It was about 20 years ago, I came back to Hong Kong from the UK and worked as a nurse in a government hospital. I felt that God called me to full time ministry. However, since I had to pay for my flat for 9 more years, I said to God, ” Father, let me work for 9 more years, and I will serve you full time by then. “
At that time, my uncle wanted to buy a flat which was for civil servants only. Since our relationship is very close, I would like to see my uncle and his family happy. I decided to use my name to buy the flat for my uncle. Of course, the money was from my uncle.
However, since I felt that God called me to full time ministry, I knew that I would leave the hospital someday. I said to my uncle, ” Uncle, as you know, I felt that God had called me to full time ministry. I will worked for 9 more years. Afterwards, you will need to find someone else, may be your children, to replace me as the owner of the flat. “
Later, my cousin was empolyed by a government school as a teacher. I was very glad to learn about this. I thought God was helping us all the way and I could therefore smoothly transfer the ownership of the flat to my cousin when the 9 years were up.
9 years passed after much waiting. It came to the time when I was about to resign. However, we found that the owner of the flat needed to be 25 years old. My cousin was only 23 by then ! I was so upset because my plan was upset ! I love my uncle and his family and I didn’t want them having to leave this flat, which all of them liked very much. And, it was impossible for my uncle to buy another flat at this price. So, I had no choice but to stay 2 more years in my position.
The hardest part was, I started to question myself. Am I really called by God to full time ministry or did I just made this up by myself ? If God had called me, why didn’t it work out ? I was actually disappointed and frasturated. But I have to accept the reality and lay everything into God’s hands. Prayed, waited and waited.
It was at the same time when the management of government hosptials would be transferred to the Hospital Authority ( HA ). All the staff of government hospitals therefore need to choose if their retirement plan would stay with that government or transfer to the HA. The difference was, there would be no pension in HA but in order to make the plans more attractive, the HA raised the % of their input to 16.5% monthly, which was really quite attractive.
I had no idea as how to choose. Whereas my colleague said to me, ” Since you will work here for only 2 more years, why don’t you just transfer the plan so that you will get a lump sum when you resign ? ” So, I just transfer without much consideration.
Two year passed and I really resigned. After I completed my theology studies, I really started full time ministry.
I was very surprised to discover something ! I realized that God is supernatural ! He knows everything. Nothing is impossible with Him. Let me share with you what happened.
Firstly, the 2 more years which I thought I was ” forced ” to stay was actually a big blessing to me. Within these 2 years, the lump sum I could receive by the time of resignation was increased by $100k ！
Secondly, not only could I get the lump sum, I could have pension at the same time! Why ? How could this be ? In fact, for staff transferred from government to HA and who has worked for more than 10 years, their pension would continue! This is totally out of our knowledge! If I had insisted to resign after the 9 years, I would not be able to receive this pension !
Year after year passed. Each year, the MPF authority mailed a statement to me. It was of course with some figures I would never be able to fully understand. So, I didn’t pay much attention to it.
This year , I am 55 years old and have reached the age of retirement. The MFP authority therefore asked me to go there and sign some documents that allow me to receive the money. The money is really in my hands now. Can you imagine how excited I am ?
God is amazing. His thoughts are different from our thoughts. And his plans are greater than the best plan human beings can ever think of. Why? Because He knows everything, and we just know a part of it, our knowlege is so limited when compare to His.
As Christians we may come across doubts and frasturations in our lives. At these moments, what we should do is to trust Him and lay everything in His hands and let Him take care of us and let Him take the lead ! Bless you !
Mary
說回差不多二十年前的事，一直到今天，我才看清楚神的計劃和細心的安排，以及衪的全知全能！
我從英國留學回來不久，就在政府醫院當護士，心裏一直感到神呼召我全時間去傳福音的。但因我買了樓，還有九年要供，所以我和神說：『 爸爸，給我再做多九年，供完樓才全職事奉祢吧。』
那時，叔叔很希望買—層公務員才可以買的樓，因我們家族關係—向是非常密切的，能見到叔叔開心，我自己也就很樂意用我的名義去替叔叔買樓，錢當然是叔叔自己的。不過，我那時也跟叔叔說 :『 阿叔，因我想全職做福音工作，我再做多九年，就全時間做傳福音的工作。所以，九年之後，叔叔，你需要找人轉名啊！』
後來，叔叔的女兒當老師，竟又給她找到官立學校的教席，我心想，一切都安排得很完滿，我也懷著期待的心情，去完成這九年的護士工作。
漫長的九年過去了，期待已久的時刻應該到了，我也自問準備好去全職事奉了。
豈料，原來政府的條例規定這類物業的擁有人，必須滿廿五歲，但我的堂妹，當時竟然只有廿三歲！我真的氣壞了！我不可能這樣就辭職的，因為叔叔無可能再以這價錢去買另—層樓，而叔叔一家都很喜歡住在這兒，難道就為了我個人的理想，而要他們全家搬離嗎？我唯有再多做兩年吧！
但這時最困擾我的，是我開始懷疑自己，是否真的是神呼召我呢？是否只是我一廂情願？如果真的是神呼召我，為甚麼到頭來卻不成事呢？在那段困惑的日子中，我唯有把一切都在禱告中交託給神吧！
剛好那時候，政府醫院的管理權由醫管局接管，我們做醫護人員的都要選擇是否把自己的合約轉往醫管局。分別是，原先的合約是有長俸的，但醫管局沒給長俸，但有強積金。而醫管局為了吸引員工，卻每月會替員工多供16.5%的款項。唉！聽起來都已經有點複雜了，我真不知怎樣選擇！唯我的同事說: 『你都只是做多兩年，轉啦！沒長俸就沒長俸啦，反正兩年後走的時候也有一筆錢就算了！』就是這樣，我就轉了。
兩年過去了，我就真的辭了職去唸神學，畢業後，就開始了全職事奉的生涯。我竟然發現：
第一，原來我很不情願留下的兩年，竟在兩年之間使我獲額外的得十萬元！
第二，原來在這新的員工合約之下，員工做了超過十年，離職時除了可拿走一筆過的強積金外，還可享有長俸的！如果我當時是按自己的心意，做了九年便辭職，我就不能享有長俸了！
—年又—年過去了。每年積金局都會公式化的寄給我—張通知書，我看看就放在—邊，反正只是些不太明白的數字，也就沒怎放在心上。
直到今年，因我已五十五歲，已經可以拿錢了，所以要親身去積金局簽些文件，那些錢真的到手了！所以，我此刻的心情真是很興奮！
我的感受是，我很感謝神，衪所安排的，絕不是人可以媲美的，人自己能計劃的，無論如何也不及神的好，為甚麼呢？因為祂是全知的，而人所能知的是有限的。另外，信仰的路上少不免會有疑惑或氣餒的時候，在這景況中，我們所能做的，就是完全的交託給神，接受現況，但不是向現實低頭，而是全心等候神自己作工，成就衪自己所應許的！
衷心祝福你！
Mary
