Hokkien Testimony #77

Hokkien Testimony #77

A little grass, a little dew. God will take care of you. Rely on him, avoid troubles. There is always a way out.

Today we welcome you to the 77th testimony in our Hokkien Harvest series. Each week we have different people from different churches share their stories with us. Everyone has their own special story of how God has changed their life. Today Pastor James Lim interviews Mary Chua who will be sharing about God’s work in her life. Let’s listen to Mary share her personal story. You will see that God has definitely shown his great love to her and her family. An English summary is also provided below.

Mary Chua’s Testimony:

When I was young, I along with my little brother actually went to a church that was nearby.  However, I knew that my parents and other adults would not approve because they felt this was a foreign western religion. They expressed that we should stay with our own traditional religion and not accept something different. You know it was very interesting, because later I worked at the church. I didn’t have the opportunity to get an education and I needed work. I heard that the church needed someone, so that was an opportunity for me. I would start around 10 o’clock and just work for two hours.  The pastor’s wife asked my name, but it was easier for her to give me an English name. So she named me Mary. I started work when I was very young, and was also young when I married.

Originally my husband was not a good man. This was before he accepted Jesus. He did all kinds of bad things. I was 17 years old when we married, and also became a mother when I was still very young. We have three precious sons. The middle son had a terrible accident and was hit by a taxi. Prior to that accident he kept our house spotless. I would go to work and when I came home, everything was clean and in order. At this time in my life I really didn’t know how to love others, only my three sons. My son wanted to get a motorcycle but I objected. However, it was almost time for his birthday, and no matter what I said, he and his father held the opposite opinion. They felt that the goddess Quanyin, the goddess of mercy, would protect him, but I refused to believe that. My husband spent a lot of time at the temple. He was a very fervent believer in the traditional religious practices. One year at Chinese New Year, about midnight, our went out. I was very anxious. I did not have peace, but there was nothing I could do so I went to bed.

About 3:30 in the morning the phone rang and told me that our son had been hit by a taxi and was dead. I woke up my husband and he answered the phone, and heard the same message. I was so hurt, and for five years I cried and grieved over this loss. I also considered suicide because I just couldn’t deal with this.  I took 50 pills to take my life, but of course I didn’t die. On one occasion I left a letter for my family and decided to jump and take my life so that I could be with my son. I wore something pretty and climbed up 25 floors to end my life. However, when I got there, I felt it was so high I backed down and couldn’t do it, and I had no peace.

After this I made the decision in 2001 to celebrate my husband’s birthday. I wanted it to be a happy occasion. However, after this I planned to use a knife and take my life. Today you can see that my arms have a lot of scars because I wanted to die. Even today some people feel that the only choice they have to solve their problems is to commit suicide.

My mother and family actually encouraged us to go to church. However, I wasn’t in favor of this at all. I had a lot of excuses, but the family encouraged us to just go and check it out. So we changed into some nice clothes and went to church. I was scared but as the service began they sang Peng An Khek and everyone was so nice to us. The songs were so beautiful, especially the Peace Song. To my surprise, my husband responded more quickly to the gospel than I did. I was much slower, and all of a sudden he said he wanted to remove the idols from our house. I opposed doing this and just didn’t pay any attention to him. But he insisted and asked the pastor to come and remove these idols.

I accepted Christ in 2001 at Christmas time. So two other relatives along with my husband and I all came together. Christ has really changed me. Previously I never had a smile on my face, but after accepting Christ I do now. He has also transformed my husband and my sons. God has blessed us so abundantly and my sons genuinely love me. He saved me from wanting to commit suicide and saved my husband and my sons as well.

Pastor Lim:

Today our program has come to a close, but you can see by this colorful testimony how God has blessed this family. It doesn’t matter whether we have gone through really tough times, God is there for us. Just like in the Bible when the disciples were in the boat, Jesus was with them, and they didn’t need to be afraid. That is true for us as well. So today no matter what problem you have, God is there for you and is waiting to help us at any point. If you have not yet accepted Christ, please follow me as I pray. Today Jesus can become your Savior.

