God did not forget His spoken word for you

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10 NLT

Throughout my journey with Christ, I have received many words from Him directly or indirectly. Sometimes when He told us about something, it is not necessarily will happen the next day or in the near future. Rather, He wants us to hold on to His word and keep believing that it will come to pass one day in His time. Sometimes it depends on us, and how ready we are to receive His spoken word or His promise. If we know His will but we don’t want to do it or do not want to receive it, we will miss the blessing He has prepared for us. So it is up to us if we really want to honor His spoken word. We only can enjoy His blessing when we are fearfully expecting Him and His word to be done unto us.

Sometimes at the end of 2018, God spoke to me that I should pray for the sick. He even gave me a vision about an elderly woman lying on the bed sick and I sat down next to her and prayed for her. Unfortunately, after my brother passed, I was traumatised by this calling. I lost my confidence to pray for the sick because I thought if I pray for the sick, they should be healed. That is the result I hope to see if I was going to do my calling. However recently God gave me the understanding that praying for the sick is not necessarily for healing. Many times it may be for salvation because perhaps God wants to call them home. In this instance, I have not failed as a sister to pray for my brother. He has been with the Lord. And my prayer has been answered.

In early 2020 I decided to join a volunteer job at the local hospital near my house because I wanted to please Him by trying with my own effort to fulfill His calling in my life. I wanted to show Him that I was obeying Him. My plan at that time was to dedicate once a week to work a few hours with elderly patients at the hospital so I can have the opportunity to spend time with them and if possible I can pray for them. I submitted my application, then I got an interview and I got accepted. I have also done all the vaccine requirements to work in the hospital. However, Covid-19 came and the hospital was closed to the public including volunteer workers so I didn’t get a chance to volunteer there.

Then after that another idea came, I was thinking to apply for a paid job as a support worker in age care or disability because I also needed to help my family’s finance and at the same time the job can be aligned with my calling. That would be a perfect result for me. But sadly after looking at the job requirements at that time, I couldn’t apply because I didn’t have any qualifications or experience. Plus, I was also not ready physically to start working. I had some physical condition that prevented me to do a physical job. So for 3 years I was just in ‘waiting’ time with God. Sometimes I feel frustrated not being able to help my husband financially. Instead of contributing to finance, I have been spending a lot of money on my treatments, surgery, and medications. At that time I felt hopeless about my situation. But now looking back, I know the last 3 years were my waiting time with the Lord.

He didn’t forget what He has spoken to me!

Rather, He was preparing me, He was working inside me. He even wanted me to do volunteer work for a Domestic violence organisation for 2 years without pay even though He knew I needed a paid job to help my family. The whole 3 years were needed to process me. This process is not very pleasant but our job is to stay faithful and to stay patient in waiting for His word to be manifested in our lives.

Continuing my previous blog, my job now is to assist the elderly in their homes. Sometimes they need me to clean their homes, sometimes they need me to do personal care i.e. shower and dressing, and sometimes they feel lonely and need me to chat with them and accompany them. Whatever they need, my job is to assist them.

With my condition, I feel that God really looks after me. I don’t have to be on my feet the whole day doing this job. I love the variety of tasks that help me to avoid any repetitive movements. I also get to travel between clients so I can rest my feet and my back while driving to the next client. At the end of my shift, I normally don’t pass out due to exhaustion and I can still have energy to do my house chores. I can choose my own hours as well so I can pick up my son from school. This job really suits me as a mum and I thank God for picking this job for me.

Nevertheless, the most important thing, I know that God picked this job for me as part of his plan in my life. Maybe right now I don’t always get to pray to sick people at my job, but I know that this job is the first step towards His calling in my life. He is processing me as I am doing this job. I still have a fear to offer my client to pray for their sickness, due to work policy and also I don’t always have the opportunity to offer to pray. But I believe this job is a channel for me to train myself to where He wants me to be. I may fail at one time, but the other time I was successful to do what holy spirit prompted me. There was one time when my client shared about her illness, I got the courage to offer to pray for her and she said yes please pray for me. But there were other times, I felt reluctant to offer to pray because there were too many battles on my mind. But I didn’t feel that guilty for being reluctant with the prompt of the holy spirit knowing that God will give me another opportunity.

At my job, I am now focusing on building relationships with my regular clients. They love me and many of them don’t want another worker except me. I thank God for the favour I have received through them. In my conversation with them, I like to season with God’s love and God’s goodness. I can only wait until they feel more comfortable with me then I will have the opportunity to pray for them and to share about Jesus.

What I want to encourage you, if you know God has offered you something to do, take it with courage. He knows that you are capable of doing it. It may not be something that you want to do for your life or it may not look like what He has told you as your calling, but it could be a first stepping stone for you. In my case He gave me a paid job after 3 years of waiting and this job is also my training ground.

Thank you for reading my blog and I hope you are encouraged.