before the festive season kicks in and major transitions in life take place...
I'm just gonna dedicate this post to be the details of how amazing God has been in opening this one door of opportunity for me to step into at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.
Indeed, I'm reminded once again of the following verse
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
- Eph 3:20-21
This is really funny because I actually had a whole blogpost posted just slightly over 11years ago, dedicated to Ephesians 3:20
As I recapped again about how amazing this whole faith journey of just trusting in God that He will open that one door that no man can shut for my job hunting situation that has been ongoing for the past year... It is just simply unimaginable that God has been in control, is in control and will be guiding every step of our way as we put our trust and faith in Him alone.
No, most definitely a year ago, that's not what I was thinking... I did have my faith in God nonetheless but I was unsure what to expect... & many days passed... & many months passed... & I was close to just "give up hope" on believing that God has a job in store for me... & I thought well, since all the school jobs that I have been applying thus far are closed doors, maybe I should be pursuing a job to gain barista experience... and when it's all closed doors again... I thought maybe I should re-visit the idea of opening our own café and was seriously looking at all available options etc after shelving that idea for the past 2 years... and since people highly recommended getting more industry experience, so I decided to apply for a café manager position at Mount Pleasant Baptist Church... Little did I know it will lead down this unthinkable pathway...
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,"
declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts..."
- Isaiah 55:8-9
I guess even way back in 2013, God had ordered the pathway for all these to occur... for Mark to get a job in Deloitte through Surya and Jess, and getting to know Leah, then eventually Filippo, and letting us establish a friendship with them... which eventually led up to us visiting Mounties for the Sunday evening service on 1 Oct after a long tiring week and eventful day, just to visit the church to suss out the café facilities at the church before I seriously consider whether I should apply for the café manager position that had been open since April 2017 and the employment opportunity had been recently updated on their website in Aug, and it was still open up till Oct... At the back of my mind, I was thinking "Wow, this church must be really serious and prayerful about whom they employ even for a café manager, given that it has been half a year, and I bet throngs of people would have flocked to apply for the position, yet they have not found the ideal candidate... Maybe just maybe they are waiting for the one, and maybe I AM THE ONE"... Meanwhile, we also learnt that it will be Filippo's last time serving on the worship team in Mounties that Sunday, and after knowing him for the past 3 years, we have not actually heard him play drums ever... This is the perfect opportunity, killing 2 birds with 1 stone... and so I dragged Mark along to visit Mt Pleasant Baptist Church...
That evening was pretty eventful... we met quite a number of friendly pple during the short time we were lingering around while waiting for Filippo to say his goodbyes to friends in church... not knowing that all these people were church staff and some even pastors in the church... somehow while I was away in the restroom, Mark and one of the first friendly guy, L, started talking about café and by the time I came out to re-join the conversation, all I heard was... "Ooh, even if you're not keen to apply for the café manager position, I reckon you should have a talk with Pauline, our operations manager, and share with her the possibilities and ideas. It could possibly help a lot..." Because of this suggestion and prompting, I decided that probably I should just give it a shot and give her a call on the following Wed, 4th Oct. Well lo and behold, when she finally returned my call and after chatting for a short while, she then realised and made the link that I am Shirley, Filippo's friend that visited Mounties on Sunday evening, things took a sudden turn and she was super keen to meet up... Obviously it seems like she's heard about us somehow since the Sunday conversations took place and even before asking for my resume, she was arranging for me to go in for an interview in the coming week. I told her Mornings are usually good for me and she immediately asked "Would you be able to do Friday or Tuesday?" I genuinely thought she meant Friday the following week. Upon clarification, she said, I meant coming Friday (which was in 2 days' time). That got me really excited and can't wait to meet up with her but unfortunately I already had something on that Friday, so we ended up mtg on Tuesday, 10 Oct.
*Disclaimer: All dates above were re-traced and noted down so that in the future, when I look back, I have a clear timeline of how everything evolved and unfolded within that crazy 1 month...
It was a very pleasant meeting with Pauline on Tues morning and I just felt really comfortable talking and sharing with her... interestingly enough, I found out from her that they'd be interviewing another candidate later that afternoon, and once they have shortlisted the suitable candidate, they will keep me informed...
A week later, on 17 Oct, I received the call from Pauline that unfortunately I have not been shortlisted as the other candidate has more industry experience than I do, and they felt that she is a better fit as café manager than I do...BUT she really likes me and they have another position open and she's not sure whether I'm aware of that other opening, but while interviewing me, and looking through my resume, I actually tick quite a no. of boxes for that role, so she'd like me to seriously pray and consider and seek God about it...
