Devotional

It seems like it was yesterday that we welcomed 2012, and now it’s 2013 in just few hours. There are a lot of things that happened to me in the past year, and I simply cannot thank God enough for everything that have been going throughout my life.

It has been an amazing year for me, started off with my engagement with my beloved then-girlfriend in January 2012. We came from different ethnicities and it can be quite uneasy if everything went wrong. Thankfully everything went well and better than we had expected.

During the next couple of months when I returned to Melbourne, I was struggling in my previous workplace. Not because I cannot keep up, but because due to unforeseen circumstances, I had to live off from very limited financial resource (or in casual terms: I had to live using as little money as possible). But praise be to God, during those hardship I never once had not eaten a meal.

After several unsuccessful attempts to find a new job (which I believe some of my friends in church has been bored to death by this testimony), I finally found a new place to work, just right in time roughly one month before my wedding date. And I was also approved to take leave for my wedding and honeymoon. On top of that, I also kept good communication with my previous workplace.

Towards the big date for my wedding, I am sure a lot of us who has gone through the wedding preparation feels the same: everything just seems to go wrong at the wrong time. But in the end our wedding went extremely well, and again, better than both of us had expected.

But our struggles did not end there. My wife had not been granted her visa, and even though I had postponed my return to Melbourne for several days, finally we have to came to accept the fact that I had to go to Melbourne by myself. Although I wasn’t angry to God, I did ask God several times why do we have to be separated again after 6 years worth of long-distance relationship. And it broke my heart when I went to church the next Sunday and everyone keep asking me where my wife was. I can only response “Next week”, with a little faith that it will somehow came true.

And again He worked in an amazing way. A little faith as big as mustard seed is all I need. My wife did come to Melbourne during the week after that Sunday, and she finally came with me to our church, and I can finally introduce her to my friends. And she also start serving in our church, as a Sunday school teacher, as well as singer.

In September, we went to a church event, where there was a pastor from Netherlands (although was born in Indonesia) that said to me that I will be used to deliver the Word of God from my mouth. That was my third confirmation that God will use me for something even greater. And after three strikes, I finally submit to His will and heed His calling. Finally in mid December, I preached to the congregation at my church.

As a new family, we don’t have much. I am working full-time as the breadwinner, while my wife is still looking for work (although now she has a casual job), preferably ones that will utilise her skills as a Chinese Language and Literature graduate. We had our share of ups and downs as a family, as a husband and wife. But never once in our journey, even though it is still 6 months as of December 2012, we feel that God leave us. He does take it seriously when He said He will stand before our marriage and hold us together.

As 2012 closes up, I just want to thank God for everything that He has done in our life and marriage. He never left us, and never forsake us. Me and my wife are ready to accept things that God has put in store for us. There will be struggles, but there will also be peace, joy, and blessings that will follow us. So keep calm, have faith and trust God.

Stay blessed.