Grace is Sufficient

This is Angeline Yong's story.

I have Christian parents, so naturally I was brought up in a Christian family. From very young, I remember attending Sunday school as a weekly activity. When I was about 7 years old, we heard many Sunday school stories and through those stories I learnt that about Jesus and that He loved me. In my heart I started to believe there was a God in this world and my belief came through simple FAITH. However throughout my growing years, I knew I was a Christian but I didn’t really understand purpose of life. In my teenage years I had the opportunity to serve in the church Junior Youth Group and through that service, God revealed to me why I needed to believe in Jesus Christ. In secondary school (when I was 13) my piano teacher asked me about Eternity and whether or not I was saved. Even though I was Christian, I honestly didn’t know whether or not I was going to heaven when I die. At that point I confessed my sins, said the sinner’s prayer and received Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. Now I know for certain that I will go to heaven.

Although I have been a Christian for many years, I sometimes continue to live for myself. For example, I strive to achieve good grades in my study and perform well at work in order to prove that I am valuable. Even though I achieve good results in my study and career, my heart felt empty and dissatisfied. I realize now that this is because I have not fully submitted myself to the Lord.

Today, when I reflect over the years of my growing process, I know that I cannot determine my own future. It is God that has a plan for my life and it is an ongoing process. Life without purpose was meaningless and lost, especially when I did not know where I was heading when I die or the purpose of living in this world. Thank God that through the Bible, I now know what eternity is, and that it is only through Jesus Christ, that I can have eternal life in Heaven. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

I think back to when I first arrived in Perth to continue my studies. Living in an unfamiliar environment, which actually was not very easy to adapt to, let alone find the right church to attend. However, when it comes to living for God’s purpose, we can experience for ourselves how amazing God is. On one Sunday afternoon, I said a prayer to God about my needs in finding a church. Soon after, two girls walked towards me and began sharing the gospel with me. I told them I was actually looking for a church to attend. One of the girls said that “it was God who brought you here… no coincidence.” I really thank God that through BPCWA’s City Evangelism; He has led me to this Church and given me an opportunity to serve Him in Perth.

God has been gracious to me by showing me the way when finding a church. Furthermore, He continues to prove that he is gracious to me through the difficulties in my studies. The bible says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness”. In times where I almost cannot handle my studies, God has always been there to help me up by providing brothers, sisters, friends and lecturers to assist me. This has made me experience and understand even more that God is a faithful and gracious God to his children. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Ephesians 3:20. From the experiences in my life, I will never regret that I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. This is because He is an unchanging God, always with me when I need Him most and it is only He that is able to fill the emptiness in my heart.

Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen!

Angeline Yong

simple faith

This is Rowena's story.

Compared to a lot of other Christians, the story of how I chose life lacks any shock factor or awesome turnaround story – it is simply a story of how a young girl with simple faith believed what she learnt in Sunday School to be the truth, and subsequently grew up, consolidated her faith and continued to learn more about the God who saved her.

Growing up in a Christian family, I have never known a time where I have not believed in Jesus. I grew up going to Sunday School every week and what I learnt in church was reinforced at home by my Christian parents. My memory is not that clear as to exactly how and when I got saved (i.e. when I changed from believing in Jesus, to trusting in Him to save me from my sins), but I know that my journey to this point in time was a slow one inhibited mainly by my stubbornness!

High School was a time of finding my self and defining my identity. My friends all knew that I was a Christian and that I was ‘religious’ because I went to church every week, but they also saw me as other things not necessarily in line with the ‘typical Christian’. Looking back, I regret having sent any mixed messages for my high school friends, but I also know that the person I was at High School has allowed me to have a greater perspective in life too. All things happen for a reason and that is to become who God wants us to be (Romans 8: 28-29).

In these years, I also attended a Youth Camp where I watched a video entitled A Thief in the Night (crazy movie made in the 70s - check out the pic!) which was a real wake up call to a then-slumbering Christian. I was terrified that my relationship with God was non-existent and I immediately wanted to make sure that I was a true Christian who had a genuine relationship with God. That night, when the speaker invited us to pray with him, I remember rededicating my life to Christ. When I did that, I remember feeling a heavy weight being lifted from my heart - I was now sure that I was OK with God and that nothing could take me away from Him (Romans 8:37-39).

The next few years were a bit of a blur for me. I remember I started to go to church out of choice rather than obligation and I started to attend ‘optional’ meetings at church such as Youth Group and later Prayer Meeting. I also started helping out around church and participating in activities. I talked to God more and I started to read the Bible more too. Since this time, I have really seen that how real God is in my life and I have grown to love Him more and more.

