This testimony reflects one of the earliest moments when I started learning how to listen to God. I was not working then and I spent a lot of time reading the bible and learning from RC Watkins.
I applied for a job but did not realise it was in Singapore. I only learnt of this fact after the
interview had been fixed. I was horrified because my husband was working in our own country, Malaysia. If I took the job, we would be separated.
Since the interview had already been arranged, my mother suggested that I attend, anyway out of curiosity and to test the market. There seemed no point in telling my husband about the interview when there was nothing confirmed about the job.
I was short listed for the job and told to attend a second interview. I now wondered what to do. Of course, my mother's advice and my further curiosity eventually led me to the second interview as well.
I kept telling myself I will worry about how to tell my husband, Puru, when and if I get the job. I asked God to please direct me. Immediately after the second interview, I was told that I had been more or less selected and to go to Singapore for a final interview.
This time I had to tell Puru, and when I did, he got very angry with me and said I was crazy to pack up and go to another country when he had to continue living in Malaysia. Of course, what he said did make sense, but I turned to God every step of the way and believed He was leading me. But from time to time, doubts did creep in.
I wanted to be sure what I felt was from God and not my own fanciful thinking. I went to Singapore and found that it was more like a preview of work. They had already decided to take me on and I was only there to complete the paper work for the employment pass
application and see to other red tape pertaining to a foreigner working in Singapore.
When I returned from Singapore, I was unsure of what to do. What my husband said made a lot of sense. I felt I was behaving like a mad woman. I desperately wanted God to confirm that my going to Singapore was from Him and not my own will.
I began making excuses not to go. I first wrote to the firm saying that upon further reflection, I had decided not to accept the offer. However, they wrote back asking me to reconsider. I was surprised they did not just accept my refusal. Next, I told myself that I
did not have a place to stay.
About that time, I took out my husband's bible to read, as mine was not readily available. Puru had bought himself a beginner's bible and the words it contained was very simple to understand.
The first words my eyes caught when I flipped open the bible went something like why worry about a place to stay when Jesus Himself has gone to prepare accommodation for you. I was startled. Since it was different from the King James bible that I had, it used the word "accommodation" rather than "a place".
My final confirmation came from my husband. I said to God if this job it was truly from Him, He would not want me to go after quarrelling with my husband. I will not say anything more to my husband. I will accept Puru's point of view and not pursue the issue
further.
If God really wanted me to go, He will have to change Puru's mind. The very next day, my husband came to me, without my initiation, and said I should go if that was what I really wanted to do.
Finally, I said, "I'm scared, Lord. I will be all alone in a new country." I felt a still, small, voice in my heart say to me, "You will not be alone. I will be with you."
So I left for Singapore. In the early stages of my stay, I was amazed at how I went through it all. It was as if each day I awoke to go to work, the Lord was with me. Everyday, He walked and talked to me. I never felt alone.
I tried to return to see my husband every other week. It was extremely hard when the time came to return to Singapore. I cried once seeing my husband lingering around the window of my Singapore-Malaysia bus, not wanting to leave until it actually left the station. But not long after the bus took off, I felt the strong presence of God and I knew I would be all right. Another wonderful thing happened. Puru used to rely on me to pray, but now that I was not there, he began to seek God on his own and pray on his own. I believe now that God separated us to bring my husband closer to Him.
Two months later, my husband said he could not take the separation any longer and asked me to resign and return home. He said it was not working out. I had to obey him and agreed.
One weekend I was back home and attended the church my husband goes to. On that particular day, a guest speaker from Australia was there. Her name was Robyn Kassas. The Spirit in her was so strong I was tearing non-stop simply in her presence and my body trembled.
I could not stop tearing although Robyn was not even saying anything sentimental. In fact she was ticking off church-goers who were so busy running around like "chickens without their heads" as she called them, and due to that, ironically have no time to spend with God and the Word.
Then she asked everyone to close their eyes and pray with her. Suddenly I heard her say, "Sir, is that your wife?" I opened my eyes and saw Robyn Kassas pointing directly at me. She said, "You are apart. You will be together again very soon." Later, she called both my husband and I and prophesied other things over us.
So here was one comforting sign from God that He would bring my husband and I together again. So now I was ready to obey my husband, but I also wanted to obey God. So I said to God, "Lord, what's happening here? You asked me to come here and I obeyed you. Now I have to return. This does not make sense. Why did you bring me here Lord? Your Word says I have to obey my husband. If you want me to stay, You will have to work something out. I commit this situation to you, Lord."
A day before I planned to put in my resignation, my husband telephoned me. He said, "Have you resigned yet?" I said "No." Then he said, "Well, don't. I just got a call today. I got the job in Singapore."
What happened was, through a neighbour who lived in the apartment next to my husband, we found out there was an opening at a newspaper in Singapore. It was a new concept newspaper but with very strong shareholders who are monoliths in Singapore.
Our neighbor merely informed my husband of the opening and was not any more involved than that. God was the sole instrument. How else can one explain my husband getting a job in such a large and powerful company without them even looking at his resume.
The CEO remembered meeting him 15 years ago and said he was so impressed by that meeting that he asked him to come down and see him. When he did, he was given an
interview and a few days later, one day before I was to resign, he got confirmation that he was successful in landing the job. They also matched the salary he was getting at his present job. So, as usual, all ends well when we trust God.
Recently, we were once again led by God to leave Singapore. Both of us. Again I needed confirmation. God is faithful. He showed us by taking events out of our hands. We were "led" to leave Singapore. That is the best way to describe it. Again, in my heart I was
still seeking further confirmation. And God in all His graciousness provided it. My husband and I had asked the movers to come on a particular date. We just selected that date at random.
One day, I went across the border to Malaysia to have my passport stamped because by then I had resigned my job and was on a social visit pass. This was while my husband was still working in Singapore.
On a social visit pass, the longest stay I am allowed at any one time is two weeks. After this timeframe, I have to apply for an extension. I kept on extending my social visit pass every two weeks as my husband was still working in Singapore. But the last time I filled out the application, the immigration officials only gave me a day's extension. I was alarmed. I asked the officials what happened to the usual two weeks and was informed that there was a special rule for Malaysians.
They explained that continued extensions such as mine could only be allowed up to a maximum of 60 days. Would you believe that the last day I could legally stay in Singapore fell exactly on the day we told the movers to come? Once again, God's timing was perfect. Once again, He reassured us with a confirmation.
If that was not enough, while both of us are waiting for jobs right now and as it sometimes happens during waiting periods, God must have known our anxiety, and
sent another confirmation.
The pastor of our church just yesterday, after passing on a message to my husband from God (referred to in my husband's testimony), asked if we were back from Singapore. My husband said "yes." Then the pastor said "Good. If not, I would have told you to cross the
causeway and return immediately." Those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles; they will run and not be weary; they will walk and not faint..Isaiah 40:31