😱I was seriously dumbfounded. Coz yep, I was aware that at the same time they are also looking to hire an Assistant Children and Families Pastor... And I've read the job description... and it's a big role!
I was really upfront with Pauline and over the phone I just told her, "Yep, I did realise that but that's a huge role and I didn't think you guys would even consider to employ someone outside of the church and not already serving in their Children's Church ministry." And she replied "Yeah, it is a huge role, in fact, the Assistant Children and Families Pastor will eventually take over the entire ministry in the future... So I would strongly encourage you to pray and consider about it together with your husband..."
That whole phone conversation was pretty interesting but we were not entirely taken by surprise as during the first meetup/interview I had with Pauline, she did point out that she noticed I'm a Primary school teacher by training and went to do my theological studies last year.. I am qualified to do many other things... why would I be considering to work as a café manager... And I simply told her well honestly schools have been a closed door for me throughout the past year of endless applications that I've submitted... so I thought I'd give it a shot to apply for something else altogether that maybe God would like me to hone my barista and café management skills for the future... and I'm just interested in building relationships with people and making a difference in people's life through small and easy ways...
So That particular Tues night, which also happens to be the night that we've set out to be our Family Altar Time, after putting Jerome and Beth to bed (coz Mark and I were staying in Nedlands that week, looking after them while my sis was away for work conference in KL and Weihao was still back in Sgp), we really sought God and prayed about this interesting opportunity that has opened up despite being really busy and tired due to the crazy kiddos bday parties cum dinner hosting weekend aftermath...
And interestingly enough we felt much peace about the whole situation and I particularly felt that if God is the one opening this door, then why should I be shutting it? With that thought, I gave Pauline a call the next day, and reverted to her that we've prayed about it and we are keen to explore more and it would be good if I'd be able to meet up with the Pastor in-charge of Children & Families Ministry, Kathy, to find out more about what it all entails...
And on Friday, Kathy gave me a ring back, while I was busy varnishing our outdoor furniture set to get it ready for the next day, which was the 1st out of 3 birthday parties that I've organised for Mark's Big 3'O' birthday celebrations... Due to the outdoor noise and distractions, I could barely hear her, but felt embarrassed to ask her to repeat herself... but the main gist I got out of the phone call was, she's keen to meet up with me, and it would be good if we can discuss in details face to face, for her to get to know me and for me to know more about the Asst Children & Families Pastor role, but she's giving another person some time to consider, and it would be good if we can arrange to meet the following Friday, 27th Oct... In my mind, I was thinking... Ooh.. now I have to wait 1 whole week.. and I'm an impatient person.. I don't like to wait... but over the phone I just said yeah, that'd be great, and we agreed to meet on Friday 27th Oct, at C15 Applecross, at 11am.
(Side note: I usually have a pretty good memory, but funnily enough, coz I didn't immediately put it down in my calendar, and I didn't text Mark as my hands were dirty from the varnish... I ended up calling Mark to update him about the phone call... I actually rmbred the meeting time wrongly, and went to the wrong C15 on Friday initially, but ended up still being at C15 Applecross close to an hour early, and in the end I had my breakfast, did my devotion, prayed and waited for Kathy to arrive at the right time...)
Our casual meet up was a really good and casual get to know one another session that lasted almost an hour... At the beginning of our conversation, I brought up my observations that I think Mounties has a really good and prayerful culture and it's even reflected in whom they eventually decide to hire as their café manager, and funnily enough, Kathy's response was, "Well, you won't believe how many people are currently praying in the background while this meeting is going on..." In fact, in the midst of our conversation, I literally broke down in tears at different juncture of my sharing as I got pretty emotional while letting Kathy know of our journey in & with FCC for the past 15 years... At about halfway through that morning, she suggested that I should visit their children's church to have a look for myself how it is like, and have a first-hand experience of how the children's ministry is like in their church... and I told her, that will be great, and even if she didn't extend that invitation to me, I'd have asked her for the possibility of visiting... and we arranged for me to visit the children's church on 5th Nov, and she even extended the invite for both Mark and myself to stay on to join them for their volunteers' appreciation lunch and meet the team... Kathy also passed me 3 different sets of their MPK's curriculum material of T4, 2017, for me to have a look, and see whether I think that's manageable... in fact towards the end of the chat, she told me that she really felt that I am the right candidate and she really hope I feel the same way... but I don't have to make a decision until after I've visited MPK and she'd then follow up with me again and she wants me to be comfortable enough to say No, if I eventually feel that this is not what God has called me to do...
