澳洲，艾美（Emmy）

疫情之下的祈祷和植物

    在澳洲墨尔本，艾美的丈夫因为新冠肺炎遭到封锁导致公司将他的工作时间减少变为兼职时，一家人面临着无家可归的未来。

    艾美和丈夫乔纳森最近受洗加入复临教会，他们的信心火热，并将这件事情交托给了上帝，他们开始祷告祈求上帝安排一份工作可以帮助他们维持一家五口人的生活。

    更加现实的是找工作也面临着不同的挑战，比如艾美不会开车，加上就业市场异常艰难。艾美参加第一次工作面试时，她带了一个朋友一起去，但面试官最终将这份工作给了这位朋友。

    “别担心，”乔纳森向她保证。 “如果你没有得到那份工作，那就不是上帝的旨意，工作也不适合你。”

    艾美继续为此祈祷。 在她祈求的这段期间，她在种植多肉植物上找到了乐趣。 她与这些植物自拍并发到社交网络上，并且她还加入了一个多肉植物种植者的群组。

    有一天，一家苗圃在社交媒体群组上发布了一段影片让她大受启发。

    “我希望我能和你们一起工作，”她在影片下方留言道。 “我真的很喜欢多肉植物。”

    “你住在哪里？” 艾美收到了回复。

    当她给出自己的位置时，苗圃工作人员回复了信息并邀请她打电话给他们的主管。

    接电话的男人像是一直在等她的来电。

    “今天下午四点半，你要不要来我们的苗圃找我？” 他问。

    艾美抓住了这个机会。 “当然！”  她很高兴，因为苗圃就在她家附近，步行就可以过去，甚至不需要搭车过去。

但是她更希望上帝的旨意成就。

    “主啊，如果这份工作不适合我，就做点什么来阻止我吧！” 她祷告说。

    艾美不想迟到，她在下午1点30分离开了自己的家。 她只用了半个小时就到了苗圃，这比她预约的时间还早，于是在等待的时候，她尽量让自己隐身于灌木丛中不被人看到。

    但园长很快就发现了她。 “你是艾美吗？” 他问。

    她点头回应时，园主便邀请她进入自己的办公室，并介绍了苗圃的业务。 然后，他将她介绍给每位员工，并向她展示苗圃的植物。 主管感受到了艾美的热情，并当场给了她一份全职工作。

    艾美感到惊讶无比，在疫情大流行的期间，上帝利用她在社交媒体上的评论就给她安排了一份离家如此近的工作。 她和她的家人将有能力继续拥有他们的房子。

    艾美很快就学会了苗圃所有的工作范畴，她可以在任何需要她的地方帮忙。 她喜欢各种各样的工作。 她还对多肉植物的繁殖方式感兴趣，甚至她想在家中繁殖自己的植物。 在得到苗圃的许可后，她将剪枝的部分带回家种植，开始了自己的种植收藏。 时间在她的工作中飞逝，她深觉上帝确实回应了她的祈祷。

    到了发放薪资的日子，艾美很困惑。 那个星期五，其他人都领到了工资，但她一无所获。 当她问起这件事时，她被告知她不会得到任何报酬，因为她一直把植物剪下来的枝条带回家。

    艾美简直不敢相信。 是的，她把剪下来的枝条带回家了，但她有得到许可。 没人跟她说过要用剪枝代替工资。

    回到家里，她的丈夫乔纳森鼓励她把这件事交给上帝。

    “别担心，”他说。 “我们只要为此祈祷。”

他们整个周末都为此祈祷。

    周一早上，艾美收到了一个美好的惊喜。 她到了公司，还没来得及多问关于工资的问题时，园长夫人就拿着一个漂亮的蛋糕走了过来并诚恳的道歉。 她说其实是发生了很大的误会，艾美将获得全勤工资。

    宽慰和喜悦充满了艾美的心。 上帝再一次回应了她的祈祷。 在疫情流行的期间，她和她的家人将能够保住自己的家。

来源：本文译自《圣工消息》（社会青年季刊）2022年第四季

Prayers, Plants, and A Pandemic

Emmy faced the real prospect of homelessness when a COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne, Australia, caused her husband’s company to reduce his hours to part time.

But she had faith. She and her husband, Jonathan, had recently been baptized and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She began to pray for a job to support Jonathan and their three sons.

Several challenges loomed. Emmy did not know how to drive, and the job market was extremely difficult. When she went for a first job interview, she took a friend along with her, and job interviewer ended up offering the job to the friend.

“Don’t worry,” Jonathan reassured her. “If you didn’t get that job, it was not God’s will, and it was not for you.”

Emmy kept praying. As she prayed, she found joy in raising succulent plants. She took selfies with the plants and posted them on Facebook. She joined a Facebook group for succulent-plant growers.

One day, she was inspired by a video posted in the Facebook group by a plant nursery.

“I wish I could work with you guys,” she wrote below the video. “I really love succulents.”

“Where do you live?” came the reply.

When she gave her location, the plant nursery wrote back with an invitation to call its director.

The man who answered the phone was waiting for her call.

“Would you like to come to see me at our nursery at 4:30 this afternoon?” he asked.

Emmy jumped at the opportunity. “Of course!” she said. She was delighted because the nursery was within walking distance of her house. She wouldn’t need to find a ride.

But she wanted God’s will to be done.

“Lord, if this job is not for me, do something to stop it,” she prayed.

Not wanting to be late, Emmy left her house at 1:30 p.m. She arrived at the nursery in just 30 minutes, far too early for her appointment. As she waited, she tried to hide surreptitiously in bushes, not wanting to be seen.

But the nursery director spotted her quickly. “Are you Emmy?” he asked.

When she nodded, he invited her into his office, and he described the nursery’s business. Then he introduced her to each employee and showed her the nursery’s plants. Seeing her enthusiasm, he gave her a full-time job on the spot.

Emmy was amazed that God had used her comment on Facebook to give her a job so close to home in the middle of a pandemic. She and her family would be able to afford to keep their house.

Emmy soon learned all areas of work in the nursery, and she could fill in wherever she was needed. She enjoyed the variety of work. She also was interested in how the succulents propagated because she wanted to propagate her own plants at home. With permission from the nursery, she began taking cuttings home to start her own collection. Time flew by as she worked. God had truly answered her prayers.

Or so she thought.

On payday, Emmy was bewildered. While everyone else received pay that Friday, she got nothing. When she asked about it, she was told that she would not be paid because she had been taking plant cuttings home.

Emmy could hardly believe it. Yes, she had taken cuttings home, but with permission. Nobody had said anything about the cuttings being in lieu of wages.

At home, her husband, Jonathan, encouraged her to take the matter to God.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “We’ll just pray about it.”

And they did all weekend.

On Monday morning, Emmy received a pleasant surprise. When she arrived at work, before she could even ask more questions about her pay, the director’s wife walked over to her with a beautiful cake and a sincere apology. She said that there had been a big misunderstanding and Emmy would receive full pay.

Relief and joy filled Emmy’s heart. Once again, God had answered her prayers. She and her family would be able to keep their home amid the pandemic.

Please find the original article at: https://am.adventistmission.org/mqa22q4-12