Greetings! My name is Terry and you are listening to Global Reachout.

and this is the very 1st episode of our program known as “An Enlightened Life.”

Now before i move on any further, just a quick question…

have you ever noticed that whenever we talk about religions, Christians always claim that Jesus Christ is the one and only true God?

Upon hearing this, many of our non-Christian friends will often think in their heart: What makes you think that Jesus Christ is the true God?

And that what they believe in or others believe in, are all not true?

For Christians, we acknowledge that Jesus Christ is true, is alive and is the real God. For every single Christian, who have experienced God’s work in our lives!

And Yes, we believe Jesus is the real God, because WE have personally encountered his transformational works in our lives.

He doesn’t just work in some famous Christian’s lives. He doesn’t just transform the lives of some leaders within his churches.

He also changed someone like me, a common regular Christian.

My MAIN question to you today -

Do YOU believe that He can change your life as well?

Now, in this program, i will be sharing the testimony of Dr. Michelle Liew.

This program will be on her journey with the Lord, and her family’s too; about work, family, struggles, spiritual growth, maturing in the faith… about life and living. “An enlightened life” is a life filled with God’s grace. An Enlightened Life is an encouragement for the soul; that we may know God more, love Him more and draw closer to Him

So Michelle worked in a multi-national company as an environmental protection specialist. Her main responsibilities include ensuring that the company does not pollute the environment in the process of production and the company adheres to recycling regulations and initiatives. She loves her job a lot, because taking care of mother nature has also been a job which God entrusted mankind with and She is glad to be able to serve God through her job.

Michelle was born in 1964 to a modest family in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1985, she went to Sydney, Australia for her undergraduate studies and came to Christ in 1986. Under God’s amazing guidance, she and her husband, Jimmy, had the experience of moving to different countries to work and live. These places include Hokkaido, Japan; Atlanta, United States of America; Sydney, Australia; and now, Singapore. As a working mum, Michelle has always been involved in studies and jobs relating to environmental protection. Her job areas are in universities, research institutes, a steel mill, the chemical fiber industry and the plastics industry. In today’s program, let us hear how God guided Michelle in her every job and profession and how He moulded her character in the process.

Michelle and her husband are very ordinary people, and they like to live ordinary lives. When they graduated from university, they had already set their hearts on settling down in Sydney , building a family, getting themselves employed, and would never want to step out of Sydney for the rest of their lives. Little did they know that this was just their own thinking. Without giving them any chances, God bought them to a totally foreign land: Japan. It was a place where they faced enormous language barrier. From a human perspective, it was very difficult to successfully apply for a research job in a government-owned national industrial research institute in Japan. Amazingly, despite having separately applied for other similar government-owned research jobs in different provinces, Michelle and her husband were concurrently accepted by the same research institute, allowing them to continue living together as a couple. This was indeed God’s amazing work! At that time, it was very rare to see a couple working in the same company in Japan. It was no wonder that the CEO of the institute was constantly professing when he first met them: “This is a miracle! This is a miracle!”The CEO did not know the Lord, so he did not know where the miracle came from. But as devout Christians, Michelle and her husband believed that God was using this job opportunity as a way to bring them to Japan to fulfil His purpose. But the problem was that THEY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND how to serve Him in an environment with language barrier.

Right now We are going to head for a song and when we come back, we will see how God made a way for Michelle and her husband despite the language barrier. Stay tuned!

You are listening to Global Reachout, “An Enlightened Life”.

SONG***

And the song you have just listened to was “You are for me” by Kari Jobe…

Let’s continue with the story…

So Michelle and her husband believed that God was using their job opportunity as a way to bring them to Japan to fulfil His purpose. But the problem was that THEY COULD NOT UNDERSTAND how to serve Him in an environment especially with the language barrier.

I truly think that God is amazing and if He brought you to a place to fulfil His purpose, He will definitely provide!!

Now Little did they know that God had already identified a group of Chinese-speaking Catechumen who were from China and Taiwan studying in a university near church.The language barrier however had prevented them from assimilating into and concentrating on church life. This was how God led them to take part in the ministry through the starting of Chinese Fellowship in Hokkaido. While the church prayed about this new ministry and started to make preparations excitedly, the doctor actually informed Michelle that she had a flare of Hepatitis B. Upon hearing this news, Michelle’s heart filled with pain. And Two voices were speaking in her head. One voice said, ”This illness requires rest, so you should give up this ministry!” Yet, another voice whispered, “This ministry is so important that even Satan wants to sabotage it. Do not be afraid, life is in me, revival is also in me.” Michelle obeyed the later voice and was deeply convinced that it came from God. And hence, both Michelle and her husband made major adjustments to their lives. Michelle’s husband took care of all the housework to allow her more time to rest. As such, the Chinese Fellowship in Hokkaido was established and continued on. Today, the Fellowship has walked through 16 years, bringing in many new believers and strengthening many Christians.

You know what? God’s way is higher than man’s way and so is God’s thoughts than man’s. There is a blueprint in God’s heart and his timing is NEVER wrong. We indeed witness that, God is leading and guiding Michelle’s path step by step.

After 2 years in Japan, God gave Michelle’s husband a research job in a university, bringing both of them to Atlanta, USA. Upon arrival in Atlanta, Michelle actively applied for jobs and came to realize that there was no chemical industry in which she could apply for a chemical engineering position. With no options, Michelle could only take a career break. Half a year later, the doctor told her that her Hepatitis B condition had completely stabilized. It is only then that Michelle understood what God had in mind for her. God gave her an opportunity to recover from illness by postponing a job opportunity. Surprisingly, after her liver function had stabilized, a research job offer from a university, that she did not even apply for, came knocking at her door.

What was even unexpected was that Michelle and her husband was also able to serve a group of Cantonese-speaking brothers and sisters in Atlanta. It was simply amazing! A year later, both of them wanted to relocate to Malaysia to accompany Michelle’s parents. However, God had another plan. He bought the couple back to Sydney with two job offers that they had not apply for. Deep in their hearts, they thought that God had eventually allowed them to stay put in Sydney for good. They bought a house, gave birth to a son, and prepared to start their ordinary lives. Little did they know more was to come. In less than two years, in prayers and sensing God’s plan and peace, the couple, with their three month old baby, confidently left their seemingly stable jobs and the new house which they only owned for six months, to move to Singapore. This decision which they made, came as a surprise for many family, colleagues and church friends as there is no such example that we would find from the Bible as well as from our Chinese tradition! It came as even more of a shock that, of the two companies where both of them held seemingly stable jobs, one closed down and the other relocated to another state within a year after they left. Michelle and her husband can’t help but proclaimed: Oh my Lord! How can we not obey you?

God led Michelle and her husband from south to north, from east to west. God not only gave them an exciting life by putting them in different countries and cultures, he moulded them and gave them abundant tutelage as well. Michelle said that in every job and every post, she sees God’s hand holding her own and guiding her through. She is deeply convinced that God is using her professional field as a training ground and as a blessing to others. What will happen when she reach Singapore? Will she continue to experience God’s guidance in her job? And how will that be like?

We hope you enjoyed the amazing story and do tune in to our next episode of An Enlightened Life.

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This is Terry, Signing out.

Short song*****

Isaiah 55:8-9 “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.”