For A Purpose

November 3rd 2009

November 3rd marked our first one year in Melbourne. One year ago I wondered what would happen to us one year later! Only time will tell, I thought.

My mum has been house-hunting these few weeks because our one-year rent contract for the current house is ending. We wanted a house that is near the train station and also the high school Janna and Jirene is going to next year. But it seems that wasn’t meant to be. My parents instead found a place that is just round the corner, but it is much newer and thank God, it has TWO toilets! Hahaha… =)

So, since we didn’t manage to find a house near the train station or the school (because its an expensive area), I’ll have to walk to the bus stop every morning, take the bus to the train station, then take a 40 minute train ride to the city, and at the city, I must finally take a tram to my school! Phew. I can’t imagine how I’ll wake up in winter. Now every morning, as VCASS draws nearer, I wake up thinking, “I have no idea how I’ll do it next year.”

A year ago, I was a homeschooler. I never had to take public transport in M’sia – my parents wouldn’t allow anyway. One year later, everything has changed! I used to think, what will happen to me in the future? Will I be stuck with just this for the rest of my school life? Won’t I ever get the chance to perform and take a step higher in music? I really thought I’d be stuck back there with no better way out, no greater opportunity. But I prayed. I asked God. It was difficult though. I couldn’t imagine myself getting anywhere else other than where I already was.

And now here I am! I must remember it is all by God’s grace. Not forgetting my dad & mum and sisters: we all made it through together. My dad has been doing many things here and there. Just a few days ago, he became a butcher. Hahaha! Yes, you read it correctly. But he’s just doing it for two days a week. I didn’t think he would bear to exchange his precious time to do some no-brainer work full-time. Although it may be decent pay, but it is of course not a very fulfilling job for my dad. Haha. A few months back, Dad took a course in personal age care. It certified him to care for and assist elderly and disabled people. He told me yesterday that this kind of work is much more fulfilling.

Well, we thank God for helping us to live through this one year. Thank God for bringing us here earlier than we planned or expected. All because the migration laws changed, our migration was fast-forwarded from 3 years to 1 year! So yes, it was a mad rush last year and we did wonder why God placed us in such an unexpected situation. We didn’t even have time to sell our house or car.

But after our first year here, we now see that it is all in God’s perfect timing and plan. We can never see God’s big picture in our puny minds. But now we realize that if we came 3 years later, my sisters and I would have missed all the benefits from school life here. I would have missed Blackburn High and VCASS, and all the performance opportunities that are so vital to the development of my musical abilities. Also not to mention the learning and teaching opportunities that God has provided since coming here!

Dad was just telling me the other day of the little (or big) miracle God worked when we came. At the exact time around our move to Melbourne, the currency conversion rate dropped from 3 to about 2.5! Now it has climbed back up from 2 something to 3. It really helped us save a lot when converting to Aussie dollars.

I am so thankful to be here. This afternoon as I walked in the sun, enjoying the heat and listening to Chris Tomlin’s How Great is Our God on my iPod, I started thanking God once again for everything He has provided and for bringing us here. I thanked God for the clear blue skies, the clouds, the spring flowers, my sisters, my dad & mum, my life, my iPod (which God blessed me with through church friends for my b’day, and it will be my lifesaver next year when travelling on the train!), and I thanked God so much for the hot sun. People might gawk at me for that. But most of the Aussies love the heat too.

So what’s next?

I don’t really know what to expect. Only time will tell. But meanwhile, may God help us to live for the moment and savour the next second He gives us. May God help us to not worry about the blurry picture of the future and not forget that we are to glorify Him with what we have – what He’s blessed us with – in the present, which is now.