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

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