See, I Am Doing a New Thing! (Isaiah 43:19)
Psalm 34 says we are called to praise the Lord, no matter what has happened in 2021. It was an eventful year for us in Malaysian CARE, both good and bad, yet we are called to Praise the Lord!
It was a sign of God’s faithfulness even as we faced the reality of journeying through the various levels of lockdowns while at the same time the highest number of COVID-19 positive cases (24,599[i] cases per day) was recorded, with the trend continuing on for the next couple of weeks. The change yet again to a new government (third time within three years) saw the nation grappling to mitigate the pandemic situation, and this, together with the crippling lockdowns affect us all in the economy, loss of jobs, mental health issues, etc. Much prayers accompanied by change of lifestyle, working from home and following SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) managed to pave the way towards endemic situation.
In early July 2021, the Board of Malaysian CARE appointed me as the Acting Executive Director effective January 2022, following the resignation of Dr. Wong Young Soon who will continue to serve until end of December 2021. He has faithfully served more than 29 years and is moving on according to God’s leading in the future ahead. We pray for God’s grace and favour upon him and his wife, Patricia along with their three foster Orang Asli children, Mayna, Masnah and Rusan. This new role will need me to groom the new successor in the coming year and we pray for God’s will be done when the time is ready.
A New Beginning…
I am thankful to God that we have a committed Board of Directors, Management and Staff team who have been serving the poor and needy communities throughout the nation. In October 2021, the Directors and Managers came together to seek the Lord about what He has in store for CARE in the coming year. We felt the Lord reminding and reassuring us that He is with us. We were all the more encouraged by the prophecy of Isaiah that God is doing a new thing even in the midst of the challenging days ahead. We believe God will show us a way of escape and bring restoration and healing in all our lives.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19)
God the Creator is awesome and He is doing something new! Something that we have never seen before and all He needs us to do is remain faithful to Him and trust Him to lead and guide us into the new year. We are excited and looking forward to what God is going to do for us either individually or as a community. Let us be encouraged and join hands to continue to do good works, especially unto the poor and the marginalised communities, and move on with the Lord to see what He is going to do in 2022!
[i][1] https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/08/26/covid-19-another-record-high-with-24599-new-cases-on-thursday-aug-26
[2] https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2021/09/730869/covid-19-death-toll-crosses-25k-mark
Taken from Malaysian CARE's quarterly newsletter - CARE Contact, Dec 2021 Edition.
