It’s been a year since the day that changed my life
and career as an overseas Filipino worker and within those 12 months, God has
taught me a lot of things. All the things that I experienced throughout the
period helped me to re-calibrate my thinking, especially about what the future
holds.
He has redirected my gaze and perspective towards something
far greater than what my mind can think and imagine. Before I saw things in a
perspective of a man, now that I have experienced a lot of things, I learned
how to see each person, each event and everything that I can see through a
better perspective. A perspective influenced by His love.
Everything that I see right now is a lot different
when we view it with God’s perspective and I believe that everything that
happened for the past months happened for a reason, a reason that might not be
clear as of the moment, but will be revealed in a proper time.
I believe that everything happened for a reason and
for a season. As Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV) says:
Allow me to take you back when I decided to start
this journey.
It was way back 2014 when I decided to try and be
an OFW, after a personal decision to leave my present company back in the
Philippines. Without any idea, concrete plan nor any prayers to back this up, I
still went and push through. How brave for a young man for this action.
A lot of things happened during the first few years
of being an OFW. I have to adapt to the shifting schedules, demands at work and
some health issues during my first year. Homesickness was at its peak during
this time. I was not accustomed of being away from my family for quite a long
time. Challenges on finances, how to handle emotions and everything in between
are at play during this early season as an OFW.
I overcame these challenges by being connected to a
church community, where people care for each other despite of challenges. I
felt the love of God through these people. This helped me to put everything on
track and right perspective.
Probably, these early stages helped to set up for
greater things that are about to come. Fast forward to July 2019, something happened.
I received news that changed the course of the path I’ve been on. I was
informed that my position, in the company I am working, is no longer available.
I was shocked and I wasn’t able to grasp that I am on the edge of losing my
job. There were days that I wasn’t able to sleep peacefully. With a lot of
things to decide and consider, I thought it was the dead end.
I prayed to God and talked to people I am
accountable with and considered and explored a lot of options for me to stay
here in Abu Dhabi.
From the day I received that game-changing news,
God taught me a lot of things. One of which is how do I handle my time. Time,
as I realized throughout the past 12 months, is a very precious element for most
of us nowadays, considering the current situation and everything else in
between, we cannot afford to waste it. But the question that came up in my mind
in reflecting this thought is: how do we spend the time given to us?
To be
continued in Part 2
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