It will soon be almost six years of walking with the LORD; almost four years after I received my Baptism in the Holy Spirit (I will never forget the frigid hour or so spent outdoors in Minnesota in January). I am moved to write a brief account as to how God will provide.
In 2006 February, I was blessed with a job – student assistant at the World Trade Council of Wichita.
In 2007 May, I was blessed with a job – Customer Service Representative at Dean & Deluca
In 2008 August, I was blessed with a job – Graduate Assistant to Dr. Dharma deSilva
In 2010 September, I was blessed with a job – Lecturer at Taylor’s ADP.
People have been asking me
- Why did you go to Wichita State? Why not somewhere better with the results you have?
- Why didn’t you find a job somewhere else besides Wichita? Why not go to big cities?
- Why don’t you try better universities for your Master’s? Why stay stuck in Wichita State?
- Why did you come back to Malaysia? Why not work in the US?
I look back in the context of how He has provided, and one thing I can say is this: where the LORD commanded me to go, there He provided for me as well. I have to admit, I’ve been a little shy about sharing the primary reason for my going to Wichita, staying put in Wichita, and leaving Wichita – it is this: God said it was timely to stay put, and later on, it was timely to go. I am reminded of Pastor Mark Chen’s sermon (@ Livingwater Missions Baptist Church), about heeding and obeying the will of God. This was one of the passages in Scripture he used. Numbers 9:17-18 Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. At the LORD’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped.
Perhaps in the decision to go to Wichita State, I did not consult the Lord, for it was not until Dec 25, 2005 that I was awakened to the presence of the living God, and it wasn’t until Easter Day 2006 that I accepted Jesus as Lord AND Savior. But thank God, by His mercy and His sovereignty, I wanted to go ONLY to Wichita State (for no particular reason that I can recall).
And so, lo and behold, I wasn’t actively looking for a job, and great Dr. Dharma deSilva cracked the question at me (perhaps after scrutinizing my behaviour in class). “Do you want a job?!?!” I replied, “Uh... yeah.” Quickly and curtly Dr. deSilva commanded, “Come see me in my office tomorrow!” And thank God for the kind (and stern) professor, I was given the job. I don’t really recall any lengthy interview process – perhaps I submitted a resume, but for formality’s sake. And so I was blessed with my first job – no active job hunting, no running all over the place, no interview.
2007 May. Graduation time. I still hadn’t learnt too well about what it meant to pray to God about my daily decisions. I did have a yearning in me to live the surrendered life, but being a young Christian, I grasped only the general principles and didn’t know operational specifics. Thank God for His grace and goodness, for Someone (He felt like a nice-natured person) was telling me: apply for the OPT, work for a year, find a job in Wichita. I recall some dear friends who sojourned to Kansas City and even to Chicago to find jobs under their OPT; and I decided to stay in quiet ol’ Wichita. I tried applying in places like Cessna Aircraft, Hawker Beechcraft and Spirit AeroSystems, not sure in what capacity I could be of service to them. And Dr. deSilva suggested something I never thought of. “You like fine foods don’t you? Why don’t you try Dean & Deluca?” In a sense, it was amusing – shifting gears from the aircraft industry to the fine foods market. And so, I got booked for an interview with the IT Department at Dean & Deluca. Needless to say, from a technical know-how standpoint, I flunked (Excerpts – Interviewer: What do you think about integrating Web 2.0 into the company website? Me: ... *blank stare* ... Could you tell me what’s Web 2.0? I’m not familiar with the term...; Interviewer: Do you have any experience with programming? Me: Erm, unfortunately, no.)
Thankfully, from a personality standpoint, they liked my enthusiasm and my knowledge of the company – and so I was sent over to Customer Service for another interview, this one much easier to handle.
