Trusting in the Lord – Randolph Teo

I was born into a typical Chinese family that worshipped in temples.  When I was five, I attended kindergarten in a Methodist Church in Ang Mo Kio.  It was during then that I first got to know about Christianity.  I was young and naïve, however, and did not think much of it back then.  Slowly, I drifted away from God.  In 1992 when my mother passed away due to cancer. I started to question why could not the gods I worshipped save her.  I was so angry and started to lose faith in all gods.  I became a free thinker after the incident.

One day, I got to know my then girlfriend who is now my wife.  She made me understand the meaning of Christ and slowly brought me to church again.  Even after marriage, she continued to pray for me and believed that I could be saved.  She slowly encouraged me to accept Christ.  I was hesitant at first but accepted Christ as my Saviour and Lord in 2008.  I recognise that I am a sinner. But “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him”( John 3 16-17).  I need Jesus to atone for my sins (Rom 5:11) and to mediate between God and me ( 1 Tim 2:5 ).

Since then, the Lord has been my shepherd.  He provides, gives me strength, and mould me to be a better person.  One instance was when we were shifting house.  We needed to find a place to stay after selling our house in Choa Chu Kang while waiting for the renovation on the new house to be completed.  My wife and I prayed over this matter and the Lord sent Brother Bah Chek and Sister Lee Wah.  They offered their place to us during that period until everything had been settled.  We are grateful to them and the Lord for answering our prayers. Now I am a happy father of four and am attending church and Bible class regularly.

I am not perfect.  I still sin because we are humans.  But by trusting in Jesus and His abundant grace, I am made whole and have my sins all washed away.  Every trial that he makes us go through is to teach us to be a better person and to glorify his name when you see the miracles that he does in your life.  Everything he does will always turn out to be sweet in the end.  Put your trust in him.  Everything belongs to him.  He will do great things.  Let Christ be the centre of your Life.  I am proud to say that Christ is the centre of my life.

A Patient and Merciful God Lives in Me – Timothy Goh

I am really fortunate to be born into a Christian family.  Since I was an infant, I had God-fearing, loving and caring relatives who took it upon themselves to guide me as a young Christian.  Hence, I would firstly like to thank God for providing me with family members who have had such a positive influence on my spiritual walk with God.  Because of them, I was able to receive education in a Christian kindergarten.  This led me to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour.  The teachers who taught me helped me recognise that I was a sinner.

Since primary school, laziness had always been a trait that clung onto me throughout the years I spent schooling.  As I grew older, however, I realised that getting rid of my lazy habits had become more difficult.  These habits eventually took a toll on my academic results.  Still, I continued to adopt a very nonchalant attitude towards my grades.  I did not even bother to allocate time to spend with God.  I totally disregarded the fact that my habits were undoubtedly causing me to become ill-disciplined.  As a result of my lack of discipline, I gradually strayed away from God.

I remember the time when I started secondary education.  At that time, I had not yet been introduced to TOLCC but was worshipping in Pasir Panjang Christ Church.  I had already begun neglecting the Word of God and was not doing my quiet time daily.  I felt very distant from my church as I knew almost no one there.  This inevitably caused me to feel extremely disconnected with God.  I was always turning down church duties that were offered to me.  Consequently, going to church felt burdensome.  There were many times that I even skipped church.

Fortunately, God is always with my family.  He had a plan for us to settle down in a church where my relationship with God could be rekindled.  My cousins started inviting my siblings and me to attend the Sunday worship service at TOLCC.  For the first time, I felt the warmth and comfort worshipping with other Christians, with whom I would eventually serve together in TOLCC.  God provided me a way to return to his side.  He has been patiently guiding me through my challenges which I experience in both my spiritual life and my academic studies since then.  I thank God for being so merciful to me because He gave me an opportunity to serve Him fervently in a church, together with other Christians who love the Lord dearly.

