6:51 PM A Cosmetologist’s Experience at Work |
By Lele, Singapore
My name is Lele and I am a post-90s young girl. After starting working, I got into the beauty industry and became a cosmetologist. While I was working, our company would often organize staff to receive all kinds of training and the trainer would also tell us the history of undertakings of various commercial elites and how they created wealth and started a business by their own efforts. Among them, what inspired me the most was the course of setting up a business of a disabled person becoming a millionaire. I thought to myself: I am a normal person with two arms and legs. As long as I work hard, do not fear suffering or tiredness and work steadfastly, one day I can also earn much money like them and live the life that I want. Although at that time I had accepted God’s work in the last days, I didn’t really understand many truths and all I could think about was fighting for my wonderful ideal with my own two hands. Later, I heard that being a cosmetologist in Singapore could make more money than in China, so I quitted my job without hesitation and came to Singapore.
After a period of time of working, our boss set a regulation and rule for work for every employee: Everyone had to meet a certain turnover every month and only then could he get a commission. Hearing this news, I thought: Normally, making money is relying on commissions. If I can’t meet the performance targets, I will only get my basic salary, but it is really not enough. If so, when can I achieve my ideal high-quality lifestyle? In order to improve my performance figures, I put my whole mind to my work: As long as our shop allowed us to work overtime, I would do it. I was even not willing to waste what little a one-day break I had a week and as long as there was any customer who wanted me, no matter how tired I was, I would go to our shop to do my job. Sometimes, my colleagues and I got all red in the face arguing over vying for clients. Moreover, I also often exaggerated my beauty skills to belittle my colleagues before customers on purpose. So to complete more performance figures, I was overloaded with work, which caused me to get periarthritis. Every time I finished massaging a customer, my shoulders would be so painful. Although they hurt so much, I was unwilling to give my customers to my colleagues, for fear that I would miss any chance to sell the complete set of products. Just like this, every day I worked overtime day and night. I believed that I had worked so hard, so I would certainly do my job given by my boss. In a blink of the eye, it was the end of the month. My performance figures were actually far from the demands of my boss, and I was very anxious by this. I thought to myself: “I have worked so hard, but why are my performance figures still so few in the end? Why is the price that I have paid not rewarded?” At that time, I was very depressed within as if I was carrying a heavy burden on my back all day long. Gradually, I felt less and less connected to God. The only thing on my mind was how to make money and how to market products to improve my performance figures.
After knowing that my state was not good, a sister asked me with concern whether or not I had encountered some difficulties. For the sake of saving face, I didn’t lay bare my true difficulties in communion with her. Later, the more I thought, the more I felt upset. So I prayed to God, “O God, recently my heart has been filled with my work. Every day all I think about is how to make money. I have done my best to work but I didn’t get the reward. I feel very depressed. I really want to break free from this condition but I don’t know what I should do. May You lead me.” After praying, I saw God’s words, “What occupation one chooses, how one makes a living: do people have any control over whether they make a good choice or a bad choice? Do they accord with their desires and decisions? Most people wish they could work less and earn more, not to toil in the sun and rain, dress well, glow and shine everywhere, tower above others, and bring honor to their ancestors. People’s desires are so perfect, but when people take their first steps in the journey of their lives, they gradually come to realize how imperfect human destiny is, and for the first time they truly grasp the fact that, though one can make bold plans for one’s future, though one may harbor audacious fantasies, no one has the ability or the power to realize his or her own dreams, no one is in a position to control his or her own future. There will always be some distance between one’s dreams and the realities that one must confront; things are never as one would like them to be, and faced with such realities people can never achieve satisfaction or contentment. Some people will even go to any length imaginable, will put forth great efforts and make great sacrifices for the sake of their livelihoods and future, in attempt to change their own fate. But in the end, even if they can realize their dreams and desires by means of their own hard work, they can never change their fates, and no matter how doggedly they try they can never exceed what destiny has allotted them. Regardless of differences in ability, IQ, and willpower, people are all equal before fate, which makes no distinction between the great and the small, the high and the low, the exalted and the mean. What occupation one pursues, what one does for a living, and how much wealth one amasses in life are not decided by one’s parents, one’s talents, one’s efforts or one’s ambitions, but are predetermined by the Creator” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). Seeing God’s words, my heart was shocked: Yes. Our fate in life is all under God’s orchestrations and sovereignty. How much wealth we can accumulate and what occupation we will engage in all our life are beyond our control and not up to us. Instead, they are based on God’s preordination and rule. Thinking that at first when I worked in China, I started to plan to save money to pay for my house and make the down payments. However, after working for several years, I still didn’t save any money. I looked again at me now. In order to meet my performance targets, I tried every means: I schemed against my colleagues and toyed with different means behind their backs; moreover, I worked overtime. But in the end although my body basically had enough, I didn’t make any money. The reason why I lived in such pain was because I myself was foolish and ignorant and didn’t know God’s sovereignty, only struggling hard by relying on the thought and perspective that Satan instilled in me, “One’s fate is controlled by his own hands,” and wanting to change my own fate by means of human effort and thereby live a life where I was above others. I saw that I myself was too arrogant and self-righteous. Not until then did I truly understand that my thought and perspective of seeking this high-quality lifestyle was instilled by Satan. This life was not the one that God wanted man to live. Only by obeying God’s orchestrations and arrangements could I feel relaxed and happy in life. God’s words allowed my depressed heart to be liberated somewhat. I didn’t want to rely on Satan’s point of view and my ambitious desires to live anymore. I was willing to entrust my work to God and let God be in charge of the plan. God’s words say, “So when people recognize God’s sovereignty over human fate, the smart ones choose to know it and accept it, to bid farewell to the painful days when they tried to build a good life with their own two hands, instead of continuing to struggle against fate and pursue their so-called life goals in their own manner. When one has no God, when one cannot see Him, when one cannot clearly recognize God’s sovereignty, every day is meaningless, worthless, miserable. Wherever one is, whatever one’s job is, one’s means of living and the pursuit of one’s goals bring one nothing but endless heartbreak and irrelievable suffering, such that one cannot bear to look back. Only when one accepts the Creator’s sovereignty, submits to His orchestrations and arrangements, and seeks true human life, will one gradually break free from all heartbreak and suffering, shake off all the emptiness of life” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). The following days, I worked normally and no longer fought and schemed with my colleagues to vie for customers. When I was free, I would read God’s words, listen to hymns and attend meetings normally. Living in this way, I felt very relaxed and steady inside.
