Submit to His Choice for you

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! - Romans 11:33

We all know that His choice is always better than ours. But sometimes our ‘clever’ mind thinks our choice is good for us because we thought we know what we need, what we want, and what can satisfy us.

Let me share my recent story which may speak to your spirit and help you to see that God is still in control of your life and love you passionately.

In 2022 I have worked as a canteen assistant at a local school. It was my first job since the death of my brother in 2020. As many of you know, after my brother’s passing, I got a few health problems that prevented me from coming back to work, i.e. eye problems, GERD, surgery, and back pain. These problems made me reluctant to come back to work, especially with my eye problem in my right eye and back pain. So I started to work again in early 2022 with short hours first to see how I coped.

Working as a canteen assistant made me stand throughout my shift and working for more hours a week will result in my back pain growing worse. I could only work a maximum of 3 days a week and even after my third day, my back was already in so much pain. I could only work there for about 6 months and in September 2022 I felt like I wanted to find another job.

The battle was to find another job, what kind of job I should get. I cannot work in an office environment due to my back pain and eye problem. I couldn’t look at the monitor for a long time and I couldn’t sit for more than 2 hours straight. With my condition, I need to move around and need a cool environment so that my right eye doesn’t get irritated easily. It gets irritating when I am in a humid environment and in hot weather. When it is irritated too much it can develop infection and in severe conditions, it can inflame the back of my eye.

Therefore after a lot of self brainstorming, and looking at many job types out there in the market, I finally found one job that I think would be best for me. I chose to apply for a job as an online personal shopper at the supermarket. Here in Australia, every major supermarket has a service of online personal shoppers where customers can shop for groceries online. Their order will be either delivered to their home or they can pick it up from the store. I thought this would be a great job for me because I get to walk around doing the shopping based on the order from customers and I don’t have to stand still. Also, the supermarket is air-conditioned which is good for my eye. Closing to the end of 2022 would have been a good opportunity for me to apply for this job because it was closer to Christmas and they normally get busy getting close to Christmas.

I applied to many different stores and I even asked several of my friends who work in the supermarket to help me get the job. However, I received no responses. I then realized that God didn’t want me to work there. The doors were closed for me.

One day I just searched for any job on the job website and I saw a lot of support worker jobs for aged care or disability. I read the requirement and almost all jobs advertised require qualifications and experience. But there was one advertisement which said no experience and no qualification is welcome to apply. At first, I thought this must be some kind of scam or there should be a catch to this job. However surprisingly, I ended up applying for this job right after reading the job ad. It felt like magic that my hand just submitted my resume without discussing it with my brain. I am pretty sure you must have had an experience like this when you felt like there was something pushing you from the back to do something you don’t even understand what’s going on. Two days later I received a phone call from South Australia but I didn’t want to answer the phone. I live in the state of New South Wales and every time I receive a phone call from different states I never answer the phone because it could be just some marketing people or a scam. The person left a message for me saying that he was the agent for the support worker job that I applied for and asked me to call him back.

I was reluctant to call him back and thought this was a true scam. In a split second, I was afraid because I had sent him my resume with my personal details in it. However, unexpectedly the next minute I was at peace and I rang him the next morning. We chatted about the job and he seemed legit to me. To cut the long story short, this job required some short training and I had to do some requirements before I can get into the interview with the organisation. The agent didn’t reveal to me what company I would be working with but I just willingly submitted all the requirements which I think was not me at all. How can I with my right mind just agree to do whatever they asked for including spending a few hundred dollars for training before I can be interviewed by the company? This agent was even in South Australia and I do not know their office. This must be God who worked within me and gave me peace to follow through all the procedures.

After I completed all the requirements, which was 3 weeks later, the agent then revealed to me the company I will be working with, which is one of the biggest organisation in Sydney for support workers in aged care. I was also informed that the position I was applying for was a permanent position. I felt really blessed to join this organisation because they are really big and have a solid system. I then got interviewed by them and I got the job. My job description is to support the elderly in their own homes.

God knows what is best for me and He chose for me what aligns with my calling. Until now, I still very much feel so grateful every time I go to work and see my clients. He knows my capability and He can give the passion inside me for these elderly people which I never know I have. Many of them are very fragile and lonely. I enjoyed talking with them, cheering them up, and helping them with their needs. I love to be able to help people within my capacity and God gave me the channel to express what I love to do through my job.

In my next blog (Part 2) I will share with you the very reason why He gave me this job.

Have a blessed week and I hope you are blessed.