Knowing God and having a relationship with Him has been awesome for me. It hasn’t always been easy, but I have come to realise that often what requires your effort is far more valuable than what costs you nothing. God has been real in my life. He has comforted me through His Word (the Bible) at times where I needed it most, and the guidance that God has given me in the past (and continues to give me now) has helped me really see purpose and direction in my life. God has taught me lessons that I never would have learnt without Him. Best of all, unlike a lot of non-Christians I know, I don’t fear dying because for a Christian, I know that death on earth means life in Heaven – and that brings me great comfort.

If you don't really feel as if you want a relationship with God, I would strongly encourage you to think about it. Seek Him until you find Him. It is the biggest decision you could EVER make in your life. It may sound too easy - but God made it easy so it is accessible to everyone. You may think that you aren't worthy, and you aren't really, but that's called love. It only takes the faith of a child to unlock the greater blessings in life that the God who has made everything has planned for you to enjoy. Take it, trust it, live it, learn it, and spread it. It's worth it.

with love in Christ,
Rowena Cheng

Predestined to become a Christian

This is Lee Lian Yong's story.

Before I accepted Christ into my life, I was brought up as a Roman Catholic for almost 19 years. . I always thought to myself that I was a strong believer in Roman Catholicism just because I recited the rosary daily. I was thinking that if I was earnest enough, God would surely hear my prayer through the intercession of Mary. Not only that, I was also worshipping idols made of wood and thinking to myself that they are god. I never thought that one day, I would be coming to Perth for further studies and become a Christian!

It is true how the Bible says, "A man heart devises his way: but the LORD directs his steps." - Proverbs 16:9. When I first came to Perth, it was not just by coincidence that my cousin brought me to church. Initially, I was quite reluctant to come to a Christian church and the people over here kept sharing the gospel to me. I was really stubborn and rejected the gospel a few times. I was thinking, how could I possibly be able to reject my faith as a Roman Catholic after so many years of praying to Mary. I told myself that I won't be brainwashed by these Christians.

The time finally came when God has opened my spiritual eye on 3rd Nov 2003, with his words – "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." – Jeremiah 29:13. Indeed, if you search for God and you shall find him. I am happy that I found my God. People did not force me into accepting Christ. It was completely the guidance of the Holy Spirit and because of God's grace after so many months that HE softened my heart to come to believe in Christ alone as my personal saviour. Since JESUS has come into my life, I realise my life has been completely changed and I am freed from the darkness which I have lived for 19 yrs believing in the false doctrine without knowing where I would end up eternally.

My sins are forgiven and I know where I am going when I leave this earth. I was never sure of my own salvation until I received HIM into my life. Real joy and peace has come into my heart. It was only the spirit of GOD who could give it to me. I could never sleep so soundly before and always got the fear in me of sleeping alone. But Christ has taken it away from me and HE has given me peace.

Of course, by accepting Christ into my life does not mean that everything will go well in my life. There are trials and tribulations which I have faced each year and each trial is getting harder for me to face. However, I know that I am not facing it alone and God is always there by my side. There is always a lesson for me to learn and GOD has strengthened my faith in HIM. What comforts me during times of difficulty I face is that the days are coming nearer for me to be with Christ – even so, come, LORD JESUS.

Lastly, I never regretted having Christ in my life because there is really no other gifts greater than this free gift of Eternal life. All we have to have to do is to repent of our sins and through the grace of God by faith we accept Christ into our life as our personal saviour and we shall be saved! To God be the glory!

His unworthy servant

Lian Yong

Second Chance

This is Hui Ling Wee's story.

Noah’s Ark, Moses and the Red Sea, Samson…these were just stories or cartoon characters to me as a kid, just like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty… but less interesting. Little did I know these were the first few Bible characters I came to know of.

The first time I attended a church service was about 10 years ago when I came to Perth to further my study. I was invited and went along because I had never been to a church before. I enjoyed the hymn singing and listening to the choir, but I was never really interested in the preaching. When I did pay attention to the preaching, I remember sitting there with my mind busily working, disagreeing with most of the things the pastor preached. I could not accept that their God is the only one and true God…How can they be sure? If He is a loving God, why is there so much suffering in the world?

Despite all the ‘disagreements’ I had, which I kept to myself, I continued to attend the Sunday service and was later invited to a gospel rally. To me personally, the gospel rally only further convinced me that what I thought was unacceptable was really unacceptable. During the gospel rally, there was a skit where a hardworking family man ended up in hell because he was not a Christian. But a thief, who later repented and accepted Christ, ended up in heaven. After watching the skit, I was even more skeptical because I felt that it was just so wrong and unfair. My understanding from the skit was that a person, no matter how good a person he/she is, would end up in hell if he/she is not a Christian; but a person, no matter how many bad things he/she has done in his/her life could go to heaven, as long as he/she accepted Christ. That was the ‘message’ I got out of the skit, based on my own understanding. Beside the skit, there was also a testimony sharing session. A girl shared how she left Buddhism and became a Christian. I remember thinking that certainly there must be someone (probably even more) out there who left Christianity to become a Buddhist. I was not convinced at all. Although I had all these thoughts, I never spoke to anyone from the church about them for clarification because I strongly believed that I was right and that they would never be able to convince me otherwise.

