The Door Has Opened

We knew change was coming, but we didn't know exactly what this would look like. But after a long year of waiting and trusting in God to open a door, He has done so, and in a way that clearly shows His mark.

After almost 6 years of living here in the U.S., we knew that Jonny's post-doc at Hopkins was coming to an end this summer and that he would need to get a new job. So for the past year, we have been preparing for this in many ways. We have spent a lot of time talking and praying about our future, asking God to clearly show us where He would like us to go next, by opening the right door and closing the wrong ones.

We considered leaving the country to be closer to family and even purposefully went to Portugal after my sister's wedding to discern if that is where God wanted us to go next - we both felt we were not supposed to move there. After returning to Malaysia after many years this past Christmas, we both felt we would love to live in Asia again. Jonny looked at opportunities in Singapore and Malaysia, but no doors opened there either. And here in the US, Jonny applied to different science jobs around the country, but the doors remained closed.

Jonny took the opportunity of this "time of transition" to see if God wanted him to become a school teacher. For a long time, Jonny has felt that he would really enjoy being a teacher. He loves communicating about science and would love to be able to impact youth directly. So after a long process of talking to different people about this, Jonny applied to two "teaching fellows programs", which would give him "on the job training" and at the end of 2 years, he would be certified. We were excited about this possibility, not only because Jonny would get the training and certification needed to be a teacher, but after being certified, the world would be open to us since teachers are needed everywhere. But, after some challenging interviews, Jonny was not accepted onto the teaching programs and was told that there were not any openings for Biology teachers in the area. In summary, this door too remained closed.

The same week that Jonny started to hear back from the teaching programs, a science institute nearby invited him for a day of interviews. He had applied a couple of months previously for a post-doctoral position there but since he had not heard back from them, we had thought that this door had been closed too. But Jonny went, and after enjoying what he saw, we waited to see if this was the door we had been waiting for.

And guess what happened? We would never have guessed. After interviewing other candidates, Jonny was told that he had been selected out of over 100 applicants! Amazing, finally a "yes", finally an open door! But the story doesn't end there. Though Jonny applied for a post-doctoral position, they said that due to his experience, they wanted to offer him a "staff scientist" position - in other words, a promotion! So basically, Jonny has been offered a job he didn't even apply for (his new job starts on September 1st)! Only God could do something like that and direct us so clearly! To Him be all the glory!

What this means for our family is that we are not going anywhere! We don't even have to move house since the new job is the exact same distance as his current job - just in a different direction. And for that we are also thankful since housing prices in our area have gone down due to the recession and it would not even be possible for us to sell our home without losing money - God knew that too!

In all honesty, I received this news with mixed feelings. I was so excited for Jonny and so thankful that God was being so gracious to us and so clear in His direction, but, I was also sad that this would mean we would continue here, far away from our families and in a place that has not been easy for me to adapt to - for a variety of reasons. In addition, I'm used to changing countries after an average of 5 years, so it's strange to still be in the same place.

But for us, one thing has always been clear. Wherever our family would go next, we wanted it to be where God wanted us to go and not just where we would like to go. We have been shown many times in our lives that what we think is best is not the best unless, it is in line with God's will.

So it is in faith that we embrace this new open door. We truly believe that there is no better place for us to be than where He has lead us and therefore, there is no better place for us to be than exactly where we are right now. And so in that knowledge, we are excited (and this includes me! :-)) to see all that God has in store for us here.

One thing we believe God would like us to grow in more is in serving others - hearing Rachel Barkey reminded us that we are too often guilty of living for ourselves and that is not God's purpose for our lives. Instead of continuing to search for all that we can gain by living here (which never has and never will bring contentment), we would like to give more of ourselves to others. What this exactly looks like is not completely clear yet, but we have some ideas...

So thank you Lord for opening this door. May our family embrace all that You have planned for us to experience here, may we continue to grow, especially in the area of serving and contentment, and may You be glorified in all that we experience.