You'll never know that God is all you need,..

...until God is all you have.

Currently listening: New Life Worship (Ross Parsley and the Desperation Band) - Counting on God

After yesterday's Sunday service, I had a privilege to be in the car with W,one of the student LG leaders who sent me home. We were exchanging experiences on our job experiences, hers as an architect, mine as a doctor, and found not many differences - although I did share mine that for a hospital, it's a harsh working environment, no love, where you deal with staff and colleagues who are stressed up, and tend to be selfish - some even with attitude problems. Of course I do get scolded many times for various mistakes. And being call twice a week leaves you tired and no mood to do things at times. If you are not careful, instead of being agent of change within the working environment, it might end up the other way around.

But I did mention that it was in such times that you see God work wonders. Sometimes, as you go through certain things and you look back at how God pulled you through, and you share it with others, they will give you a weird look and wonder, "Is that even possible?"

W shared how she noticed many similarities of what I described with her days in UTM's architecture faculty - during that time, they are well-known as a bunch of students who are frequently very busy. If doctors on-call work 36 hours straight, they on the other hand could go up to 48 hours (with lights still on in their campus labs) during seasons for submitting assignments and projects. An outside person might wonder how God could work in such an environment, but W mentioned that she always reminded her sheep that they are the blessed ones - because it is in such times (when you feel like you are dying rushing your work, when you have nothing left to go on etc) that you experience God.

"People who have a comfortable life, stable job might make remarks on how God has blessed them, how His grace is sufficient for them etc., but many times all these end up as empty cliches which we used so frequently, that it has lost its meaning. When you are hard-pressed for a miracle and all the chips are against you, you won't just pray a simple prayer of a few lines asking God to bless you - you will cry out desperately, knowing that without Him, some outcomes just would not have been possible. Then you will realise that it is really His grace that is sufficient for you, what you say carries more weight and meaning."

She also shared practical experiences, how compared to those who are already working, owning a car as a public university student can be a challenge, when (not wanting to be a burden to your parents) you are paying for it with your scholarship and part-time job earnings. Sometimes, with only RM50 left in your bank account, you will be wondering whether to pump petrol or use the money to buy food. However, it is in such times when you see the need of owning the car as a student, to be a blessing in fetching people, you also experience His provision in ways you could never expect from the people using your car.

However, I guess the 1 thing which encouraged me the most was her testimony on her academics, how she made it her decision to God to lay down her studies, despite her results not being very good as compared to other students - and her decision not to compromise on various church commitments (despite whatever came her way - deadlines, fatigue etc). God blessed her with an award for being one of the best students in the faculty, but above all else, it left a mark within the student group - when you start to do this, other people start to look at their own lives and say "If an architecture student who is extremely busy can do such a thing, then there is no excuse for us from other faculties not being able to serve God wholeheartedly." She was the pioneer student from her faculty, and encouraged me to see that at the pioneering stage it is tough, but God has a wonderful plan and wants to pour out His blessing on such people. See it as a privilege, as the 1st doctor in Hope JB, as she was the 1st architecture student back then. Although it took her 2 years before she started bringing people to church /LG when she was already finishing her final year, today several of the leaders in student group come from this faculty.

"I have attended a seminar where there was this doctor from East Malaysia who shared her experiences. Due to the shortage of staff and heavy workload, she was greeted with many negativity when she started work. People were telling her that she would have to give up religion because she could not go to Sunday service anymore. But she refused to let all these bother her, in fact she woke up at 4am to go to the hospital so that she could finish her work by 6.30am or so before squeezing out time to go to church. The great lengths people are willing to go to serve God passionately. Today she is leading a group of Christian doctors in the hospital. See it in spite of your hardship and challenges that God is moulding and preparing you for greater things to come."

Thankful for that ride home..