Sometime later, I went back to Malaysia and my friend arranged for me to meet with a sister from his church to share the gospel with me. I was uncomfortable with the whole arrangement and really hoped that the meeting would end as quickly as possible. I sat there listening to her, but could not concentrate. I did not really grasp what she was sharing, but nodded when asked if I understood. I cannot recall asking her any questions or voicing out the thoughts I had about Christianity. I ended up “accepting Christ” and saying the sinner’s prayer because I knew this was what my friend and this sister would like to hear. I did not understand the true meaning of salvation. I did it for the wrong reasons…I just wanted it over and done with, and did it just to please them. Since then, I had always felt guilty because I knew I had done something terribly wrong and failed to admit it. Although I did not believe in God, I had this uneasy feeling that I had “wronged” God. And again, I kept this guilt to myself. I think I might have secretly hoped that this God does not exist so that I would not be punished for taking Him lightly. I never thought of myself as a Christian because I never was. I continued to go to church for awhile since I was expected to, but stopped not too long after because going to church became a burden and not something I enjoyed doing.

I was “church-free” for a few years and was definitely keen to continue to be so. After finishing my bachelor study, I had the opportunity to study for my PhD. It was during this time that I met more Christian colleagues/friends and slowly the topic on Christianity began dominating our conversations. I was back to my “old self”, disagreeing with what they said about Christianity. But this time, I was more open to discussion and was encouraged by them to voice out my thoughts. I found myself enjoying the debates that we were having as they were not holding anything back, which made our debates invigorating. Through these discussions, I had a better understanding of Christianity. A lot of my misunderstandings were clarified and I began to feel that Christianity was not as unacceptable as I first thought. However, I still believed that it didn’t matter what religion you believed in, as long as it teaches us to be good. I still could not accept that the one and only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.

At the same time, my friends would also share the gospel with our supervisor. Quite often, with my supervisor on my side, we would have debates on Christianity in our supervisor’s room or over lunch. Then, one day, after our regular research meeting, the topic changed once again to Christianity. And out of nowhere, our supervisor turned to me and asked, “Have you believed in Jesus?”
“No, I haven’t”, I answered. I was surprised when he asked me that because all this time, we were on the same side. I wondered what prompted him to ask me that question but did not inquire further. But “something changed” from that moment. For some reason, I was really, really, really eager to learn more about Christianity. Once we left our supervisor’s room, I asked if my friends would like to come over to my house to share more of the gospel with me. They enthusiastically accepted the open invitation.

I began reading the Bible and slowly found myself believing that God exists. I knew that I’m a sinner and could not save myself. However, I was still hesitant to take the next step of accepting Christ as my personal Saviour. One of the main reasons was because my family members are non-believers. My thinking back then was that if I were to accept Christ, I would be “separated" from them come judgment day and that’s a feeling I could not bear. I voiced my concern to my friend, who then said, “You shouldn’t think that if you don’t accept Christ, you’d be together with your family in hell…it doesn’t work that way. If you have believed, you should accept Christ, share the gospel with your family and God willing, you can be in heaven as a family and not in hell”.

What was I thinking? Heaven or Hell? It’s not such a difficult choice to make, is it? And all this time, I thought I was wise. Praise God that I was made to realize that if I kept rejecting Christ, hell was definitely where I’d end up in and I could’ve “dragged” my family there with me. That’s that “problem” solved. The other hurdle I had to overcome was my guilt, ie “accepting Christ” when I did not mean it. I had “wronged” God once and I really did not want to repeat that, especially now that I believe He exists.

I thank God for showing me His Love, Mercy, Faithfulness and Forgiveness. I thank Him for not giving up on me and giving me a “second chance” to accept Jesus Christ into my life as my Saviour. As I reflect on how God has led me to Him, I can see that He had been revealing Himself to me but I was just too stubborn and arrogant to listen. God works in mysterious ways in His time. It took a non-Christian to ask me if I have accepted Christ to prompt me to want to learn more about God. And now, here I am, sharing my testimony on how I became a Christian…something I never ever thought I’d do. As you read our testimonies, you’ll see that God speaks to each of us personally, in His time, in His way. He is always there for us, guiding us lovingly, knowing what’s best for us and what we need.

