of our heart. For myself, I found that certain decisions which I was contemplating was not in line with God’s plan and Word.
Trusting God’s timing. Most of the time, the timing of the decision is more important than the decision itself. It takes time and spiritual maturity to develop discernment to know God’s timing.
Just to share about a previous situation in my life. During my tenure in EY, I saw an interest job offer for investment banking in Southern Bank. I was preparing my CV and other stuff. However, I waited on God’s timing and bypassed this opportunity. Thank God I did not apply as that bank was taken over by CIMB. If I had joined, I may either be laid off or having an unpleasant environemnt.
Wow … God has big plans for U :)
So what are your intentions now with this offer at your doorstep?
Thanks all. The job offer negotiation’s pretty much done .. so just waiting for the final contract to come through before I tender my resignation.
Wait for the next entry. Hopefully .. before I go to India.