The Mango Tree – 1/3
Have you ever thought of your life as FINISHED, no more hope, gone case, nothing to look forward to, all that I was counting upon didnt come through!!! and on and on…..DISAPPOINTMENT, DEJECTION, DESPAIR!!
This can be in any situation of your life, it can be in health, career, relationship, studies, finances, anything….
The Mango Tree, is a 3 part series of what the Lord taught me, from this tree (in such a situation) and I’m sure that it will be of great encouragement to you. It is my testimony and also my article, which can be practically applied to your life also. Each part is short sized to consume easily.
There is a Mango tree in our house, of the neelam variety and a very faithful tree, yielding its fruit. The flowers come up quite early (even though neelam variety is the last in the season) and usually there are plenty of flowers, may be millions of them, but only few become fruits. Year after year, it produces the best fruits.
Then, one day, one of the main branches of the tree was cut and this is how it looked:
All branches gone, all leaves gone, no more flowers ofcourse. It seemed the end for the tree branch!. At the same time, I was going through a tough time in my career and was very dejected and waiting for some change to happen in my work place or a new job and the wait was on, without any end. One day, I saw this cut branch and realised that my situation in my career was like this – FINISHED!!. The situation looked like no hope for me. It looked like an end, with no where to go.
There was life in the tree, but the progress was cut short. Similarly, you may be in a situation, which looks liked a dead end, looks like no progress can be made, seems impossible to get over it, looks done and dusted without any hope. May be you are at cross roads, not knowing which direction to take.
And all of these was happening to me in the midst of covid and needless to add the stress around that, added to the situation.
To be Continued…..part 2/3
From Call Centre to a Data Scientist
What Can I say Unto the Lord, all I have to say is “Thank You Lord”
Every one has work anniversaries, so do I and today marks my 12th year of IT career. But I have a story !
My dad sold the house he built with lots of struggles and all savings, just to make me get into a renowned institute. I got placed in Cognizant in Dec 2009 while I was in the final year. I felt he would be by then glad of my achievement. But later my offer was rejected by Cognizant due to my last semester backlog. It was a shocker to my parents and to me. I used to have guilt while even having a meal at home, even though my parents were loving and encouraging. In few days, I crashed my Dad’s brand new car just in 3 hours of it’s delivery. Utter chaos ! Buying a car was a milestone for my dad. I realised I was a trouble to them.
With shame, I came to Chennai with Rs.3000 (€35) borrowed from my aunt, borrowed my senior’s shoes, attended interviews and I got a job in a BPO with Rs.11000/month(€125) salary. I worked as a call centre executive in night shifts, had to bear abusive words from customers. I used to cry every night while crossing the majestic lighted Cognizant buildings at night. IT career became a distant dream. I used to take the service stairs instead of lift, just to avoid being shamed as I was looked down by some of my college mates who worked in same building, said I lost my career since I was too much into spiritual matters.
With a strong leading, I quit the job in 2010. Kept praying and started to prepare well for my arrear papers. On Jan 12 2011 after 1 year and 2 months after my initial offer, I got my results right 30 minutes after I finished a word of prayer!. With no hope but since my dad insisted, I emailed the HR about my results & a miracle did happen. The HR replied that I can use my “year old offer” to join Cognizant.
Joined Cognizant, a fortune 500 company on this very same day (Jan 20 2011), moved to Deloitte one of the worlds Big 4, then with Verizon, a fortune 10 company, Paypal and finally into Adidas, moving from being an analyst to a Senior Manager. Salary digits changed & wherever I worked, God’s grace was there!
For a person who found engineering itself tough, God gave the strength to finish an MBA and Masters as well. Never in my dream I thought from a call center person I would become a Data scientist. In 2011, if some one said, I would travel to the US or Europe, I would have called it a joke !
Why do I write this: Life could be anything at the moment, but remember GOD’s plans are always good for you. I want to encourage you that God can make ways in mysterious ways, where there is no way according to you !
If any one reading this, is out of college or studying or working, right now discouraged about failures and thinking of your future: Cheer up, Look unto God, commit, get prepared, do what you can and HE will do what you cannot. There is surely HOPE and your faith will not be put to shame !
Grace !!! Grace Alone !!!!
Trust an unknown future to a known God
Many years ago, I was called to the office of the CEO of the company I worked at. He informed me that he would not like for me to continue working with them, after which he asked me to resign. Conversations such as this aren’t typically pleasant, and neither are their outcomes. As someone in HR, I had been on the other side of this conversation many times. Having been at the receiving end this time, I had to take it with equanimity.
I went home and told Nazarene, my wife, about this conversation and its outcome. Naturally, we felt disappointed and forlorn thinking about the future. We happened to be in the midst of shifting houses at that time and needed to clear some items from the old house. We therefore went to the old house later that evening to clean it up.
