By Clare BruceFriday 8 Nov 2019Inspirational StoriesReading Time: 2 minutes
When Paula came to Australia to start a new life and provide for her family back in the Philippines, she was completely on her own.
Like many immigrants, she came here for a job opportunity, to try and provide a better life for her family – but with no family or friends here to help her get started, loneliness and isolation were a daily challenge. Often she felt she wanted to give up and go back home.
“I was brought up in a very closely-knit family back in the Philippines – me and my brother, my mum and my dad,” she explains. “We were poor as a family, we were really financially struggling, but we remain closely bonded together. I want to give them a better life.”
“I was just so tired…. I asked myself, ‘Is this really the life… that I dreamed of?'”
“The first few weeks, it was very exciting, it’s like, ‘Oh, this is a dream come true, this is the place that I want to be’. After those maybe two or three weeks that’s where the loneliness, the homesickness, comes in. When I come home every day it’s only me, there’s no-one to talk to.
“One time I came home from grocery shopping and I’m carrying all these heavy loads of bags and I was just so tired…. I asked myself, ‘Is this really the life… that I dreamed of?”
The Day Things Started to Change
But one day Paula turned on the radio, and came across Hope 103.2—and that’s when things started to change.
“I came across to a worship song that I’m really very familiar with… From that day on I kept on listening.”
The radio station has become more than just a companion; it’s helped her trust God in her circumstances.
“Sometimes when I turn on the radio the right song will play at the right time, the right message, the right words.”
“It has become an avenue for me to deepen and to grow my faith,” Paula explained. “Sometimes when I turn on the radio the right song will play at the right time, the right message, the right words. God is using Hope as an instrument to send His message to me that I am not alone in this journey.
“I still experience that same loneliness, same homesickness, I still want to be with my family – but now through Hope I know better how to handle things, how to navigate life’s ups and downs and different trials… I know that God is with me, He is looking after me and he is always there to guide me.”
Help Others Like Paula
To reach out to others like Paula who are isolated and need encouragement too, why not support Hope 103.2’s “Hope Worth Sharing” Appeal.
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