Do you have tonnes of unanswered questions about God? Are you seeking God? Is God revealing Himself to you? Is He speaking to you?

God promises in Matthew 7:7-8:
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Hui Ling

I Laughed at the Church, and now I'm a Christian!

This is Minh Ly's story.

In this short testimony I want to share how I became a Christian, and how Jesus Christ has changed my life, forever! In the time before I knew Christ I was a very destructive young man. My sin was spiralling out of control and I was hurting everyone around me, including my parents, my friends, and myself. My sin was spiralling to the point of addictions and certain dangerous habits, and also, physical harm towards other people.

Some of these addictions included alcohol abuse and gambling. One day I even remember my friend asking me to attend church with him to ease the pain of losing a really large sum of money at the casino. He told me he wanted to pray and maybe God would ease his pain. I laughed at him for suggesting something so ludicrous and told him that God was a powerless figure.

I few months later, I gradually came to a very low point in the life. Probably the lowest and darkest period of my entire life. Nothing I planned or wanted was working out. I lost all confidence in my own abilities and felt like a helpless and lost person. I was utterly collapsing in despair. One night, lying in my bed, feeling a hot rage running through my body, I poured out my anger towards God. I thought to myself that whoever He was, why He would ever let me suffer like this? I challenged him, yelling and asking if He existed, and brought Him down to a level with my blasphemy and profanity that I would not even lay on the person I hated most. I had no one else to blame, so I blamed God.

A few weeks had past, and while still living in despair, my anger towards God had somehow escaped. Late one night or early morning, lying in my bed again, I wept in desperation and with a strong tone and determination in my voice, demanding that God help me and cause my suffering to stop. I pleaded and begged Him to deliver me. I had never been a religious person in my life and had no previous religious exposure or knowledge. In desperation, I just felt I needed to turn to someone ‘higher’. Something compelled me to turn to God because I realised that no one could ever help me except Him.

What happened after that? Not much initially, because I still feeling hopeless and in despair. Then late one evening, while drinking and being noisy with a group of friends in a quiet park, a group of Christians approached us and offered us some cake they had leftover from a BBQ. They had used this as an opening to talk to us about Christianity. One guy from their group invited me to attend their church on Friday the following week. I then made up my mind in the next few days to attend, feeling I had nothing to lose.

Ever since that time, my life changed drastically. I couldn’t believe that my former bad habits no longer had control over me. I had tried to give them up in times before I knew God, but it had always ended in failure. God slowly started to give me new desires in other areas of my life too. I cannot explain what happened in a natural sense, because it was supernatural.

Looking back on the last few years as a Christian I am really thankful now for the assurance He has given me that I am His child. The biggest evidence of this for me is whenever I have steered off-course, from His righteousness and purpose to live my life in my own selfish way; He has always come for me and put me back on the path he wants me to be. Numerous times when I lost my interest for spiritual things, I thought I would never be able to regain my love for doing the things which pleased God. Every time, He has led me back to Himself.
God will always finish the work He has started in a converted soul. A true believer will always bear evidence that He has been changed by God. If God had the power to save your soul from eternal hell, he surely has the power to change you too.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that God is REAL now. When I first believed, I used to only believe that there may be a God. I would never have imagined it was possible for God to bring me to this point where I know that He truly exists. God is amazing, He can do all things, even things we think are impossible from our limited human imagination.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us – Ephesians 3:20.

Testimony of Minh Ly

Believing to knowing God

This is Adrian Cheng's story.

Ever since I was young I have been going to Church. It was more something that I did out of routine and saw it almost like an extension from school. I struggled with the lack of guidance, always feeling as if I made the wrong decision at every turn. Also, I feared death, the death of my parents and those around me. As a child, I wouldn’t be able to sleep - sometimes in despair, I would run out crying to my parents, but not wanting to explain to them why I was crying.

It was at a teens camp that I remember something significant happened. Though I have never doubted God existed, it was when I watched a movie, “A Thief in the Night” about the rapture that I realized I wasn’t sure if I was really saved. This incident was probably one of many times where I prayed the sinner’s prayer (just in case I wasn’t serious about it the other times).

My faith in God has gone from believing him, to knowing him. This was through many incidents where I wanted to find out whether God was really real. For example, I would give offering to God based on something I learnt, that you can never out-give God. Somehow more than what I gave God would come back to me during that week! Not convinced, I continued to pray to God about small things and as he answered, the evidence of His existence mounted. After proving himself many times, there were just too many “coincidences” to deny that God was at work. Now I have the assurance that when I live for God, he is in control. I know where I am going when I die and I have joy in sharing the truth with those that I encounter, hoping that they will also experience the life that I now live as a Christian.

Adrian