Lying on the floor in the living room amidst all the dust was half of a poster that I purchased when I started working in the early eighties. Here it is:
Nazarene noticed it and pointed it out to me. We both stood still for a few moments and felt the Lord Himself speak to us. We felt a reassuring calmness and we reaffirmed our Faith in God. Over the years, we’ve grown in our spiritual life. God has been faithful to us despite various troughs and valleys thereafter.
Now, as I reminisce about what happened so long ago, I am awestruck by God’s blessings on me. I superannuated as Director of a Management Training Center, in one of the world largest corporate Group, a few months ago. When many in the world were laid off, I was asked to continue beyond my retirement age, which was an added blessing. We have all enjoyed good health, the love and affection of family and friends and the opportunity to work, contribute and make a difference. I am living a future that was unknown to me so many years ago and it is all because of God’s grace.
Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
We wish you good health, peace and happiness for 2022 and leave this assurance
“ Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a Known God.”
Written by : Emmanuel David is a Corporate Executive Coach, Influencer and Strategic Leader in many MNCs and has impacted many executives in large corporations. He can be contacted @ Linkedin : linkedin.com/in/emmanueldavid & Email : [email protected]
Miraculous ‘normal’ pregnancy after a long wait!!!
I got married in Aug 2013, but never got to see positive pregnancy test. NEVER! I won’t say I was greatly disappointed as I was also waiting for few things between me and husband to settle down slowly and it took a while. Once things became alright everyone started expecting and wherever we went we got plenty of advice and tips. We were hesitant to take Sunday classes due to the initial issues between us, but somehow for the past two years we have been teaching little children every Sunday.
In the meantime, we tried multiple doctors (no big treatments) and were bored with the same repetitive scans and tests, which reported no issues as such. The last set of scans taken in 2017 reported I had little harmless cysts and they would take time to resolve and the doctor would stop even the few tablets I had to take on 5 days at the start of my cycle. I would have to be honest here. My cycle – can vary from 26 days to 60 days too. You can hardly guess what my fertile days are, including doctors. And there were many times when I had trouble with egg rupturing, they would just grow and the doctor would suggest again to skip that particular cycle or two to start all over again from the scratch. And you can easily guess how my mood was, all through every pelvic scan. I went for HSG (tube) test in May 2017, sincerely speaking, because of all the prayers of my prayer buddies I got enough strength to undergo the test and yes, it was painful but I expected the worst when I went, and it didn’t seem so worse as I expected it to be. Then my doctor said she would start with IUI (artificial insemination) process from the next cycle as there were no blocks detected in the tube test. Well, as always, I asked few more months to avoid IUI, but my husband was very rigid this time to start with IUI as per the doctor’s suggestion. Though I didn’t like his idea, I also didn’t like my idea of prolonging the wait as I did for more than 3.5 years. I was very relaxed after the tube test as anyways we were going to face all the harsh treatments. I had extended stays at work both on the weekdays and also on weekends supporting my team through their weekend support and that includes night support as well. I am a kind of person who is always early to work and late to bed. I hardly remember the days we were together. We even went for long drives assuming we would have to stay home once the treatment starts. Triples at times! Lot of jerks and road bumps crossed!
On June 26, 2017 we went to the Scripture Union campsite as Sundays school teachers for a retreat program, and I went there along with my heavy laptop bag as usual to assist my team during their holiday support. I got to work when the church friends had games to play. But during the worship session, as I was encouraged by a senior Sunday school teacher, I fully trusted in the Lord and kept on repeating ‘Karthar enakkai yaavaiyum seidhu mudipaar’ song written after Psalm 138:8.
After returning home after a long tiring day, I realized it was more than 50 days and I was not too much surprised with it as my cycle, as I told earlier, can go up to 60+ days as well. Then I thought of doing pregnancy test just for formality. I am sure I have done only close to 10 UPT all through the past 3.5 years. I have never seen two pink lines which many couples long to see. This time unusually I saw two pink lines for the very first time in my kit. I could hardly realize how I could interpret that test result. Though I have forwarded others, one of my friends’ testimony and the long list of pregnancy promises, I never confessed them at least once. I know many were praying for me, but I was not serious to pray about a baby. I showed my UPT kit to my husband and we were not able to believe that we were expecting. We thought of getting it confirmed by the doctor the next day. Since my doctor was busy on that day with emergency deliveries, we had to wait. I underwent some scan again and I was laying down there and thinking what the technician would tell me after seeing the result. I have to be honest that I expected her to yell at me “Hey you said you had a positive result, but there is nothing in here.” But I heard her saying, “Can you see here?” I was so scared to see what she was about to show me, then, she showed me the baby’s heartbeat, only by that time I could believe that I was pregnant for the very first time in my life. A wait close to 3.5 years! (my 4th wedding anniversary was on August 22 and I didn’t want to celebrate it without the bundle of joy we usually expect every passing month) With that heartbeat readings I was waiting for the doctor to return. Once my turn has come, when the attender called me to check my weight, the doctor said, “no, she is not pregnant, she has come here for the regular check-up” assuming I have gone there for IUI preparation. When the attender handed her the reading my doctor could not react for a while until she said, “this is excellent!” She even confirmed with me saying, “this is a normal pregnancy with no treatment (not even a single tablet) this month!” and I said “Yes” to her, but deep inside my heart, I was crying out, that this is not a normal pregnancy as the medical world would say, but 100% miraculous pregnancy which only our God made it possible. He is the one who calls out everything out of nothing. I even fell into temptation one Saturday, and so I can’t claim even a single credit for why He has blessed us. He has blessed us because of who He is! And not because of who we are!
