CHAPTER 9 GOD'S PLAN FOR PERRY
For Perry Alus Siboro, God always shows signs of a better direction for him to choose. A person may have other wishes, but God also determines a person's path in life. Becoming a nurse is proof of God's power over him, a profession that he tried to leave twice but in the end it came back to be his destiny. His life experience made him understand that God always shows us signs of directions that are actually better for us to choose. We often ignore God's guidance in our lives, but as long as we are honest with ourselves and with God's plans through reflection, then the plans God makes are always much better.
At that time, Perry had decided to become a nurse, but there were still things that hindered his intention to serve as a Christian nurse. The work he does now is not directly related to patients who need services. At that time he often became bored with what he was doing. Educated as a nurse, but now works only with medical equipment, does not directly interact with patients.
In his reflection, he remembered carrying out practicums when he was still at school, examining and treating sick people at the Adventist Medical Center, which was located on Jl. Kiaracondong, Bandung. The mental satisfaction he gets when he can interact directly with patients and help with the problems they face makes him miss it. Every smile of the patients he managed to help brought his thoughts far into the past. His heart continues to stir, inviting him to be closer to the patients and provide better service for them. The spirit of longing to involve himself directly in the service of fellow human beings flows freely in his blood.
His longing daydreams were shattered when he returned to the hard walls of reality. His intention to continue his education at the Faculty of Medicine was no longer possible due to lack of funds. Her other desire to become a midwife, who could directly help mothers who needed services, was also unattainable. As previously mentioned, her application to the Midwife School at the Hasan Sadikin General Hospital in Bandung was not accepted, because according to the director of the Midwife School at that time, until that time there had been no men taking midwife training. There wasn't much he could do to fulfill the call of his inner yearning at that time.
But God once again had other plans for Perry. One day, he met Maruli Sinaga, who at that time served as Secretary/Treasurer of the South Sulawesi Adventist Mission Region in Makassar. He offered him to become Director of the Makassar Adventist Medical Center. This offer is available because the leader of the Makassar Adventist Medical Center is a fellow nurse from the Bandung Adventist Hospital and this person plans to continue his education in Bandung in the near future. That is why new personnel are being sought to replace him.
The call to lead the Makassar Adventist Medical Center was considered by Perry to be a call from God for him, and as an answer to his current state of boredom, as well as fulfilling his longing to provide direct service to patients. For him, this is the fate that God has determined as his next step in life. But on the other hand, he did not forget Leries Nurhayati Sitorus, the woman he was dating at that time. He realized that his relationship with Leries was close enough and it was time to think about continuing to the next level, uniting in holy marriage. But at that time they still didn't know what they had to do to realize their noble intention of forming a household because there were still many challenges and obstacles they had to face.
Perry is once again in the situation of having to choose between two golden opportunities in his hands, namely God's call to become the leader of the Makassar Adventist Medical Center or building a holy household with Leries. He decided to express his willingness to Maruli Sinaga, and his intention to marry Leries, and asked whether the opportunity to become leader of the Medicine Center could wait until they had finished their wedding, which time Perry could not determine when. Maruli Sinaga also welcomed the plan he put forward positively; he was told that it would be better for him to get married first before coming to Makassar. The issue of an undetermined wedding time is also not a problem. Furthermore, he said that after the wedding was held, immediately inform him so that the South Sulawesi Mission Region could send him an official summons for husband and wife, and take care of everything related to the summons. Perry felt relieved when he heard the words of Maruli Sinaga. Once again his enthusiasm stirred, he couldn't wait for God's big plan that had been prepared for him. The next thing to do is prepare for his wedding with Leries.