Author: Luey Looi
Company: Dr. Kiseki
Industry: Health Technology
Position: Health Consultant
Every Season Has Its Purpose
“You received such a good education. Do you ever regret giving up your career to be a full-time mother?”
It is a question I have been asked many times over the years.
Each time, I smile and answer, “No.”
Not because I didn’t enjoy my career or lacked ambition, but because life has taught me that every season has its purpose.
Growing up, my parents owned a small grocery store. They worked tirelessly to provide for our family. Because they were always busy, the simple meals my mother prepared became some of my most treasured childhood memories. Those moments quietly shaped my heart and inspired a dream: if I had children one day, I wanted to be present for them and not miss the precious years of their growing up.
After I married, I was blessed with a career I loved while building a family with my husband. Then he was offered a position overseas, and suddenly we faced one of the biggest decisions of our lives.
I wrestled with the choice.
On one side was a career I had worked hard to build. On the other was an unknown future in a foreign country. Leaving meant saying goodbye to my parents, family, close friends, and everything familiar. Yet I also believed this opportunity could create a better future for our family.
I did not know where this decision would lead.
So I brought everything before God in prayer.
What surprised me most was not that every question was answered, but that I experienced an indescribable peace.
Nothing about my circumstances had changed.
Yet something within me had.
That peace gave me the courage to take the first step.
What I never imagined was that the first step would become a seventeen-year journey.
During those years, our family lived in five different countries. Every move meant starting over, adapting to a new culture, building new friendships, and sometimes carrying the quiet ache of missing home.
Whenever loneliness or uncertainty crept in, I remembered the peace I had received through prayer before we left. I simply reminded myself to take one more step.
Slowly, unfamiliar places became home.
Having walked that road myself, I came to understand the challenges faced by families living abroad. I discovered that people often needed more than practical help, they needed someone willing to listen, encourage, and simply be present.
Sometimes, a cup of coffee, a heartfelt conversation, or a listening ear was enough to restore hope.
I had thought I was choosing to accompany my own family through life.
Instead, I discovered that God was also giving me opportunities to accompany many others.
Looking back, I realize those seventeen years as a full-time mother gave me far more than I expected. When my children grew older, I returned to the workforce with not only professional experience but also greater compassion, resilience, patience, and perspective. Those years had shaped me in ways no career alone could have done.
Today, I see that none of my journey was wasted. My childhood, my career, the years devoted to raising my children, and our life overseas have all become part of who I am.
People still ask me, “Do you regret your decision?”
My answer has never changed.
“No.”
Not because the journey was easy, but because the peace I received at the beginning gave me the courage to start and the strength to keep going.
I still do not know what new seasons lie ahead.
But I am no longer afraid.
Looking back, I can see that every ordinary season quietly prepared me for the next.