So after another 2 busy Sat 30th birthday parties of Mark, and an extended time of inviting our usual suspects (family, mentors and close friends) to pray alongside with us while this whole interesting exploration, and prayerful decision-making journey happened... 5 Nov came along, and all of a sudden, I completely lost my voice on the night before, during the birthday party on 4 Nov... I did catch a cold and fall sick earlier during that week, but all of a sudden it just became worse.. and I was stunned, when all of a sudden, my voice just became hoarse and my cold symptoms became drastically worser! How on earth am I gonna visit MPK that Sun morning? Well, God enabled me to still visit, although it was really difficult to talk... I managed to pull through, and survived from 8.45am - 12.45pm. Exploring MPK, joined in with the sessions, talked to Kathy, Met Liezl, Met and helped Ina-Marie with some of the party set-up, Chat with the EP, Simon Ford (for the 2nd time), and he was really keen to find out how I felt about MPK and Mounties, and whether I would be keen to take on the role even though he could barely hear what I have to say because of my hoarse voice and the background noise was not helpful at all... Mark only joined me at about 12+pm, to meet some of the pple at MPK and we were hanging around while the volunteer's appreciation party took place... and awkwardness started building up when someone said hi to us and we caught ourselves explaining that we are just visiting and we've been invited to join in... hahaha.. given that I was starting to feel really unwell etc.. we managed to successfully excused ourselves to go somewhere else for lunch, then head home to rest... after saying our Goodbyes to Kathy, Liezl and Ina-Marie...
And of course I couldn't wait to share my day with Mark and hear what he has to say and how he felt during his short time of visit... and mini-chats he had with the key pple in the team...
But unfortunately, all he had to share was they felt like they are genuinely very prayerful, friendly, sincere and nice people... He isn't sure what God is saying at that moment... He'd really need to take time out to sit down, worship and seek God for clear directions...and as we know Kathy was going to catch up with me over the phone on Tuesday... there is a heightened urgency for Mark as the head of the household to make a clear decision as soon as possible... so we set time aside to just worship and pray on Monday night instead of our "usual" Tues Family Altar Time...
Meanwhile, deep down inside my heart, I had much peace, and I secretly believe God has already spoken clearly that all these divine interventions and appointments happened according to His plans and they were not purely coincidence... coz never would I have attempted to apply for Asst Children and Families Pastor role, as although I had thoughts of leaving FCC before, some time down the road, and/or eventually when God calls us out... I honestly didn't think it was happening so soon.. so it was not on my radar to apply for such a position... & nowhere would I have the courage or even entertain the slightest thought that God would be bringing me to fulfil a Pastoral role in a church, much less a baptist church community that is not my home church, and furthermore, the children's church ministry...
Did I fail to mention it's a very daunting thing for me to interact/play with kids? Well, at least it was that case about 10 years ago... and my few short stints of initial experience in children's church ministry were "how on earth do I interact or teach these kiddos?" Meanwhile, some pple just seem to love kids and kids love them too, and the closest example of one such person, is Mark! (Not Shirley!?!) Haha.. but as years went by, and I became a Pri Sch teacher, as Jerome was born and later Beth...(my nephew and niece) it just eventually became 2nd nature for me to interact with children, and even discipline and teach them life lessons as and when the opportunity arises... And more so, after this whole year of being Nanny and taking care of Jerome and Beth after school hours, and having to juggle entertaining one while the other is having swimming/karate/piano and all sorts of other after school activities...
So on Monday night, during our worship and prayer session (where I was unable to sing coz I lost my voice, and I was just "resting in the presence of God") God gave Mark a vision of him standing in the children's church hall at Mounties and worshipping God... And after Mark shared that with me... I was like.. and so what's the answer? What should I tell Kathy tomorrow?... Just to make sure things are clear cut... Mark finally said I guess this is it... looks like God is showing me that this is His new calling and directions for us to be worshipping at Mounties!
Finally I'm much more relieved and settled in my heart... after a whole month of turmoils, emotional rollercoaster, stressful birthday celebration preparations and trying to hear clearly from God and not be rash in the decision-making... And when Kathy rang me... I told her I was just waiting for Mark to hear from God for himself personally, and to make a decision for our family... And after our time of worship and prayer, we feel that this is where God is leading us, and we are happy to take up the "offer"... so moving forward from there, it's for me to officially meet the Senior Pastor and Executive Pastor... It kinda felt like Kathy has already verbally offered for me to pray and consider to take up the position, but up until this stage I have yet to meet the Senior Pastor Nick Scott in Person... but I've casually met and chat with the EP, Simon Ford, twice at length randomly...
