TESTIMONY FROM JOEL

It is a great privilege to be able to stand here and testify of God’s goodness. It was only by his grace that saw me though many challenging times in my life. 2009 has been an exciting as well as a challenging year for me, and if I’m able to sum it up in a few words, it would be ‘the best and the worst year or so I thought’.

The best because I got to marry a wonderful lady in October last year. The worst was because of the financial crisis I was made redundant. Loosing a job may be hard but the loosing it at a time when I needed it most made it even harder.

Before receiving the bad news about my job, I thought 2009 would be a great year! Got a job, getting married, plans to buy a house and settle down. It all sounded like a great plan. But only 2 weeks into the New Year, our director came and told us that all our projects have been put on hold and there wasn’t any work left.

I was devastated; all that I have planned and hope for started to fall apart. The one thing that gave me a sense of security and to some extend importance, it felt as though God took it away from me. I begin to lose confidence in myself and also in God, asking him many times if there is any reason for this? If so, you better do something quick. Because I have a wedding coming up.

Weddings don’t come cheap and of cause being the ‘to be husband’, I wanted to be able to be the provider. I also wanted to give and make her wedding dreams come true.

After a month of searching in vain for another job, a good friend of mine told me that a friend of his who was running an architectural practice were looking for someone to make some models. Long story short, praise God, I was offered the job. But it was only a casual position working 4 days a week and the pay wasn’t great. It was better then nothing however, I still felt like a failure and that I wasn’t good enough!

But God reminded me as written in Romans 8:28 ‘and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…..’

And there was also this little voice telling me… my grace is sufficient for you.

Somehow, things did turn out for the better.

Because of the 4 day working schedule, I was able to not only work on the wedding stuff but also to spend more time doing things that I’m passionate about.

Together with a friend, I had the opportunity to work with a well know artist in Brisbane on one of her art work for an exhibition. It was an exciting experience and though it was challenging because of her high demands, we were really satisfy with the out come.

I also had the opportunity be part of the team to document and put together a short movie clip of the 2009 Twilight Walk commemorating the Anniversary of the National Apology Day.

These gave me some satisfaction and I felt useful again. Nonetheless, doing this didn’t pay for the wedding bills.

But again, God came to the rescue. Thanks to the Australian Tax Office, I got back beyond what I have expected from my tax return and it was just before the wedding thus taking some stress off me. To be a little more detail about how Good God is, I did a little calculation and realise that for the first half of the year with the pay I was getting and the tax return, I was actually better off then if I was at my previous company.

Planning for 2010, one of my goals is that I want to grow in the gifts and purpose that God has placed within me and that I don’t want to be worry about job security.

Through the prayers from friends in Ng3 and the encouragement of my wife, God open new doors for me. Only 2 weeks, which is 1 year after loosing my previous job, I was offered a permanent full time job in another company which I’ll be starting next week.

Looking back I can see God’s hand really moving in my life. Although at times it felt as though He’s so far away yet He was always there at the end.

What I thought were road blocks and valleys in my life were actually opportunities that God had used to polish and put the gifts that He has given me into practice. I’ve learned so much and have discovered many things about me that I wouldn’t otherwise had if things had gone my way.

Joel