Lord Jesus, I thank you. Because you are the Lord and Savior, you can save me. You offer me everlasting salvation. At this time, I come before you and acknowledge that I am a sinner. Please forgive me of my sin. You can use your precious blood to cleanse me of my sin. At this time I ask you to come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. Please take away my worries and problems and give me life. Give me a new beginning with joy and peace. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

May God bless you.

Hokkien Testimony #76

Hokkien Testimony #76

A little grass, a little dew. God will take care of you. Rely on him, avoid troubles. There is always a way out.

Today we welcome you to the 76th testimony in our Hokkien Harvest series. Each week we have different people from different churches share their stories with us. Everyone has their own special story of how God has changed their life. Today Pastor James Lim interviews Brother Li Chheng Bun who will be sharing about God’s work in his life. Let’s listen to Chheng Bun share his personal story. An English summary is also provided below.

Li Chheng Bun’s Testimony:

Pastor Lim:

Twenty-eight years ago I was hit by a motorcycle and was very frightened. I was only 23 years old and I cried out that I didn’t want to die, and I didn’t. The driver stopped his vehicle and came to check on me. He thought I was dead. When I looked down at my right leg, all that I could see was blood.  I really was scared to death. I was only 23 and no kid that age wants to die. I was taken to the hospital and the doctor saved my leg. While I was at the hospital I happened to see a gospel tract. It was a very simple presentation and this was the first time that I had ever seen the gospel. It was so simple and basically said that there is a God who loves us and sent his son to shed his precious blood for us. I didn’t really understand all that it was talking about. Even though I had never seen anything like this before, when I read the portion that invited me to pray to receive Christ, I did. I admitted that I was a sinner and asked him to forgive me and come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. That was my prayer.

Following the doctor’s care, I went home. Then the hospital sent a nurse over to take care of me. She caught my eye and I noticed her too. It wasn’t very long after this that we were married. I believe that God arranged for my wife and I to meet and marry. I also began to study the Bible. One day I looked down at my leg and had a very deep feeling. This was something like a miracle, because I could have been injured much more seriously or have lost my leg. If so what would my future have looked like? I was very moved and knew that God had saved me. Without God I would be dead. As a result I wrote a song to express my feelings. “Thank you Jesus for saving my life and healing my leg.” This is a song of grace that I wrote expressing my thankfulness for all God has done for me. As I sang it, I just cried. Without Jesus, today I would not be here.

As Pastor Lim said, my leg is much like St. Paul’s thorn in the flesh. It is a continual reminder to me of what God has done in my life. As Paul in Galatians says, I am crucified with Jesus Christ. God has indeed blessed my business. I began the business in 1988 and it grew more and more each year. However, even as Christians there are times in life when we also encounter tough times as well as good times. One day my partner informed me that he was leaving and pulling out of the business. This was devastating news, because without his portion I could not continue the business. So I went into another business. Within two years I had opened 6 different eating establishments. They all sold different food items. I was very pleased. However, in 2003 SARS hit very hard. It was devastating. Nobody wanted to go out and eat.

My business was really hurting, so I went to the bank and borrowed money. Since I had these 6 businesses I had to pay rent and take care of expenses. However, that wasn’t enough so I started using credit cards to make up the difference. Well, It only got worse. I had already borrowed about 1 million dollars from the bank. This doesn’t take into account the money that I had personally invested in the business. Also, with all of this going on, the relationship between my wife and I was not good. Things got so bad that I had to put up some of my property to satisfy the bank. My wife needed to go to the bank and sign, but she refused. I was doing everything I could as a business man to save my businesses.

My wife said that there was no way that I could save my businesses. My lawyer said that I had no way out and would have to close them. It was very interesting that the day I went to take care of this, was our wedding anniversary. When she heard me say that I was closing the businesses, she said “hallelujah.” She had been praying that I would do this. While I was trying to take care of all these details, I was angry. However, at the end when I closed it all out, I was at peace.

After all of this happened, one evening I attended our prayer meeting and had a special experience. I told God that I really did love him. I acknowledged that I had lost all of my business and asked God to restore me so that I could do business again but also let people know that Jesus loves them. At that moment I felt that the Holy Spirit was saying that deep within me I was ashamed and needy. God enabled me to face the truth and set me free. The misery that I had experienced for the last two to three years was gone.

