Skip to main content

Embracing the Uncertainties

During my last year in college I remembered telling one friend half jokingly that one day my office email address would be raimond.praptana@xxxx.com which at that time seemed impossible considering xxxx is the biggest chemical company in the world. Both of us burst in laughter after I said that because at the back of our mind we know that there was a huge uncertainty in front of us after graduation. Never mind working for the well respected company, we would be very happy to get a decent job somewhere to start our career right after graduation. That was 2005.

Fast forward to 2018. Another big question mark and uncertainty showed up in my life. Already married with one child and another one coming, I submitted my resignation letter. After 11 years in xxxx, yes the biggest chemical company in the world - my first and only company, I decided to take a break to spend time with my wife and son while also taking this chance to pray and search His purpose in my life. One of the most difficult decisions that I had to take in my life. I was swapping stability as well comfort with one big black undefined box and bringing the whole family with me (please don't ever do this before consulting God and your spouse!!).

When we are talking about uncertainty in life actually we can have two angles to it and we have the power to choose which point of view we want to embrace. Risk or Opportunity? The choice we make will determine how we live our certainty and our attitude towards it. Most of the people (including me!!) sees uncertainty as risk. So many people have been questioning my decision to quit my job citing that is not easy to get a new job, how about my family provision, you will ruin your career leaving a good company, etc. Honestly speaking I couldn't agree more with each one of them. Huge risks are involved here and I am not in the season of experimenting considering that I am a husband and dad of two as well as the sole bread winner for the family.

Fear, worry, and self pity were all over the place in my life the moment I view uncertainty as risk, before and after my decision to leave the company (my gratitude to my wife Gil who has always been there to support and lift me up during these short circuit moments).  It is amazing how these negative and demoralizing thoughts could be instantly flipped into hope, joy, and peace in the presence of the Father. God gave us different perspective on uncertainty when I and Gil prayed together. Uncertainty is an opportunity: to experience God and His love even more, to let go of yourself and what you think can do (for God can do so much greater and can bring us so much further than we can bring ourselves to), and to discover more about ourselves - our values, priorities, and what is truly important in our lives. In short uncertainty brings us freedom from people expectations, self reliance, and control while replacing them with trust, hope, fulfillment, and joy if we decide to walk the uncertainties in life with the Certain One, Jesus; He who never change and could always be counted on every single time.

At the time I am writing this I am still in the middle of my big uncertainty. Living in His presence and His Word is what sustains me until now. Until He opens the door I will continue bring my son to school, enjoy midnight quality time with my life, and serve our Big and Almighty God with everything I had, knowing that He got my back and He will take care of me. 

Open your mind. Open your arms. Embrace uncertainties. Entrust your life to the Father. Life is not a risk. It is an opportunity. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

It Is All About The Base

Christmas is coming!! 🎉🎉🎉our family is so excited to have our first ever christmas tree in singapore.. we had a mini tree last time but it does not count as it does not have the feel as much as a tree with proper height.. So we bought this tree last sat and tried to set it up on sun and mon.. what took it so long?!.. the biggest issue was we can't make the tree stood straight as it is supposed to.. several tries it leaned backward, another few tries it was slanted to the right.. so frustrating because of 2 things: 1) our expectation is so high as this is our first christmas tree but we could not make it right 2) we hate to dissapoint kakak gide as he kept talking about decorating the tree.. After several battle scars trying to tighten the base we realized that the issue was with the base itself.. it did not serve as firm foundation for the tree to stand straight and tall.. thus we decided to come back to the shop.. cut the drama short (the store's real opening hours differs

Reflection on Hunger

Great truth on hunger from Ps @saulafh for the past few weeks at@vfcsg.. been reflecting on the series with below takeaways from where i stand now: 1) hunger for the right things brings the right atmosphere - if we are hungry for God and the things of God we will be filled with Him and all things that reflect who He is - this means it will bring peace, joy, hope, faith into our lives - if we are angry, disappointed, unhappy maybe because we are chasing the wrong things to fill our deepest hunger which we might realize or not realize it always has to do with our Creator? - i could imagine if i am hungry for kfc and for some whatever reasons i have to settle for salad, it will leave me with some frustration, disappointment there that could only be fixed with having kfc to have my true fulfillment.. and bring joy and peace into my life :) :) :) 2) joyful, peaceful, faithful, hopeful people attracts - first of all it will attract people with the same atmosphere.. this will make the right a

Different Perspectives on The Goodness of God

I am still waiting for my breakthrough.. I believe each one of us still having that area that we are all still waiting for that moment when God just shows up and makes things right.. It could be in our family, career, relationship, ministry, purpose, and so many other areas of our lives.. I thought at first we will be truly sincerely give thanks to God and be sure that God is indeed good when that supernatural moment comes.. This is what I believe until I received totally different perspectives recently.. First and foremost God has shown me that His goodness could not be measured by only the mega, big, major things like miracles, supernatural breakthroughs, or unexpected blessings.. It is always us who somehow put a mental barrier that only when this or that happens I could praise God for His goodness.. Only then I can give thanks to God with the right heart attitude.. Only then I would recognize how good God is.. This heart posture kills joy, peace, and hope since it creates lies that