Amazing grace (of Allah)

Hello from the little island of Singapore. 


I have to mention the 'little island' remark because being in Singapore reminds me of a good friend of mine. She hates it when anyone mentioned Singapore as a country. She adamantly insisted that Singapore is an island, just a little dot on the map. And boring too. No, I was never offended with her comments. We love each other to death despite our differences in opinions on just about everything. Funny thing is, she never gets under my skin with her laser mouth. Four years working in the same agency and she is the only person who's like my alter ego. You know what I mean, like your conscience. The person you can talk about anything under the sun, never agree on anything but still got along fine. She is that person. She'll be that someone where I will never forget as she left an indelible mark on me. Unfortunately, she has this principle that she use in her life, "out of sight, out of mind". We are so not alike. Haha...


Anyway.


My first week back in sunny Singapore had been pretty good. I had two meetings with Creative Directors in two very different companies. But first a preamble. When I resigned from Publicis, I left with no job. Some of my colleagues were concerned. It was justifiable. I was beginning to get worried too but not worried enough to actually went out to look for work. And I was thinking, no employer would want to wait for me for three months, so I said to myself I will look for a job maybe a few weeks before my last day. The first call I got was a few weeks before Sundown 100 in June. I made an appointment on Friday, before Sundown race but they changed the appointment date to Monday, which was after Sundown. I did try my best to walk as normally as possible, thank God no stairs. I got the good news the next day. They offered me a job to freelance but with a full time offer to be given a month later and I accepted it. A week later I got two more interviews set up and this week I went to see both. And now I have three job offers with really great companies with a pay I could only dream of getting five years ago. 


God has been kind to me. A good friend said to me in an SMS that God is looking over me. He's right. Not only me, but all of us. All you have to do is ask. He is waiting for us to ask Him. Like what I wrote in my Facebook status the other week, a quote that I took from a respected Muslim writer, Yasmin Mogahed, "When you beg of people, they hate you for it. When you beg of Allah, He loves you for it." I asked for my journey back to be less difficult. It wasn't that easy, there had been bumps but it was not something I couldn't handle. I am grateful for what I had been given. And these things that had been happening to me, I know will lead to something good.


Our Prophet once said to his companions, "My brothers (referring to his umat) are the ones who believe in me even though they have never met me." Profound. 


A leaf falling from the tree will not happen without the grace of Allah, let alone our fate.