Malaysia – Red Sofa

I felt pushed to the wall, I believed I had done everything I humanly could do. I worked hard, I worked smart, I woke up early morning, worked till late evening, I constantly learned new strategies, immediately applied but the fruits I collected were either mediocre or nonexisting. I toiled just to cover the bills. Have you ever experienced it?

Not only did I have not enough money coming to my account but I also lived on the remainings of the big overdraft that was additionally pressed by several minimum payments going to my credit cards from my uni days. It cost me loads of money every month to service them. The scary part was, we lived in a foreign country far from home and far from any help. It was a rough season. We had a couple of tough months that we delayed paying monthly rent to our landlady, we had our internet service disconnected once or twice.

Copper Change

That particular day, I remember having the very last money in the house, around RM50 (around $15 USD). A big part of it was made up from collecting the loose copper change that we found in jars, boxes and even pulled out from in between cushions on the sofa.

On that day I made a trip to the local fruit market called “Pasar Malam” where we could stock up fresh fruits and veggies at a very good price. I carefully and strategically selected to buy bigger items so we would get more food for less money. I bought more potatoes, bananas, cabbage, carrots, and similar cheap and big size veggies. For many of them, I paid with 20-50 coins.

Being at My Wits End

The dry patch continued, I was literally at my wit’s end. I was clearly out of ideas, I applied all my best thinking but I desperately starved for results. I was not convinced how going to a church could help my situation but I decided to go there anyway. Maybe I went there because after every service I felt uplifted, inspired and motivated (these are the words I used to describe an encounter with God’s presence). Or maybe because I couldn’t see any other choice.

You’ve Got Mail

We came a bit late, the worship had already started, I came with my friend Tiffany. We managed to find our seats. On my left I had Tiffany and on her left, there was a Chinese guy who seemed to be praying really intensely. Around two hours later, by the end of the service, something unexpected happened. This Chinese guy on Tiffany’s left leaned over her and said something along the lines that God asked him to tell me “Do not worry, you will be good, you will prosper”.

I was surprised, to say the least, but I have to admit, these words had a huge impact on me. Even though my challenges were not gone and I was still asking the questions: how I’m gonna get money for rent, food, and bills, but something shifted inside me, I knew I was not alone. God asked the Chinese guy to tell me that I will be good and I will prosper so I made a choice to hold on to that promise.  

Crying Out on the Red Sofa

Two years passed and then we hit another patch. Again we worked very hard day and night with little results. I looked at my finances, it was looking bad. To make it worse I stopped seeing hope continuing with the existing business. I felt burnt out, we put so much effort and got so little results. The company that I represented brought several changes with products and that confused our customers and business partners and as a result, many of them were dropping out. That created loads of uncertainty.

I had an internal conflict, I badly needed money but in my heart, I could not represent this company any longer. I was exhausted, burnt out and I had enough. I remember sitting on the red sofa in our living room is really stressed out desperately looking for options. To add to that, we calculated the time our credit cards could last, it looked bad. That was a scary place, I did not know what to do. I felt the wave of uncertainty going through my body. Then I remembered testimonies of other people, who were in similar situations and they decided to call on the name of Jesus and miraculously solution came and the situation got turned around. Bible says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:13. I was at that point myself and I shouted: “Jesus help me, I need your help here”. It came out from my heart. My wife was next to me.

Divine Phone Call

What happened after is hard to believe. About 30 min later, I received a phone call. A really close friend of mine gave me a call and asked me if I would like to join him and help him out building his recruitment business as he needed help. I smiled and I said, “yes sure”. I put down the phone. I looked into my wife’s eyes, she looked at me and we both knew it was the answer to our prayers.

Recruitment Business

I agreed with my friend that we would work on commission only, no salary. Knowing that we stepped into something that God offered us, gave us confidence and certainty and we took massive action.

However, there was a challenge ahead of us. The sales cycle in recruitment is quite long, that meant that after closing a sale we would need to wait around 2-3 months for money to come in, but we did not have that much time in our bank account. The minimum payments on our credit cards were about to top over our overdraft. We pushed away from the fears and worries and we decided to take massive action trusting everything will work out. I did not want to tell my friend about our financial situation, we pressed on. A couple of weeks passed by, we had a couple of great potential deals in the pipeline but no sales yet…

The Dreaded Day Arrived

Finally, the dreaded day arrived, I remember logging into my bank account, we were touching the very bottom. Even one very small transaction would make my account go over the limit and that would mean getting penalties both from the bank side and the credit card company. I looked at my account and tried to figure out the best options. I still did not want to talk to my friend about it. I decided to give a short time to think it through and I think I prayed too.