My prayer buddies at office prayed for me. Thanks a lot guys for all your prayers! Whenever my office housekeeping staffs saw my pregnancy bump they guided me so much; they warned me when they saw me sitting in a wrong posture. One of my office colleagues even filled my water bottle every time she saw my empty or half-filled water bottle. I have got so much love and support from my family and friends! Everything meant a lot to me. We had to take countless number of cabs from the day we knew I was pregnant until after the delivery! God has kept us and the little one inside so safe, in spite of all the rides. With His grace I could go to work until I completed 9 months.
The scans showed the due date to be Feb 12, 2018. It was such a bitter month for us, because in 2002 on Feb 22nd my in-laws lost their daughter when she was just 22. I truly believe God has restored the loss and proved that He has not forgotten us. The month which was so far so bitter for us, is the month of miracle for us now.
Yes, on Feb 7, 2018, early in the morning I told God that I could not wait any longer to deliver the baby as it was way too much to bear. The countless trips to the washroom and the weight of the belly and the constant push I had in my bladder made me so tired for the last few weeks. Exactly on the same day it started with mild bloody show by 7 AM IST. We went for a check-up and was told that the delivery might come on the same day, or several days later!! But after 2:30 PM IST I started having severe labor pains. By 6 PM IST they started preparing me for the delivery and within 2.5 hours we received our little princess!!! Between 6 PM and 8:30 PM the help I got from the technicians, doctor, housekeeping staffs inside the labor room was more than a miracle!!! The Lord has really shown me high favour in their eyes. Some even reminded me to call out to God when I had unbearable pain! I kept on reciting some choruses, Bible verses and short prayers to God and He has beautifully carried me through it all!!! The first kiss of my little one on my cheeks brought in so much tears in my eyes!!! It was all God & God who made that moment possible in my life!!! Oh how much I need to be thankful to Him!!!
Outside the labor room, many were praying for me and especially my husband said prayers which we have drafted from reading many books and booklets, promise verses for short labor, etc,… and I believe God heard all the prayers everyone said!!!
Though I was 30+ years old and I had a normal delivery! Can you believe it? Many said that a woman above this age would not have normal delivery, even if she does she would have labor pain for long hours as her bones would have become so rigid. And as I work in IT and in front of laptop for extended hours, and do not have much house chores done as often as I should be, the labor would be tough and most likely it was going to be a caesarean delivery! I am always on the lean side and hence I was also very much afraid of how I was going to bear the pain, but my God who has started it had let me come out the labor room with victory for His glory, even though my baby’s heart rate went below 100 twice when she was trying to come out since her head was little big to pass through easily!!!
We named our little cutie pie ‘Janice Jane’. Janice means ‘the Lord has been gracious’ and Jane is the feminine name of ‘John’. Her loving smiles, magic working hands, blinks of her eyes and what not, all about her bring so much joy in our hearts and tears in our eyes! We believe that she would grow in wisdom, God’s grace and find favor in the eyes of people!
As per Psalm113:9, The Lord gives a barren woman a home; making her a joyous mother of children.
Sorry for making this testimony a lengthy one, but I could write forever when I think of His hand in this entire pregnancy journey. I hope this would encourage others who are going through a path of long wait. I pray that the Lord would see your tears (He does it already) and would bless you with a baby and make you a testimony!! God bless you!!!!
(This testimony is written by an IT Professional who is working for an MNC, based out of Chennai, India. If you want her to pray and encourage you with the Promise verses that she got for her pregnancy term, please write to [email protected] and will be shared with her with confidentiality)
From Disappointment & Rejection to a Miraculous Job in a Foreign Country
I was working in Bangalore in the year 2013. My company was always paying my salary after a delay. Apart from this, I was going through a phase of disappointments and rejection from my own people without any reason. People took away most of my blessings. I struggled hard to forgive the people who came against me.
I attended a week of fasting prayer in a church at Bangalore during September 2013. Three days after the fasting prayer, I received a call from a foreign country asking for my resume. I didn’t apply for job in any of the foreign country. The recruiters saw my profile that was updated four years ago and called me. That is possible only by God. I was recruited for the job with out an interview.
After prayer, God revealed through one of the prophets that it was His plan to take me to a foreign land and bless me.
Today, I’m blessed and delivered from unforgiveness. God blessed with both spiritual and earthly blessings. God blessed me with an apartment in the same place where I lost my inheritance. Glory to God.
Jose