In a flash, it was the end of the month. In a morning, my boss suddenly sent me a message in which she said that if I still completed such few performance figures, she would dock me 200 Singapore dollars every month. Seeing this message, I felt somewhat worried, thinking: I am away in a strange land and my salary has been few. If SGD 200 (about RMB 1000) is deducted from my pay packet every month and moreover after paying my all kinds of living expenses, I will not have much money left and then I will have no money to save. Thinking of this, I felt a horrible pang in my heart. So I came before God and prayed to Him, “O God. Now, I feel very miserable. Facing this matter, I don’t know what I should do. I beg You to lead and guide me so that I won’t be disturbed and restrained by it. No matter whether my salary will be deducted or not, I will be willing to submit to Your presence and give my heart to You.” After my prayer, I felt much steadier. Afterward, I saw God’s words, “Would you say that the happiness pursued by unbelievers is true happiness? Actually, it isn’t. It is what people imagine happiness to be, and it is a depraved method, a path that makes people depraved. People’s pursuit of this is not the objective that normal humanity ought to have, it is not the value in living. What was planted by Satan has caused people to make this their objective. Satan has used this means to benumb people, to corrupt, attract, entice, and beguile them, making them think that this is happiness, making them chase that goal. People think that this is happiness, that only when they gain this will they be happy, and so, regardless of how much effort it takes, they chase that goal—and the result is, once they’ve achieved it, they still feel that they haven’t gained true happiness, yes? (Yes.) This proves that this is not the right path, that it is the path to death” (“Only With the Truth as Their Life Can People Live a Life of Value”). From God’s words, I understood: This point of view “seeking to excel among other people and enjoying good material life,” which seemingly couldn’t be more normal, is a scheme that Satan uses to abuse us. Satan just uses money and fame and gain to entice me, deceive me, occupy my heart and cause me to still want to live a rich life in my heart. Therefore, when I saw that my boss would dock my salary because I just completed few performance figures and I would have no money to save, I felt awful within without any outlet and lived in worry and pain. Can money really make me live happily? I thought of many rich men nowadays. On the outside, they are rich, have power and live in style, which is admirable. However, why do some of them develop melancholia? And why did others even kill themselves? From these, I see that possessing abundance of material comforts is not true happiness. I also remember that before when I didn’t live in struggling for money, but worked normally every day, found the time to read God’s words and led a regular church life, my heart was full and I was liberated and free in life. I saw that only believing in God, following God and pursuing the truth were true happiness. After knowing these, I became liberated inside. Now, how many performance figures I can complete and whether or not my boss will dock my salary are all in God’s hands. So, I can’t fall for Satan’s tricks to pursue that so-called happy life. Instead, I must learn to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. Later, I didn’t reply to her message or butter up her intentionally but gave all of these to God, put my heart to pursuing the truth to believe in God properly.
When I went to work, my boss said to me again that if I couldn’t improve my performance figures, she would dock my salary. I nodded my head and didn’t say anything. I just prayed to God silently in my heart that I would be willing to obey His arrangements. I had never thought that when I obeyed this environment, some customers actually came to me to buy our products actively. After a month, I not only easily managed to increase my sales productivity, but surpassed the performance goals set by my boss. The amount of my sales is over several thousand Singapore dollars more than the required sales amout. After this experience, I was very happy within my heart. The reason why I felt happy was not because I earned more money but because this experience allowed me to know God’s almightiness and sovereignty and see that God’s requirements of us are not exacting: As long as we put down our own ambitions and desires, have a heart that truly obeys God and can give our hearts to God, we will see God’s marvelous deeds within our practical experiences. Thank God. All the glory be to God.
Money can not buy the real peace and happiness and can only make man more and more corrupt and evil. God’s word is the foundation of our existence. If we act according to God’s word, do everything before God, God will be with us and show us the way to practice. Therefore, we can live with the confidence of righteousness and happily! You might be interested in: No Longer Be a Slave to Money
Source: Walk in the Light Read more on our Christian Testimonies page.
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