But I was so sick, and my voice was still hoarse... so Kathy was very kind and suggested that I should probably rest up and she will try to make the arrangements for us to meet the following week, which turned out to be on Wed, 15 Nov, 2.30pm... Arvos are generally not good for me as I am suppose to do the after school pick up, and 2.30pm is exactly on the dot for me to pick Beth up from school... but anyway, after much discussion through msgs etc and hoping that we'd be able to find another suitable time in the morning to meet... we stuck to that time, and my sis just have to pick the kids up on her own that arvo...
Through my conversation with Kathy, she did reveal to me that she had been given the liberty to make the final call and she is very keen to have me on board, but of course the protocol was still for me to have to meet with the SP and EP... it sounded like a very casual meet up... but somehow in my heart, I felt that I should be a bit more prepared spiritually and physically for this meet up... and continued to pray for God's wisdom and favour... because what if SP says NO, he don't think I'm the right candidate?!?...
And with that, another week passed and on 15 Nov, I dressed up and left the home early to go to MPBC... Thank God I prepped myself up for a more formal interview... which turned out to be that way eventually... especially with the questions that Simon Ford and Nick Scott asked me during that arvo... I was surprisingly not too nervous but I do know it was God and the Holy Spirit that gave me the wise and right words to speak... my parting words with Kathy as she walked me out was... She felt that it went really well and they just have to do their due diligence which is part of the usual protocol to do the necessary reference check... (which I was semi-surprised they haven't ask any of that up until that stage)... coz obviously they have no clue who I am except for those casual meet ups and interviews... but they just seem so prayerful and certain and keen to have me on board... which is unusually strange... and I randomly blurted out to Kathy "I'm kinda surprised it became such a formal interview session"... to which she answered "Well, it was that way for most of the other candidates, formal interview with the Pastors first... but I came through in the most unusual manner"... so it seemed like the whole interview and decision making process was flipped as well... (not just on my end, but for them as well)...
Meanwhile, I was, and my sister was also trying to prepare me for the worse scenario... so that I won't get my hopes up too high.. so that if and if things turn out negative at this last stage, we won't be too disappointed...
And on Friday, 17 Nov, exactly 3 weeks after my first meet up with Kathy at C15 Applecross, she rang me and officially offered the position to me verbally over the phone and I gladly accepted it... with the blessings and affirmation given by Ps Benny, our Senior Pastor at FCC, who has also been my Spiritual Father all these years... since he knew me even before I became a Christian, and before he was even the SP at FCC... In fact, it was definitely all in God's timing because He even arranged for us to have the opportunity to meet with Ps Benny on Thursday night, 26 Oct (the night before I meet Kathy at C15) and let us share our hearts with him and clue him in on the recent sudden turn of events that had occurred... we told Ps Benny we'd like to catch up with him a month prior but he didn't have a chance to meet us and left the country and Mark decided to text and attempt to catch him again after he has been away for the past 3 weeks, and he suggested for us to meet on Thursday night, 26 Oct... without knowing that Kathy had arrange to meet me for the first time on Fri morning, 27 Oct...
While on the phone with Kathy on Friday, 17 Nov, I couldn't help but ask the question that has been on my mind but kinda slipped my mind, to which my sis was curiously prompting me to ask... "Why would they even consider to employ someone outside of their church to fill the role?" (Given that they actually have a huge team of 140 adult volunteers... and 200+ children attending MPK every Sunday, surely there must be some ideal candidates)
And there and then, the great revelation occurred...
Kathy started off telling me that she really believe it was not by coincidence but a divine intervention that I came into the picture... in fact in Aug before she went on her long service leave, she approached 2 ladies whom they found suitable within Mounties... and they were both keen to take on the job... but after she's returned from her long service leave, they have both become unavailable... and 3 or 4 other candidates came through after that... at least 1 was not suitable because she felt that she should not be hiring someone older than her in mind that she's also doing succession planning... and that very last candidate who is from another baptist church was really keen to apply for the job, would love to work at Mounties and has the skill set... but somehow she didn't have any peace about it and she got back to Kathy on the Wed before we met, 25 Oct, that she don't think the job is for her...