A couple of hours later my friend contacted me and said: “You guys have been working so hard for a couple of weeks, I know you did not close any sales yet, but I feel that I should transfer you some money in advance, I know the sales will come through soon”. I said “thank you” and smiled. I knew it was the answer to my prayers. To make it even harder to believe, this situation happened another two times. I never told him about our situation, the Holy Spirit led him and all was taken care of virtually in the last moment just before we crossed the overdraft limit.

Another Miracle Transfer

I have to mention here one more situation that involves him and another money transfer that had happened about a year before. Again, it was just incredible divine timing.

During one of the cold winters my father who lives in Poland got a massive gas bill, it was more than we could bear. My father is a gardener, he is 65 so during the winter time he does not have any income apart from his small pension. I and my brothers were bouncing ideas about how to raise money but three of us were in needy situations ourselves and we could not find a way to get it covered. The deadline had already passed, my father got several reminder notes. We were really close to having the gas disconnected. If that happened, the freezing winter would cause irreversible damage in the house.

I went down on my knees and prayed for a solution. Within a couple of days, I got a phone call from that friend and he said: “I had a really great month in my business and I feel led to bless you with this amount, so please do not say anything, just receive it”. It was exactly the amount I needed. I smiled again and said, “thank you”. My friend still does not know the full details of the above situations, reading this post will be the first time he will be finding out about it. It was a miracle.

Still Internet Marketing

Back to the recruitment business, I remember going for a prayer meeting with my friends from the church in Malaysia who moves very strongly in the prophetic gift. I prayed for direction and for my next steps for the recruitment business. However, Elijah released words that recruitment business would take loads of time and that my direction was affiliate marketing. I found it hard to believe as I felt burnt out with the online business I got excited doing this new business.

We continued with the recruitment business, we got our breakthrough, we got two deals closed. What is interesting, the news about the deals being closed came in moments of rest. One big deal came when we were at the Prayer Mountain just outside of Kuala Lumpur, having fun with our friends. The second one came when we were in a hospital in India and we could not work at that time. Additionally, we got 20 other sales coming from our online business, even though we did not put any marketing for a very long time.

I listened to a great teaching by Bill Johnson who said that victory is given either to a soldier with persistence and determination or it comes in the moment of rest as an unearned gift. A bit like receiving an inheritance from a loving father He said. “Some gifts are too precious to give to the soldier because he will think he will earn it.”

First Door Closing – Moving to the Maldives

At the end of 2014 things strangely turned and we decided to move to the Maldives. We did not want that but somehow all started pointing that direction. Our landlady came and gave us notice, both of our visas were about to finish around the same time and then another confirmation came. I was driving with my friend Elijah and suddenly in the middle of the conversation he turned to me and released a prophecy saying, “God says, you will be moving out very soon”, he did not know anything about what we were going through.

When we made our decision, we started selling all the furniture, books, and other items we accumulated over 5 years. Initially, it looked overwhelming as there were plenty of things to deal with, but the sale turned out to be such a blessing and a fast process that we could not anticipate that. We sold everything and we raised money, the last two items were dining table and bed, God arranged it all that we sold them just before moving out. I reflect back on it and it was clearly God’s plan for us to move on.

Second Door Closing

We pushed on with the recruitment business. We made these two sales and we pressed on hoping for more. But somehow we got stuck. We got several deals that were very promising. Strangely they got to a nearly final point, but somehow we could not get them closed. We pressed on still hoping for things to work out. After a while I remember sitting down and looking at the numbers, analyzing our projects. It came to me that all of the recent projects that we worked on they either got shut down by the client or the candidates were constantly rejected. When I realised that, I did not feel fear, I felt conviction inside me that God is closing this door for us and He wants us to open another one. I did not know which one but I trusted He would.

Council of Advisers

Few days passed, and one Sunday morning, I sat down and took time studying the Word of God. I did not know what to study but picked something that would be relevant to our situation. I found 5 verses, I started reading them out loud, but once I got to Proverbs 11:14, I choked, I could not say it as my eyes teared up. The verse said, “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.”. I felt strongly inside me that it is for me and our new direction. I immediately wanted to implement what I received so I reached out to a couple of people looking to create a council of advisors. Because of this action, I was lead from one person to another and we ended up seeing a business opportunity that we decided to go for.

New Door Opens Widely

Again, because we felt led by God, we took massive action. It has been slightly over 2 months of running this business. It has been an incredible journey, I have never experienced anything like that. Even though there are obstacles and challenges but I know that because God led us here I choose not to allow doubts and fears get me to question if that is the right business for me. As I am writing this testimony, today we have received the biggest sale ever. Single day amounts to several months pay. That’s the God we serve. I know that we have amazing months ahead of us with God’s grace. All glory goes to God.

9 But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,

Nor have entered into the heart of man

The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”[a]

1 Corinthians 2:9

Photo Credit