Finding Yourself through God – Joel Teo

I am very blessed to be born into a Christian family and I have always believed Jesus was my one and only Saviour.  I know that I am a sinner saved by God’s grace.  I have forgotten as to when was my first time that I attended church or got to know Christ.  I only knew, however, that I got to know Christ at a very early age.  Although I was born into a Christian family, my faith had not always been strong.  I rarely paid attention to sermons, during bible classes and even in Young People Fellowship. In addition, I only read my bible when I needed help from God, such as during examination periods.  I felt that going to church was more of a chore than a privilege.  This thought alone was a huge mistake: I would go to church and idle my time away.  I would not listen to the teachings of my Sunday School teachers and my pastor.  I would also use my phone, irritate the people beside me, or fidget a lot during Sunday School and worship service. This caused me to slowly drift away from God.

I have always, however, hoped to draw close to God again such that he is always in my heart.  I also desire to constantly seek his advice and help from him, not only during tough times such as examination periods but when life is sailing smooth too.  Many times, God’s Word brought much comfort to me.  This verse was especially comforting to me: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).  It brought me a lot of comfort and assurance during tough times as it tells me that God will always be there for me to rejuvenate my energy.

In addition, this year was a really tough year for me.  For one, my studies were deteriorating.  Also, I was placed in a really troublesome class.  This class had many difficult people who were constantly giving me problems.  It may, however, be a blessing in disguise as it has made me seek God for advice more often.  It also allowed me to exercise patience and compassion for these difficult people.

This is also the main reason why after all the years of my parents’ nagging and persuasion that I finally decided to get baptised: I felt that I have become more mature as a Christian and have grown in faith towards God.  Only after I have grown in my faith am I more happy with life and less troubled.  I have become braver and stepped out of my comfort zone.  Furthermore, I have started to try my best to stop fidgeting and irritating others.  Instead, I try my best to listen to the sermon during worship service.  I still have many flaws and am far from being the most godly person.  I know, however, that I am improving every day “The only person you should try to be better than is the person you were yesterday” ― Matty Mullins.

The Grace of God – Tan Shuen Yi

I was born into a Christian family and knew God at an early age when I accepted him as my Saviour and Lord.  I knew that I, a sinner, was unable to break free from sin and need him to overcome sin and death.  In my early years of being a believer, I would attend Sunday School on Sunday mornings in church.  I was, however, simply going through the motion of going to church.  Whenever I heard messages regarding the hardships of life and the power of God, I always felt that these messages did not apply to me as I did not experience many troubles in life.  The grace of God seemed distant from me.

It was only during the years in my secondary school, did I begin to experience God and His power.  As I was fairly interested in music, I decided to join the school band.  I did not know that I was going to be facing a great deal of stress.  Long hours of practice and an impatient conductor were the perfect recipe to dishearten budding musicians who were not yet familiar with the instruments.  It was a very stressful period for all of the band members.  As a result, a few started to quit the co-curricular activity as they felt that they could not keep up with the expectations.  I decided, however, to stay on at the advice of my parents and after careful thought and prayer.

By the end of the second year, most of us were familiar with their instruments.  Due, however, to the rules of my section, I was only allowed to practise with my instrument at the second year.  This was also the instrument with which I would be playing for the next two years.  Thus, I had to learn the instrument from scratch again.  Initially, as I was unable to keep up with the difficulty of the songs, I would be reprimanded time and again by my conductor.  For the parts that I could not play right, the instrument would be taken away from me and given to my senior.  I felt bitter and started questioning why God placed me in such a difficult position.

God’s grace, however, was sufficient.  Only looking back now did I realise that he had provided encouraging section mates and supportive parents who always spurred me on to push myself and practice.  I felt that they were used by God to encourage and build me up so that the discouraged me could get back on my feet after every practice.  I did not notice this as I was too occupied with being bitter regarding my situation.  Without the grace of God, I, as a weak person, would have been much more bitter about my situation.  I might have even complained and sinned during such harsh times.  Now, after experiencing the powerful and gracious hand of God, I truly understand why preachers and Christians feel so strongly when they talk about the grace of God.