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My testimony

Recently wrote this. Here's the story of how God saved me. Specific names have been left out.


I was born to a Christian family – to a pair of parents who were members of *my church*. We all know how faith isn’t inherited – no one is a Christian simply because his parents were. That was pretty much true for me for much of my early life. From the age of 5 when I arrived in Singapore, probably starting to go to church, all the way to the age of 18, I lived life my own way. I had minimal regard for God – He was there, yet He was, to me, a distant God who I went to church every Sunday to hear about, but not to learn about, not to understand, and definitely not to serve. However, God’s grace never went far from me – despite me not appreciating it until much later.
By God’s grace, through these years my mom has brought both myself and my brother to church – regardless of how rebellious we were, how lazy we were. By grace I attended Sunday school almost every week in J2, taught by WL. By grace my class of ’92 was well-bonded, and despite there not being many guys in our class, the girls always took time to talk to us and make us part of the community. By grace God left in my life a father figure in my life – M.
In November 2010, I was about to graduate from school, had plans to sell ice-cream and prepare to begin my unexciting journey as a soldier. I was challenged by M and WL not to waste my time, not to do such pointless things like “sell ice-cream”. They introduced me Project Serve, a SYFC initiative to involve youths in evangelism and grow them in God’s Word. I rejected them without a thought. To me, spending 3 weeks serving a God who, to me at that time, had no interest in me was a complete waste of time.
Thankfully, they didn’t give up on me. I was coerced into going for *churchgroup* Camp, which I didn’t mind, being a familiar environment. That’s where I really discovered the love of God displayed in my life – He worked in my heart. I remember taking 970 down to church on the first day of *churchgroup* camp – making a short prayer – for God to work in my life, to display His love, to prove Himself as true. Although on hindsight, it seems terrible that a sinner like me could demand such things so blatantly from God, He answered my prayer. I was a privileged participant of Celebrate Christmas in Singapore, a Christmas evangelistic outreach event organized by SYFC. Over the course of that one night, I met people who loved God so greatly, I saw many people respond to God’s good news, I spoke to a tourist who admired the freedom in Singapore for us to go out so openly and preach God’s Word. I was convinced – God was real, God created, but we rejected Him. God saved us, yet we still rejected Him. And God will come again, but this time, I won’t reject Him. I went back to church the next morning, signing myself up to “try” 3 more weeks at Project Serve.
I came to learn a lot during Project Serve – learning about God, and learning to love God. I eventually extended my stay at SYFC to 3 months, also going through a mission trip to Malacca. God has led me through my time then, then through National Service. I made the decision to be baptized in March last year – as an act of obedience and an outward declaration of my faith in God. Even though I am by no means perfect now, I know my salvation is secure – often experiencing God’s blessing, the joy of knowing Him intimately and doing His will. He has graciously pulled me back every single time I have fallen away, and I know that through the trials He will continue to sustain me.
My friends, this joyous moment aside, please remember these two things. You may not know if you touch a life, but when you do, by God’s grace a person is saved from sin and unto life. Whatever small efforts you might make, they can be used by God to change lives. Secondly, parents, though faith cannot be inherited, your faith, your lives, they influence us. It makes us who we are today, and points us to who we are to be tomorrow. The lives of my parents have pointed me to Christ.
My Father in heaven and my father on earth have left me these lines. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
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