Moved House - Finally!

First of all, a belated blessed Christmas and a happy new year to all!

We just completed our house moving on 27 Dec and thank God that we took only 1.5 days to unpack all our stuff. It was interesting because we took 3 months to pack everything but only a very short time to unpack. We thank God for the strength and the speed to complete the unpacking in such a short time.

This draws an interesting analogy for me: The preparation period might seem long and tedious but when God moves, everything is accelerated. And actually the preparation is as important as the actual move. Without the preparation of packing, we would not be able to complete the move in a day's time. So if you are in the midst of waiting as God prepares you for your next season, be encouraged. All these years of waiting and period of preparation are not wasted. If not for the preparation, we would be ill prepared to move on to the next season quickly.

And when it is time to move on, there is usually an urgency because God has already done all He needed to do in us.  This is like Habakkuk 2:3, the revelation awaits an appointed time and though it tarries, wait for it. It will surely come and will not be a second late.

When we started year 2010, all these blessings were not manifesting yet. Pastor Lian was saying during Chinese New Year that although it might not seem like we are blessed in the beginning of the year, by the end of the year, we will see that we are 10 times more blessed than other people.

I couldn't see how I was more blessed than other people in the natural.  At that time, I was struggling with waiting for another baby and with issues at work. I wanted to leave this organisation but there were no signs of open door. But within the last few months (Sep-Dec), God turned everything around with the purchase of our condo. The rest of the things fall into place and I could finally realise my dream of staying home as a happy mother of children!

And now as we stay in this beautiful condo, we see the manifestation of God's blessings come to pass. Indeed we are 10 times more blessed at the end of the year and though we are still waiting for the manifestation of our 2nd baby, we trust that our appointed time is here. We have even prepared the nursery for her. God is not going to delay her coming and God will not be even one second late. Praise the Lord!

  

Finding rest in the midst of busyness

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I last blogged. Ever since taking possession of our condo, we have been busy preparing for renovation and buying stuff for our new home. Although it is an exciting period, our schedules are almost packed everyday. Besides, we are also having more viewings to our HDB flat as we are renting out our flat in Jan 2011.

But thank God this period is lull period at work, so I can focus more on preparing for my new home. Actually moving house really needs a lot of coordination, from renovation to curtains to furniture to packing, you can imagine how mammoth the task ahead is. In addition, we are also seeking to rent out our flat at the same time. And the fact that Christmas is coming and we need to shop for gifts for our loved ones and friends does add to the list of things to do.

Yet in the midst of the busyness, I am reminded to rest in our Lord Jesus. Being the planner at home, I am the type that needs to know exactly when the furniture are delivered, how to get the best deal, what things need to be packed early etc. But God tells me to rest in Him because everything that I needed has already been provided by Him.

It is really true. So many times I just flow with the Spirit. If the Spirit prompts me to rest, stop all the shopping for home stuff, I will follow. God is so good. We were looking for a dish drainer (those type that you put your dishes and bowls on) but we found the prices too expensive. Then we started our hunt rushing from place to place to compare prices. We couldn't find one suitable at the price we wanted. Then just yesterday, both Heng and I just felt like eating lunch at Tampines Mall. We really didn't plan to shop but there was a sale going on and we found the dish drainer at half the price we wanted! We really thanked God!

Only God can put us at the right place and right time. All our previous efforts, shuttling here and there didn't really help as we couldn't possibly know where the best deals are! Only God can and will lead us to the best deals. Usually we are not so price conscious but because we had to make a lot of cash purchases during this period, we desired to have the best deals so that our dollar can be stretched. God knows our desires and fulfills them.

So right now, even as I blog, there are so many things waiting for me to do but I remembered Matthew 6:33 'Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to me.' So this is what I choose to do...continue to rest in Jesus despite the loads of things to do. It has all been taken care of. Amen!

Burden Lifted Off My Back

Regarding my decision to leave my job in end Jan next year, the only people I haven't informed are my parents. You might find it weird that the whole world already knows except them. The reason was that I find it difficult to break the news to them.

I did that two years ago when I told them I wanted to leave my full-time job to do part-time teaching. They were so against it. Their rationale was that part-time job would not provide the benefits like annual leave, medical benefits and bonuses. And at that time in Oct 2008, I guessed it was also not God's timing for me to leave my job yet.

The government just announced that they would increase the maternity leave to four months. Not only that, I would also lose my year-end bonus and my performance bonus. Besides, one of my staff just left, her replacement had not been found and it would be disruptive to my boss if I leave now. So I stayed for good reasons but mainly because I didn't sense that it was God's will to leave my job then. It was tough to stay on but I made the decision to trust God.

Since then God has been preparing the way to provide for me to stay home. I asked God to do three things for me in order for me to stay home:
1) To provide for finances so that I can stay home in style
2) To put me in an environment so that I can fellowship with other stay-home mums
3) To let me find something meaningful to do so that I won't be bored (because after a while, taking care of kids can be quite mundane.)

God is so good. He fulfilled all my three requests. He provided for our finances through the rental income. He put me in a condo where there are many stay-home mums. He put an idea for me to write a book and blog so that I can still be connected to the outside world. Isn't God great?

Lastly, He also prepared the hearts of my parents so that they could take to the news well. When I told them last night, they were not so 'worked up'. I knew that the timing was right and they saw how God blessed them financially over the years. They had the assurance from God that though I might not be able to give them as much household allowance as I did, God would still find ways to provide for them.

Actually this was one of the issues that I had to grapple with before I came to the decision to leave. But once I made the decision, I trusted God to take care of my parents' family and to prepare my parents' hearts for this decision. Thank God that He took care of that and my greatest burden now has been lifted! Praise Jesus!