When God speaks

Challenging my perception on which side of the COVID mandates people stood on

September 2023

My first impressions of returning to Australia after almost 12 months in Japan, were very positive. The people were so.... friendly. Simple life tasks of ordering at a cafe or reading ingredient lists on a packet of chips, was so.... easy. And somehow everything felt so.... colourful!

It feels so good to be home!

Life now felt like it use to when I enjoyed good times in Australia. It felt light and happy. Having left Australia, bruised and battered from the covid era with the near thoughts of “good riddance”, it was pleasant to now have positive feelings.

In good spirits, I accompanied my parents to church, but I was soon to be tested. Dad happened to mention the name of the visiting preacher for the day and I stopped dead in my tracks. Saying "I almost died" is an over kill, but hearing the name certainly hit a nerve I didn’t realise was still a bit raw. She worked (possibly still does) in HR at the head office of the company Shujin and I use to work for and my position meant that I liaised with her a lot. I couldn’t believe it! Out of all people! And on all days! Why was it this weekend that she had to come to visit my parents’ church? And preach?!

I had nothing personal against her, but unfortunately for her, just her position and connection to the company was a trigger for me. My husband and I had both lost our jobs in 2021 with the mandates that were enforced in Australia. The company was very unsupportive of our personal choices and unfortunately it had been one hell of a ride for us and our fellow employees who were making the same choice as us.

I sat in church in the front pew I tried not to let hard feelings take centre stage inside me as I looked up at her, on the stage, taking her position behind the microphone. And as I sat there, gazing up at her, God readjusted my position and set me to look at the situation from a different vantage point.

It now occurred to me that, she too, was a victim of the mandates. Instead of seeing her as the opposition, standing opposite me, I suddenly saw her as a fellow employee, beside me, having had to make her own hard personal decision, just like everyone else. I resolved to have a good attitude towards her sermon and I prayed for her and the message she would give.  

The sermon began by her sharing the story of Peter denying Jesus. How Peter was adamant, telling Jesus that he'd never forsake Him, but just a few hours later Peter was straight out lying and saying he didn't even know Him. Cock-a-doodle-doo! (The story is in the Bible and can be read here.)

Credit: Pixabay, pexels.com

Several days or even weeks after Jesus died and rose to life again, Peter-the-disciple had relapsed and gone back to the sea, returning to Peter-the-fishermen. Retreating to his place of comfort and safety, he’d found security in the old familiar.

The message hit a resonating chord with me. I too had returned to my place of comfort and security, Australia — the old familiar. I hadn’t come because I felt lost and unsure of what to do with myself, I was just there for a holiday! But I resonated. And I knew what was coming up in the rest of Peter's story. What God spoke to me was actually not the train of thought that the preacher went down, but that didn't matter. She had said enough and God said the rest.

In John 21 we read that, after his resurrection, Jesus appeared on the seashore and called Peter and his fellow fishermen to come to shore. Jesus then went and told Peter that he's got a work to do. He redirected his focus, taking him from the safe and familiar (fishing), and pointed him towards his future calling : to be a shepherd for His people, those who believe in Jesus. (Read the story here.)

Even though Peter denied Jesus, Jesus is showing that He forgives Peter, and also trusts him for a very important work: to guide, care for, watch over, defend and spiritually feed the new believers. The Christian church hadn’t been birthed yet, but Jesus knows it is just around the corner and is instructing Peter to be a shepherd-leader for the church.

Like with Peter, God pointed to my path He had for me and told me that I wouldn’t be staying in Australia—my familiar, comfortable and secure place—I needed to return to Japan. My time there had not finished, and the work that God had for me there had just begun.

In some ways it felt impromptu for God to be telling me this on only my second day of being back in Australia, I'd barely settled in! But this personal message sat in the back of my mind for the rest of my holiday. With all the great experiences I had in Australia my mind didn’t once entertain the thought of moving back there like maybe it would have.

(I think my experience was also a huge blessing for Shujin. Not that I think he was nervously sitting in Japan wondering if his wife would return from her country 🤣 but just that reassurance that I was happy to be in Japan and knew it was where God wanted us.)

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I stepped into Target and just wanted to run around and hug the whole store! I had traveled very lightly (to leave space for all the things I wanted to buy in Australia!), anticipating beautiful warm spring weather. Unfortunately, the hot weather had come the week before, and it was back to winter reminding Australia that it still had some strength left. I didn’t need an excuse to go shopping, it was definitely on my list of things to do in Australia! The weather just spurred me to get there a little sooner than I might have!

Leaving the kids at home with Pa and my brother in-law, mum, my sister and I enjoyed some quality time at the mall! Target had never been so exciting to shop in! Haha!! Racks and racks of clothing — cotton shirts! And SHORTS!! Normal cotton shorts!! Even though I needed a few warmer items of clothing, I was certainly not leaving without shorts!! And colour. The clothes had beautiful colorful prints and designs, something I had been missing in Japan where the change of season doesn’t seem to affect the fashion colours: black, grey, white and earthy tones of dark blue, dark green, maroon, and brown.

After having enjoyed considerable time in the ladies section, and almost being on first-name basis with the Target lady manning the change room, I went to the kids section. Oh my! I stood in excitement at the huge area filled with children’s clothing. Back home in Japan, I get one isle, about 6m long, for girls clothing. That’s it! And one isle, about 6m long, for boys clothing! It’s like that in all the clothing shops, unless you go into the city. So to come to this country town, and see such a huge range of kid’s clothing, was super exciting! And Target isn’t the only store in town! I don’t understand why there’s hardly any range in the shops at home in Japan, but in this humbly populated country town, there was loads! I can’t figure it out!!

While we were really enjoying being back in Australia, Shujin was back in Japan having some interesting times of his own. Before I left we had found Okasan’s Singapore shirt that’s she’d claimed I’d taken. She had since worn it and it had been washed and safely stored away in Okasan’s drawer. But Okasan just couldn’t seem to let go of the thought that it was missing…