Hello again, my name is Terry and you are tuning in to the program know as “An Enlightened Life”. This is the program where I will be sharing the testimony on Michelle Liew’s life.

Before I move on, just a quick question…. Have you ever noticed or encountered perhaps your non-Christian friends asking you the below question? For example like, why do you believe in Christianity? I mean you have received high level of education, you are in the advanced technology industry, your job is smooth sailing, life already seems so perfect! So why would you want to still believe in Christ and serve Him so tirelessly?

If you have ever encountered instances such as the above that draw you back, then this program is specially tailor made for you.

To recap, in our previous program, we introduced Michelle, born in 1964 in Kuala Lumpur. She attained her doctorate in the University of New South Wales, Australia in 1992 and subsequently followed her husband from Australia to Japan, from Japan to USA and from USA back to Australia. In the 6-year span, though they could not see what lies ahead, they chose to follow God’s calling faithfully, moving almost once every 2 years. And the result? They not only accumulated rich working experiences, they deeply encountered God’s protection and providence. In 1998, God again brought them to Singapore and what lies ahead for them this time round?

The first job which God prepared for Michelle in Singapore was in the steel industry. This was Michelle’ first industrial job after leaving her previous positions in universities and research institutes. Prior to this, Michelle was already so used to the equality and freedom of speech in the western culture. However, in this new company, she had to adapt to the eastern culture that values obedience and respect of authority. In the past, her circle of work community involved only the courteous and academically inclined people. Over here, God allowed her to meet a more extensive group of people. And this includes people of different statues, personalities, manners of expressing views and opinions, backgrounds and attitudes.

All of these were experiences that greatly enriched Michelle’s life. Nonetheless, the process of “metamorphosis” was not as easy. To be honest, it was painstaking! It was a heavy price of “dying to self” in order to gain a deeper spiritual growth. Michelle had cried in front of her husband and prayed tearfully to God. God, however, did not take away the difficult environment but instead granted her the patience and peace that she needed in dealing with conflicts. God has led Michelle to experience Him even deeper!

In 2001, as a result of the economic depression, many companies started undergoing restructuring and retrenchments. The company that Michelle was in, was not spared from these either. In order to cut costs, two subsidiary companies were moved into the main company and up to 30% of workers were retrenched. Morale was low as everyone panicked and debated about the retrenchment. However, God had prearranged a company-wide project, involving the establishment of ISO14000, an environmental management system, so that Michelle could devote herself to work without distraction and with no time for dispute and no chance to worry. Although the project began without much enthusiasm received from the team, yet amidst the challenges, it was completed with joyful celebration much ahead of scheduled deadline. God is in control!

In 2002, the company exercised “Management Buy-Out”. Again, this created another wave of turbulence to the staff as the outcome would affect and set the future for the company. At this time, Michelle had just moved into a new house when a colleague asked her: Should the company decide to start another round of retrenchment, what will happen to those colleagues who just bought their new houses and have yet to pay their mortgage? Michelle smiled and told him, “I belong to the group of people you have just mentioned, but I have peace because my peace comes from God!” In that one year where the future looked bleak and uncertain, God gave Michelle peace to tide over it. God has also helped Michelle to see clearly that the bosses on earth can always change, but the God we serve is the boss who is unchanging!

There is peace in Michelle’s heart, for she knows where her help comes from. Her help comes from our Heavenly God who created heaven and earth. And in a wink of an eye, it was already year 2005. Michelle had already been working in the steel company for several years. Someone asked Michelle if she would leave the company for a better opportunity. Michelle answered firmly, since God led her to Singapore, and if she should leave, then it must be God’s calling. Just before the Chinese Lunar new year in 2007, Michelle received a letter from a head-hunter company. A multinational company was looking for someone to fill an environmental protection specialist post. In order to better seek God’s will, Michelle decided to attend the meetup with the head-hunter company. During that one hour of meeting, it was all normal, Michelle did not feel that “wah” moment. This was especially when she came to know that the job would require her to travel often and she was even deeply convinced that it was not a job from God. However, in order to get a better perspective of the opening, she agreed to the head-hunter’s invitation for her to meetup with the respective hiring company’s manager.
 

That night when Michelle went home, she showed the list of roles and responsibilities of the prospective job to her husband and brushed it off by saying that this role requires frequent work trip abroad. To Michelle’s surprise, her husband declared that: This job is simply tailor made for her! Michelle met all their requirements and he was sure that Michelle would excel in this job! Regarding the work trips, they could always do some arrangements about it. And with this affirmation from her husband, Michelle went to meet the company’s senior management. She attended the meeting like any other ordinary work meeting, they exchanged name card and did some self-introductions. It wasn’t until towards the end of the meeting that Michelle posed a question to her interviewers. What is the culture of the company and what are the morals and values that the company uphold and pride on? The HR manager replied: “We have 10 principles and one of them is that all things must done lawfully. And also the company staff must be respectful to each other, humble in being and also the decision making lies in the one who is best suited for it et cetera.

Having heard this, Michelle commented that every company can come out with very good policy, mission statement. And after that? These would just get framed and hung on the wall, as a decoration. The manager explained, “No! Our company is different. We require every one of our staff to seriously adhere to these ten commandments.” Ten commandments? Michelle thought to herself. She then understood that it was God speaking to her. It came to her that she needed to take the interview very seriously from then. Subsequently, she came to know that the company, regardless of the loss, halted production due to safety issues, it also cancelled an acquisition opportunity due to breach in environmental protection regulations. Indeed, the company does adhere strictly to the ten commandments.

After the interview, Michelle sought advices from her parents and pastors from church, and all their responses were very positive. To Michelle, these positive responses were affirmations from God. And the result? She received a confirmation letter from the company within three weeks. By this time, Michelle was aware that this position had been vacant for nearly 5 months. It was as though the job was waiting for her all along. Having understood all these, her heart filled with gratitude and she thanked God for his perfect timing and sovereignty.

Psalms 121 verse 1-2: I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
 

Dear friends, I am sure all of us are aware that it is hard to find a good job and even harder to find one which is suitable. Michelle’s personal experience witnesses to us that when we are willing to look to God and follow His guidance, God will give us the best for us in his own time. I will continue to share with you Michelle’s testimony in the next episode and let us witness how Michelle’s faith makes an influence in her workplace. See you next time.