Two years ago, Lydia Sim felt a restlessness she could not quite understand.

“Everything was good. Life was great. Whatever goals I wanted to reach, I had reached. But I felt something was missing even though I had everything,” said the 32-year-old.

A native of Kuching, Malaysia, Lydia had come to Singapore to work in 2015. By July 2022, she was doing exactly what she loved – giving piano lessons to children as a freelancer.

For two years, Lydia was a piano teacher at a music school before becoming a freelance piano teacher.

Yet the disquiet in her soul persisted.

“I told the Lord, ’I think life has more than this.’”

That September while at a wedding, she talked to a friend of a friend who was going to Australia on a working holiday. That sparked an idea in Lydia’s mind.

“I thought: Sounds fun. Why not take a year of sabbatical leave to explore something else? I have an adventurous spirit.”  

Lydia in the United States in 2015. She loves to travel.

Lydia decided to apply for an Australian visa while she prayed over her next steps. The next month, she awoke with three words that “came into my spirit”: Reset, renew and realign.

“I wrote it down and stuck it to my desk. I was thinking: Reset everything? Move somewhere else? Maybe Australia?

“I prayed, ‘Lord, if You really want me to move out of my comfort zone, then grant me this Australian visa.’”

When the visa came through without a hitch and a peace descended on Lydia’s heart, she thought everything was set. She would soon be living Down Under.

But she was very wrong.

“Living Water first”

By March 2023, Lydia was making arrangements for her travels.

“I prayed to the Lord, ‘If this is from You, make my transition a smooth one because my students have been with me for seven years.’

“Thankfully, when I told my students and the parents I am taking a break for one year, there were zero challenges.

“They said, ‘You’re single, no commitments, why not just do it?’ I had their blessings.”

Just when she thought she had the all-clear, she felt a prompting in her heart about Living Waters Village in Indonesia.

For two weeks as she packed up her life in Singapore for her sojourn to Australia, Living Waters Village “kept coming up in my spirit”.

Living Waters Village spans over 300 hectares of land. Each child there is equipped to return to their village and other villages to bring the good news of Jesus.

In 2018, Lydia had learnt about the ministry to some 700 neglected Dayak children in the jungles of West Kalimantan.

Its founder, Australian pastor Ronny Heyboer, had gone to her church to share about the work there, which includes running homes, schools, a nursery for babies, sewing rooms, visitor quarters, a training centre, a centre for worship, a clinic and a bakery so the children can grow in a safe space.

“Our God is very cute. I serve a very cute God,” Lydia mused. “He knows how to handle our stubbornness and naughtiness.

“When I first heard about Living Waters, I really wanted to go to this miracle place one day. I did try to connect with the people there. But it was never my priority and it never happened.

“Now God was reminding me of this Living Waters Village.”

Living Waters Village started when Ronny and Kay Heyboer left their home in Australia to fulfil God’s vision for neglected children in the jungles of Indonesia to have a home.

But Lydia had her heart set on Australia. So she bargained with God: She would go to Living Waters Village after her time in Australia, she promised Him.

“I kept ignoring that Voice until one night at 3am I woke up and couldn’t sleep.

“The words ‘Living Waters first’ kept coming to me. I told God, ‘Lord, I am very tired. I need to get up at 6am to serve in worship at two services. Lord, I need to sleep.’

“But I couldn’t sleep.”

After an hour of wrestling with God, Lydia relented. The moment she agreed to go to Living Waters Village, she fell asleep.

A need for a piano teacher  

Lydia’s plan was to visit the village for four weeks en route to Australia. On her first day at Living Waters Village, she had coffee with a local pastor. The conversation naturally turned to her job in Singapore.

“When I told him I am a piano teacher, he looked at me and said, ‘Piano teacher? Would you consider staying here for a longer time to help us? We have been praying for a long time for a piano teacher.’

“I kept it in my heart.”

Lydia with students she coached to play at worship services at Living Waters Village.

That was the first of 10 signs from God that He meant for her to stay for a year.

“I am very stubborn. But God knows how to deal with me.”

A few nights later at a night service, the pastors spoke passionately about the need to nurture a new generation of keyboardists.

“I was sitting down there, ignoring the Voice in my spirit when I realised that I recognised exactly what their problems were.

“I told God, ‘Lord, not me. Send someone else.’

“Then the Lord spoke to my heart. He said, ‘Lydia, first, you are a professional piano teacher. Then you know Bahasa Indonesia. Third, you like children.

“If not you, who can I send?’”

Lydia remained unmoved.

Visions and Words

That Saturday while in the bathroom, she suddenly saw a vision of herself teaching the children in the village how to play the keyboard.

Lydia eventually agreed to stay and coach the youths and children in keyboard.

“I just sat there and said, ‘No.’ Then I started crying. My tears couldn’t stop. That was my third confirmation.”

That night, Lydia was invited to Ps Ronny’s house for dinner. She shared with him the vision she had in the morning as well as her reluctance to obey.

Lydia with Ps Ronny.

Then he told her: “May I just advise you: Instead of asking God for what you want, ask Him what He wants you to do.’”

As Lydia pondered his words, she realised that in her six years as a Christian, she had asked God for many things and been very blessed. But she had, indeed, never asked God what He wanted of her.

In the middle of the night, God woke her up and gave her two words: “One year” and “training centre”. That was the fifth sign.

The next morning was a Sunday. As Lydia sat in the garden which had three crosses, she asked God: “What do You mean by training centre?”

The garden with the three crosses where Lydia talked to God.

God revealed that He was going to train her. He would mould her, disciple her and heal her. The second purpose of the training centre was for her to train the children in the village to play the keyboard.

“I saw a picture of myself walking around in the village and the children coming to me. It felt very comforting. It felt like home.”

“Can you spare one year for My children?”

That evening, Lydia spoke to an Australian missionary who had given up a stellar career to spend three years at Living Waters Village. He was 30 when he made the decision to dedicate 10% of his life to God’s work.

“What he said made me think: How come I could set aside time to go on holidays, shopping, to do the things that I want, but I never thought of setting aside time to serve?

“That was a revelation for me.”

Lydia at a Chinese class she conducted at Living Waters Village.

At the morning service the next day, while singing a worship song in Bahasa, Lydia saw herself “running in a circle”.

“Then the Lord stopped me, held me and said, ‘Lydia, stay. I am here.’ That morning, I cried out to the Lord,” Lydia recounted, tearing at the memory.

The ninth and tenth confirmations came swiftly. God showed her just why her Australian visa was approved so smoothly.

“He showed me it was a passport for me to get out of my comfort zone so He could reveal Himself more and more through this journey.

“If He had told me straight away to come here to Indonesia and serve as a missionary for a year? Confirm I don’t want!

“I saw His gentleness and tender mercy in this journey, very gently leading me step by step.”

Lydia also realised that she had viewed Australia as an escape, a place to “settle things” in her life. But God revealed that she should “run to Him instead”.

Living Waters Village, where there was plenty of opportunity to encounter God in Word and worship, surrounded by loving Christians, would be the perfect place to find refuge in God.  

Her last concern was finances. One year at Living Waters Village would mean one year without work, one year without money.

“The Lord said, ‘Lydia, you have been telling people you have been blessed with supportive students and their parents. Can you spare this one year for My children?’

“That was when I said ‘yes’ to the Lord.”

Look out for Part 2 of Lydia’s adventure at Living Waters Village.

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