Meanwhile, Kathy is scheduled to be preaching in church on Sun, 29 Oct... And she reminded me that when we met on Friday, she mentioned that she'll be preaching on Sun, on the Davidic Covenant, and in her preparations during that week, she was reading 1 Sam and came across the passage about how Samuel was looking for the next king to anoint and went to Jesse's household, and there were all these sons of Jesse that seem to be the right one but God says No, no, no... and Samuel asked do you have any other son... and David, the youngest one of all was outside shepherding the flock and they had to call him back in... and Lo and Behold... David, the youngest, came back from outside and God said He is The One... and when we met at C15 for the first time, Kathy felt God's presence came so strongly upon her during our chat that she almost burst out in tears but had to hold it in... she wasn't sure whether I noticed that... but at that moment she felt that God was just telling her "She's the one... just like how David was called back in from outside and all those seemingly ideal candidates are not God's chosen one..."
😲Upon hearing that I was in shock and amazement, and I started tearing and "sobbing" over the phone while we were still talking... and Kathy kinda picked up my "sniffles" and asked... "Are you crying?".. And I shyly answered Yes... I was just completely overwhelmed by God's amazing grace and love to have manoeuvred circumstances to lead us to this point of surrender and obedience... and mountain top victory after the valleys of low for the past 2+, 3 years... all that emotional turmoil, struggle, anger and disappointments... is once again so that we have a testimony to share of God's faithfulness... to be obedient and wait upon Him and seek Him for directions and guidance... and when He says "Go"... that is when we need to be obedient and follow Him... And clearly I wouldn't even have been on their radar to be considered as a suitable candidate if I had not been obedient to God's calling to go into teaching and pursuing to teach the word of God, and eventually went to do my Graduate Diploma in Theology on my own accord in 2016 with the lovely support from my dearest husband who has been ever so loving and supportive in all that God has called us (and me) to do... A big shoutout to him:
As I finish typing this old grandmother story full of seemingly unnecessary details, which stretched over from last night till this morning... containing 5200+ words, (as long as a thesis could be), close to 8 pages long as stated by Microsoft Word... I am ready to conclude and say
Thank You Lord for being interested in my character rather than my comfort. You have been nothing but amazing in Mark and my life. We know you will never short change us. Your love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on us... You are the same, yesterday, today and forevermore. You are faithful and your promises are Yes and Amen...
As of yesterday, it has been exactly 8 weeks since we first visited Mt Pleasant Baptist Church for service for the first time after knowing of the church's existence since 10 years ago, been to the compound on another occasion, and attended and helped out at a couple of weddings held at the venue over the past 2 years.
And so effectively, from that 1st Oct Sunday evening service, up until I was officially verbally offered the position, it was just a bit shy of 7 weeks... things moved super quickly in God's ordained timing and I still get emotional when I'm sharing with people that I've finally found a job (after my 1 year long of hiatus after completing my Grad Dip in Theology...) but unfortunately with this job offer I'd have to leave my home church FCC. The church where I grew up spiritually in... the church where I received Christ...where I got water-baptised... my spiritual home for the last 15 years... the struggle, the emotional turmoil... not many can understand... but as Boon has kindly advised and said so... FCC will always be our home church still no matter what... and those words are just so strangely reassuring... even though he has been so far away physically with his family in Switzerland for the past 3-4 years...
And with that note... I'll end this very last blogpost on my blogspot with my fave Chinese Worship Song 我的一生在你手中, which was also my only request to be sung as one of the songs at our wedding ceremony worship set... the title translated into English means "My life is in Your hands"... And truly indeed, this life is not my own but Lord Jesus take control...
在主面前，細細數算神的恩典
我才明了，你的奇妙帶領
我等候，願能摸著你的心意
未來的路，願走在你旨意中
獻上我最愛，在祭壇前不帶走
帶領我前往你所應許之地
我的一生在你手中
驚濤駭浪主與我同在
我的一生在你手中
勇敢前往向標杆直奔
我的一生在你手中
甘心順服得最終獎賞
我的一生在你手中
我深知道我的一生在你手中
我才明了，你的奇妙帶領
我等候，願能摸著你的心意
未來的路，願走在你旨意中
獻上我最愛，在祭壇前不帶走
帶領我前往你所應許之地
我的一生在你手中
驚濤駭浪主與我同在
我的一生在你手中
勇敢前往向標杆直奔
我的一生在你手中
甘心順服得最終獎賞
我的一生在你手中
我深知道我的一生在你手中
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