“I knew God was calling me to be a teacher”: One woman’s journey from poverty and pain to purpose

The call came at 6.20am on October 24, 2017.

Lissuzianah Lawrence, known to most as Lizzie, was already awake. The schoolteacher and founder of Agape House, a student hostel in Sabah, Malaysia, had been up since 4.30am, preparing for the day ahead.

“The call shattered my world,” Lizzie recalled. “There had been a tragic car accident, and four of my students had died. Others were gravely injured, and the driver was my 18-year-old brother.”

The car had hit a pothole and veered into a deep ditch. Of the four girls who lost their lives, two would have been the first in their families to attend university.

Villagers at the scene of the tragic accident in 2017, where four of Lizzie’s students passed away.

“Why, God?” Lizzie cried. “I’m sure this accident would never have happened if I had not said ‘yes’ to Your call. The girls are gone, and my brother is only 18. Why must he bear this pain? I don’t understand.”

Heaven was silent.

Then, during one of the funerals, a woman approached her.

“Until today, I do not know who she was,” Lizzie said. “She embraced me and whispered, ‘Cikgu (‘teacher’ in Malay) Lizzie, do not even think about shutting down your hostel. The work you are doing is good.’”

When the police and critics of Agape House encouraged the grieving families to press charges against Lizzie, they refused.

“We will not do that to Cikgu Lizzie,” they said in unity. “She has done nothing wrong. In fact, our children became better people because of her.”

The poorest of the poor

Pitas, Sabah, is one of Malaysia’s poorest districts. Many children do not complete secondary education, and families often live in generational poverty.

Lizzie, 36, understands that reality intimately.

The eldest of six siblings, she grew up under the suffocating grip of lack, and learned early to put others’ needs before her own.

When she was 13, a drought devastated her family’s crops. For nearly a year, there was no rice in the house. Her family survived by grinding and cooking old corn.

Snacks were rare. Pocket money was nonexistent. Books became her refuge.

“My mother never went to school,” Lizzie shared. “But she attended a government-run adult literacy programme and learned how to read and write. She taught me to read when I was four, and I’ve been a reader since.”

A desperate search for a way out

By seven, Lizzie was devouring every book she could find – novels, encyclopaedias, anything she could get her hands on.

By 12, she had finished every book in her school library. She also read the Bible from cover to cover, simply because it was a book.

Her love for learning translated into academic excellence. In both her national examinations, she scored the highest marks in her district.

Yet inwardly, she was unravelling.

Ashamed of her poverty and struggling with deep insecurity, Lizzie attempted suicide at 15. Three years later, she tried again.

It was then that a classmate invited her to a Christian student fellowship. Though she had been raised in a Christian home, Lizzie believed God did not exist. Science, she felt, had all the answers.

However, this time, she agreed to go. “I had nothing to live for, so why not?” she said.

That day, she watched a video of German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke teaching about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man (Luke 16:19-31).

“One line struck me,” Lizzie recalled. “‘Do you know what the sin of the rich man was? He had said ‘no’ to Jesus all his life.’”

She realised that though materially poor, her heart mirrored the rich man’s. She, too, had said ‘no’ to Jesus.

“For the first time in my life, I fell to my knees and cried uncontrollably for hours,” she said. “Looking back, I believe that even though I had read the Bible without understanding or faith, God had planted seeds in me through His Word.”

On February 23, 2003, Lizzie surrendered her life to Christ.

Obedience over ambition

Eight months later, her first test of obedience came.

Lizzie had her sights set on becoming the next governor of Bank Negara Malaysia. But during a student retreat, God interrupted her plans.

“I was worshipping when I saw myself standing in front of many students wearing secondary school uniforms,” she said. “I knew God was calling me to be a teacher.”

She resisted.

“Can it be something else – anything but teaching?” she asked. Teaching is often thankless and lonely work, and in government service, one could be posted to any school across the nation.

But God’s reply was firm: “This is exactly what I want you to be.”

Lizzie wept. She knew obedience would mean laying down her dream of making a name for herself, and settling for a quieter life. Yet through her tears, she said ‘yes’.

After completing her degree in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), she was sent back to Kapit in 2009 and became a teacher at a local secondary school.

Barely a year later, God spoke again: “Now is the time for you to start a house ministry (student hostel).”

In rural towns of Sabah, students often have to travel great distances to attend school, making accommodation options closer to school highly sought after. Many locals open student hostels, often in their own homes, charging a fee for students to live on weekdays.

“I told Him I wasn’t ready,” Lizzie said. She was only 25. “And He replied, ‘Yes, I know you are not ready, but I am ready.’”

She surrendered once more.

After finding a suitable house for rent, she opened Agape House on March 19, 2010, with four students.

Seeing lives transformed

Winning trust was slow. Lizzie had to meet with parents repeatedly before they agreed to let their children stay with her. Gradually, four students became eight, then 15.

Financially stretched, Lizzie wrote to several churches for support. Only one, Gateway Bahasa Melayu in Melaka, responded.

Today, Agape House is home to 36 students, aged 13 to 17.

Agape House in Pitas, Sabah, currently houses 36 secondary school students, some of which will be the first in their families to complete tertiary education.

Life there is intentionally structured: Time for studies, devotion, reading and shared routines that nurture both academic discipline and spiritual growth.

Through Agape House, Lizzie has witnessed lives transformed.

“One girl applied twice. The first time, her grades were exceptionally poor, and I hesitated. But God reminded me of my darkest moments,” she shared.

Though the girl’s family could not afford the monthly RM30 (S$8) fee, Lizzie took her in.

“She accepted Christ. Her grades improved. She became the first in her family to graduate from university,” said Lizzie.

Another boy arrived with anger and identity issues. Over the years, Lizzie walked with him through faith, identity and healing. He, too, became the first in his family to complete tertiary education.

“I am certain this is God’s calling for my life,” Lizzie said. “I have seen lives transformed beyond anything I could have imagined.”

Jesus changes the way we love

The journey, however, has not been without cost.

“As the only adult surrounded by children, it is profoundly isolating,” Lizzie admitted. “No one around me fully understands the weight I carry.”

Prayer, God’s presence, a spiritual mentor and long phone calls with trusted friends sustain her.

Lizzie (far right) with her family.

Yet some wounds cut deep.

“This year has been the hardest,” she shared quietly. “It is deeply painful when children, after becoming successful, forget Agape House, and even forget God.”

In those moments, Jesus reminds her of the ten lepers He healed and how only one returned (Luke 17:11-19).

“He reminds me that He understands rejection,” Lizzie said. “That gives me the strength to keep loving without expecting love in return. Jesus has changed the way I love.”

Brokenness to hope

After the accident, Lizzie wanted to shut Agape House down. The grief was overwhelming and the guilt, unbearable.

But looking back, she now sees that although heaven was silent, Jesus was present and evident through the very families and community she had been called to serve.

Their public defence of Agape House and their insistence that she continue were signs that God had gone before her.

Today, former students are returning to serve the home that raised them while they await government postings as teachers.

Three of them are currently helping Lizzie, supported by Teachers’ Christian Fellowship Malaysia and SIBKL, a church in Kuala Lumpur.

By God’s grace, her brother, once traumatised, has found healing. He is now on his way to becoming a qualified teacher.

“As Jesus transformed my life, He has begun to transform my community,” Lizzie said, her eyes bright. “Broken stories have become testimonies of hope.”

She takes no credit. “Agape House is God’s,” she said simply. “I am just a vessel.”

“Jesus did not just change what I do, but who I am. Then He used that to change my community. That is why, no matter the cost, I will always say ‘yes’ to His call.”

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