So this time around, I didn’t hunt too far, wasn’t sending resumes all over the place, went for two interviews [technically speaking flunked one; and honestly I think it was the Dr. deSilva connection that sealed the deal (thank God for this good man)]. I was blessed with a job in Wichita. Praise God! I mean, think about it, what are the odds of an international student working at an American Fine Foods Company? Note of humour: You have to bear in mind that Customer Service Representative means that you are verbally interacting with mostly American customers over the phone. Then, I still had a tendency to pronounce “three” as “tree” and “the” as “duh”. But taking orders from customers who had an American Express Card soon fixed the “three” problem.
2008 August. As the months came closer to the end of my one year job at Dean & Deluca, it was decision time again. God was already, slowly but surely, transforming me from the inside out. Long gone were my own dreams of going to George Mason University, doing a PhD at one of the Ivy Leagues, and become an intellectual giant of great stature. My life was not for me to live out my own dreams, but to seek the will of the Father. I learnt to hear His voice, to think in light of God-given wisdom, to pray without ceasing, and God said, stay put in Wichita, and return to Wichita State for your Master’s. You see, I was offered an extension for my job at Dean & Deluca. In the end, I kindly rejected the offer. There was work to be done in Wichita State. And I think, for the first time, I experienced a peace that surpasses all understanding, having done the will of the Father (after praying to Him first and foremost).
So, how was God going to provide? I thought of going back to Dr. deSilva as a graduate assistant; I felt the Lord leading me back there. Looking back with hindsight, I see better the Lord’s miraculous work in providing for me. You see, university budgets are such that one professor is usually assigned one Graduate Assistant (GA), sometimes several professors share one GA. So there was already a GA in Dr. deSilva’s office, and the GA wasn’t graduating anytime soon. So how could I possibly get the position? Well, turns out that he was offered another work position elsewhere, and he wanted to leave his GA position. However, being the responsible person that he was, he did not want to vacate the position without finding a proper replacement. And we talked, and made arrangements. And the job of GA was handed to me. No interviews, no job hunting, no running all over the place. Updated my resume a little, for the sake of office record keeping.
The Lord was true and faithful to His word. Hallelujah! And of course, He still is true and faithful.
The time came for me to make another key decision. Where to go after the Master’s degree? In short, the LORD said, “Shu Guan, it’s time for you to go home.” Almost five years of life in Wichita was about to come to and end. Good and dear Dr. deSilva persuaded me to stay, to do a PhD, but I kindly refused; the LORD had spoken, I was adamant in my decision. As I went back to Malaysia, I knew the LORD was going to provide again. How? Where? When? Well, it was high time once again to have faith in God.
I landed on September 2, 2010. Two weeks later I think, I decided to pay a visit to the lecturers at Taylor’s ADP. That was the primary motive. I also, however, wanted to find out if there were job openings in the upcoming semester. You see, in my rational mind, the soonest I could start teaching would be January 2011, because Fall 2010 had already been progressing for one month. And so, when I saw my good ol’ lecturer, I asked him. “Sir, got any job openings in the near future ah?” I think he paused or froze for a while. “Why, you want to teach ar?” And I said, “Yep!” Then he looked at me, as if he was sizing me up or something, “You really seriously want to teach ar? Not an easy life you know... So, you sure?” I said very firmly and enthusiastically, “Yes!”. So my lecturer took me to go see the big man, only to discover that big man was off for a meeting somewhere else. You see, it was also conveyed to me that another lecturer had JUST submitted his letter of resignation. He was teaching the subject that I was doing my Master’s in. Coincidence? No. Divine Providence? YES. Did get to see the big man the next day. Went through a quick interview, submitted a slightly updated resume, definitely did not search high and low for a job. God provided, once again. I got the job within one week.
“Whenever the cloud lifted from above the Tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped.”
I’ll probably be in Malaysia for at least 5 years, seeing how I was n in Wichita for almost 5 years too. Of course, I could be totally wrong. They key is to remain all ears to the voice of God, so that at His command, we set out, and at His command we encamp. I know not when or where He will send, but this I do know: that He will bless and provide beyond human measure wherever He sends us.
Jehovah Jireh – the LORD our Provider. Bless His Holy Name.
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