2008 had its fair share of highs and lows. I went through a tough time in some areas and yet in many other areas I saw God's great providence and I stand amazed. 2008 was obviously a huge year because of the major transition from school to slog. Not that I never slogged in school but you get the drift. Anyways, here are my two highs of 2008. I have had my lows as well but I won't spill it here.

Exactly a year ago I was agonizing over my final year academic thesis on ethnic minority Christians in Vietnam. It was a major challenge because for 3.5 years I had been writing essays of 1500-2000 words and now this humdinger of an essay pops up with a 12000 word quota. I thank God I pulled through and His grace proved more than enough for me. During the critical period, my family coincidentally (divinely rather) went overseas leaving behind the quiet necessary for me to churn out a chapter a week plus a sister to clean up after me.

My supervisor was also especially busy that semester and I had to hunt down the most obscure Vietnamese-translated-to-English sources by myself but God was always there prodding me in the right direction. The discipline to finish the first draft in 8 weeks in time for the draft deadline was infinitely supernatural especially when I was still quite unclear about my topic the first 2 weeks. According to my supervisor, no one ever finishes his whole thesis by the 1st draft deadline; most just pass up half or a quarter or even less of their thesis. From that 1st draft I managed to get a lot of useful comments from Prof Lockhart and helpful friends on polishing up the final draft and in the end I did great for it.

And amazingly, I actually got a chance to discuss my esoteric thesis topic with someone at the Le Grande Christmas event. Constance's friend had just returned from a mission trip to Vietnam where she had heard so much of the persecuted Hmong Christians there. And ah hah... I finally made some practical use of my research thesis.
    
The best thing is I got a fantastic job which I love doing with secure prospects especially in recessional times as this. For this God gets ultimate glory especially since I never expected it. I always thought I was going to be something else but that somehow did not work out. The opportunity for my current job came by most unexpectedly; I went for 3 interviews, a couple were totally scary and I thought I totally missed the boat but again and again they called me back and soon I was in my dream job where I'm doing what I love and what God made me to do. So its all down to God's grace and providence. Of course, I face many many challenges and storms  in my job but I know this is where God wants me to be. There is a sense of fit. There's so much more to this story but I shall not spill all here. So if you are reading this, always learn to wait especially if you are making a major decision like job, school, what to marry or whether to join Facebook. Wait is hard but worth it cos He knows best. God gives only His Best to those who wait. But.... Of course we think we know better la... so go ahead and good luck.

And, of course, Honor God.