Later I began to look around and see if there were any possibilities for me to start a new business. At first I didn’t see anything. However, my daughter offered to open a business for me but before she would do this she asked me to write a report regarding my business practices. I prayed about this, and the Lord said that what I would be able to do in the future should be done for God’s Kingdom and his glory. As a result, God enabled me to start over and also pay off all my debts. So amazingly enough today I am no longer in debt.

Today I want to especially share with our listening audience that Jesus’ love is genuine and this is a message that we need to share with others. There are so many people who have never heard the gospel message that Jesus loves them. It actually is very easy to just tell people that Jesus loves them. Before we close I would also like to sing another song for you. “Jesus Loves You.”

Pastor Lim:

After hearing Brother Li’s story of God’s grace in his life, if you too would like to ask Jesus into your heart to be your Lord and Savior, just follow me sentence by sentence as I lead us in prayer. You will see that your life will be transformed.

Lord Jesus, I thank you because you love me and we know that you are Lord and Savior. Lord Jesus, at this time I invite you to forgive me of my sin, come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior and my master for the rest of my life. I give myself and everything I have to you. I know you will heal me and save me from sin and give me healing from any illness I may have. Thank you, Jesus. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

May God bless you.  

Hokkien Testimony #75

Hokkien Testimony #75

A little grass, a little dew. God will take care of you. Rely on him, avoid troubles. There is always a way out.

Today we welcome you to the 75th testimony in our Hokkien Harvest series. Each week we have different people from different churches share their stories with us. Everyone has their own special story of how God has changed their life. Today Pastor James Lim interviews Brother Zheng Heng Sheng who will be sharing about God’s work in his life. Let’s listen to Heng Sheng share his personal story. An English summary is also provided below.

Zheng Heng Sheng’s Testimony:

I had a tough childhood and was cared for by my maternal grandmother. My health wasn’t very good and I was often sick. When I was about ten years old I asked my mother where people actually come from. I didn’t get a good answer, so I asked my grandmother but received the same response. Then I asked what our purpose is on this earth. The answer was that I needed to study hard and become something like a doctor and make a lot of money. So then I asked if I did all of that then what would be next. I was told that then I should marry a beautiful girl and then would have a wonderful life together. But I also asked what happens to people when they die. They somewhat scolded me and said I shouldn’t be thinking of things like this.

Well, not long after this, my grandmother passed away and I was in so much pain. I didn’t eat and cried continually for three days and nights. I just kept telling my grandmother to get up. People would tell me that she had passed away, but I didn’t understand what that meant. I asked why is that such a good person would die. Right after this my parents separated. I have 7 siblings. The older siblings went with my father and the younger with my mother. Year after year I observed my mother going to the temple to carry out the rituals there. However, she did not have peace. To make a living my mother would wash clothes and care for children. She was miserable.

When I was 15 years old we went to a temple to celebrate the god’s birthday. I prayed asking the god to care for our family. Since she is supposedly a god, surely she could do this. I talked to this god asking why it is that other people have such good families, yet I never experienced this. Why couldn’t this god help us? I did this for two years but nothing happened. So as a result I gave up and didn’t believe that this universe had a god.

Following this I went to another school and met a Christian there and we became friends. His name is Ronnie. Every day he read his Bible and prayed. I told him that he was wasting his time. I didn’t believe there is a God. Later we had a disagreement and I lost my temper. I was really angry. I decided that we couldn’t be friends any longer. But for three days I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about my grandmother. I also pondered the three questions that I had asked: What is the origin of man? What is the purpose of a man’s life? What happens to a person after they die?

Who could I ask? I didn’t want to be friends with Ronnie any longer, because I didn’t want to lose the argument. However, I decided to try once again. I mentioned that Jesus historically was a good man and Ronnie picked up the conversation. He told me that he died on a cross for me. I saw the cross lit up, this very bright light. The Lord spoke to me. He told me that he created me, and that he had a purpose for me. I begin to cry and Ronnie helped me pray to receive Jesus. From that time forward I experienced Jesus in my life. Prior to receiving Jesus I looked at the Bible as an old book with nothing much to say. However, after accepting Jesus into my life I discovered that this is an amazing book.

