You can get it by end of this month, if you don't mind settling for a different colour. So my friendly car salesman tells me. I had booked a new Bezza at the end of Dec 2023. I was told there was an expected waiting period of at least 4-6 months. Apparently that's short. If I wanted the manual model, it would take even longer...9 months easily. I scratched my head; you mean the manual one is so popular? No, dummy, nobody wants manual, so it's production is pushed down the time-line. Imagine 9 months to get a car; one can birth a baby into the world already. Anyway as everyone tells me... aunty, nobody drives manual car anymore la.
Says who?...I drive a manual proton saga which has served me very well for the past 17 years. It's got good pick-up, is solid enough to withstand the occasional knocks, and gives good mileage. I don't need fancy leather seats, or all sorts of techy systems that go beep beep every time I take off my seat belt or reverse into a parking lot. But all good things must come to an end, at least on this side of earth. So it was time to retire old faithful, as it was costing me quite a bit , going in and out of the workshop more and more frequently. When I asked my mechanic why he keeps changing this and that ting every time I bring the car in, he smiles and says straight into my face, "Ma'am, it's like old people, you know, here pain today, there pain tomorrow." Ya, I get the idea. So I ask him again since he so smart car guru....what cheap new car got? I heard the special offer Azia very good deal at $22k. He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. I won't tell what he said, otherwise I might open myself to a defamation suit. Suffice to say he recommended a Bezza to suit my minimal needs. Auto, not manual.
So that's how I ended up wandering into the Perodua showroom nearest my house and met this guy who turns out to be a fellow Christian attending a BM church like me. And he's Chinese too. Small world. He nicely handled everything, right down to offering to sell off my old faithful.
He had warned me it would be a long wait to get the new "baby." So it was a surprise when he called about 2 months later about an earlier availability. I have learnt to be careful when things crop up, so instead of jumping at the chance, I waited for God's confirmation that it was His favor and goodness that's accelerated the whole process. I am already very blessed 2 of my children contributed towards the purchase price, so they actually have a share in the new baby. Obviously I needed to settle the payment first though.
For some reason I couldn't do it online, so I had to visit my neighborhood bank. And that surfaced up an issue, which I wasn't even aware of. I couldn't find my IC in the normal slot in my wallet when the bank officer requested it for verification. I don't even know when or how I lost my IC. And if not for this visit made necessary because of the car, I would have been (blissfully ) unaware I was walking around without my IC.
I was due to leave for Oman in 5 days. I was dreading having to run around to apply for a replacement IC , knowing how long the wheels of govt bureaucracy take to move. So off I trotted to the police station to do the first thing ..make a police report. But I was pleasantly surprised at how efficient our men (or rather the woman in my case) in blue were. I was in and out of the station in less than 10 mins, police report in hand. I didn't even have to write down anything myself. She just asked me to confirm the circumstances and with a click here and a click there on the computer, printed out the report. All I had to do was sign off at the bottom. I checked..it was all there, all my personal particulars were correct. I wondered to myself, the govt data system already knows so much about me, why the need for a physical IC in this digital age!?
My next stop was JPN , IC department. I reached there pretty late at 4 pm. Again I had presumed wrongly that it would be a long wait. For I was in and out in 15 mins. Everything was already in the database. I just posed for my photo, confirmed I am a Christian, and got my finger prints scanned. And I would even have gotten the physical card on the very day itself, if not for the fact that the system shuts down automatically near to closing time. So I was told to come back ...not in 2 weeks, not in 1 month...but the very next day. I didn't need to carry any temporary paper IC, unlike in the old days. How times have changed, in this case definitely for the better.
So the very next day, I was back in JPN office. This time I didn't even have time to warm my seat before my number was called. In 2 minutes flat, I held a new IC in my hand. What a record - a new IC in 2 days...what was lost was replaced with a brand new thing at super-fast speed.
Now I have a new car, a new IC. But more than just the physical blessings, as I pondered over all that had happened, I know God is preparing and accelerating unprecedented new things in my life for this season. And what the devil (always) tries to steal, kill and destroy, Jesus replaces with life abundant. My identity is safe in Christ.
But I need to let go of my own desires. I wanted a silver colored car, that would take minimum 6 months to be delivered. Here was immediately available a grey one. I have my own plans, which I think are good. God has different and always better plans. But I had to give up my "good things" to tap into His best things.
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new year 2024, I have already traveled to places I have never been before, for prayer (in Oman) 
What a joy to live, to serve. I am so glad God preserves me to give me more, to do more for Him. So although the enemy of my soul will always try to hinder, delay or stop what God's doing in my life, there's no way he can succeed. What I may lose, whether it's a physical IC or whatever, God restores fully in double quick time. Sure, there are problems along the way. So what. Jesus said "I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
That's enough for me. I do not need to fear anything or anyone when I just listen and follow after my Savior, Redeemer, Master, Lover and Beloved of my soul.
