“Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so all will go well with you. Then you will enter and occupy the good land that the LORD swore to give your ancestors”- Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 18
After a long hiatus as I had given birth to my second child, I had a lot of time to reflect and think about whether I want to go back to a job I was not passionate about. For a long time, I remained in Science as it was what I had always done.
It was normal, in my comfort zone and I was good at it. But I lacked that fire within me, that excitement, that feeling of “this is why I get out of bed for”. Sometimes in life, I find it easy to stick with what I know, it is less scary and I do not have to do more than what I am comfortable with.
But as I stayed at home for the second time to take care of a newborn baby, and turning 30 pushed me into really thinking about what I wanted to do with my life. I felt that I had put my own passion of what I really wanted to do aside, as I took care of my children, supported my husband in his career and became a typical mum who went to work and took care of children. Before this, I tried and tested so many different career options and even though I was good at all of them, I didn’t want to just do something for the sake of it.
It always comes back to me thinking about how much the Israelites suffered before they got to their promise land. How they wandered around in the dessert for forty years, how they lost the way and found their way back to God, how they questioned God and asked where He was. Sometimes, I myself am guilty of this. Instead of “doing what is right and good in the Lord’s sight”, I wander and complain and ask God where He is. But God is there, and He works in His own time.
I began by praying to God that He would lead me to something great, something that I would be passionate about and most importantly something that I felt I could give back to God and society. I thought about how hard and unfair life has been to me, and how tempting it would be to act out and do what I felt like. But God says “to do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so all will go well with you”.
Every time something or someone did wrong to me, I would do what is right and good and continue to have faith in God. I knew my God would redeem me, and vindicate me and in that He will bless me multifold. I did this not for the “blessing at the end of the rainbow”, I did this for my faith and trust in God.
God delivered
Finally, when I felt at my lowest point of trying to find my passion, God delivered. My trust in God allowed me to now point every blessing in my life back to God. From my travesties, God granted me a clear vision and forged a clear path for me to take.
I found my passion in setting up my second business, and from the very first day, I’ve felt God’s hand on it.
As it says “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight” - Proverbs Chapter 3 verse 5.
The Lord has redeemed me and vindicated me and through God’s actions, I was able to follow my passion and do it in God’s glory.
Through my business, God has led me to help raise funds for two wonderful organisations. I wake up excited, I wake up knowing that I have found my passion, this is what gets me out of bed for, and I can do it all for God’s glory.
Clarissa Yates is from Singapore, but moved to Perth in 2008. She studied Molecular Biology at the University of Western Australia. She opened up her online shop, Hooked in a Box (www.hookedinabox.com) in 2017. She is a Mum to two girls and runs her business full-time.