Time was running out on my job-finding mission. The clock was ticking, the sands of time were slipping through the hour-glass. Fatigue, jet-lag and post-adrenaline come-down reeled in initial vigour and enthusiasm. I did not have much to show, at this point, for my endeavour. Without knowing it personal strength and energy can replace courage and conviction. And that makes you tired. You work harder for less results, and it tells.
That morning I woke emotionally destitute. I felt like a dry twig snapped to be used as kindling for someone else's fire. Under the circumstances I did the most sensible thing--stop striving and pray.
O God! I cried out--only you can save me. I surrender to you. I am torn and desperate but I vest every last scrap of trust in the living God. It was not a pretty prayer, but it was a mighty prayer.
In the presence of God things can change very quickly. Suddenly I was overcome with the emotion of safety. A strong hand rested upon my shoulder. The night flees with morning's first light. A strange, warming calm flooded my veins. My head broke through the clouds. This image is impressed upon my mind and my soul. The heavy weight is replaced with the lucidity of the King. I am caught by an image of almighty, cupped hands scooping up a mound of earth upon which is a freshly-planted tree that I am clinging to. These great hands sweep this mound of earth across the Indian Ocean and plant it in a pre-excavated hole at a juncture in Singapore I know well.
Not an hour later an old Singapore friend rings me up--let's pray. I arrive. This is what I feel the Lord is saying to you, he begins. I believe He would speak Psalm 44 over you--'with your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers.'
It was in that moment that I knew, in the complete absence of doubt, that everything was going to turn out okay.
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