Later I had a sickness that doctors didn’t seem to be able to heal. In the Bible I read the story of a leper coming to Jesus. Jesus asked him what he wanted him to do, and he told him that if Jesus was willing, he wanted to be healed. Jesus was willing and reached out and healed him. So I too said to God that if he was willing I wanted him to heal me. It was as if those words, “I am willing”, jumped off the page. I told the Lord that I knew that he had died on the cross more than 2,000 years ago and healed this leper. I also believed that he could heal me. It was about 11:30 and I went to sleep. About 4:30 in the afternoon I woke up. I was completely healed.

As Pastor Lim said, journeying on this road of life is not easy. I also encountered some difficult situations. All the people in my family worshiped idols. They were not Christians. They were not at all happy that I accepted Christ. When my father heard that I accepted Christ, he took a stick and hit me. He told me to give him my Bible and he was going to burn it. If not, he would beat me to death. I told him that no matter what he did to me, I was going to continue to trust Jesus. He hit and slapped me and told me that I should never give up worshiping idols. I prayed and asked God to forgive him because he didn’t know what he was doing. At that point I experienced a special love for my father and told him that I forgave him. My father started crying loudly. He knew that I was a person with a bad temper, so why would I say that I forgave him. I was different.

I went into my bedroom and prayed. The Lord told me that I formerly was just like my father, but God changed me.  He told me that He is LOVE so therefore I know I am also LOVE. So this enables me to love other people like my father. So today for those who are listening to this broadcast, I want to encourage you. Jesus is the real God. He hears and answers prayers.  He has eyes and ears that see and hear you.

Pastor Lim:

Today we have been moved by Zheng Heng Sheng’s testimony.Today each of us can also have this same Jesus in our lives. What we must do is to accept Jesus as our personal Savior. Christ has solutions to our life problems. He tells us how he created us. He also tells us that he has prepared a place for us in Heaven. So those who put their trust in Jesus have hope. We thank the Lord. So those of you who are listening to our broadcast, you too can have this experience like Heng Sheng’s testimony by following me as I pray sentence by sentence.

Lord Jesus, I thank you because you are the Lord and Savior and you have come to save me. I am a sinner and I ask you to forgive me of my sin. Use your precious blood to wash away my sin. From today forward no matter what, I will always have your forgiveness. Thank you, Jesus. Please come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior, and be the master of my life forever. Give me hope and transform me. I believe that beginning today I am a new person in Christ. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

May God bless you.

Hokkien Testimony #74

Hokkien Testimony #74

Today we welcome you to the 73rd testimony in our Hokkien Harvest series. Each week we have different people from different churches share their stories with us. Everyone has their own special story of how God has changed their life. Today Pastor James Lim interviews Judith Halim who will be sharing about God’s work in her life. Let’s listen to Judith share her personal story. An English summary is also provided below.

Judith Halim’s Testimony:

Pastor Lim:

Pastor Lim asked me to share about my life. As a child I grew up in Medan, Indonesia and moved to Singapore about 13 years ago. As a child I didn’t really have the opportunity to go to school. When I was only about 18 months old, my father abandoned our family. As a small child I really wanted a father to love me. When I was around people I heard them say that I didn’t have a father and my mother had no husband. I was very sad. At this period of time in my community, if you didn’t have a father or husband, you would feel ashamed. People would make fun of you.

When I was just 18 I married a man about 10 years older than me. I looked at him much like a father that I wanted so badly in my life. As Pastor Lim shared, many times with couples if there are problems, they may be rooted in hurts that stem from relationships with the father. People are searching for security. This was true in my life. I really yearned for my father. At times like birthday celebrations, graduations, etc. I wished I had a father.

After I had been married about 6 months I was pregnant with my first child. My husband wanted our child to be born in Singapore not Indonesia. My husband is Singaporean so he wanted his child to be born here. So we moved to Singapore. I gave birth to a little boy and named him Joel. He seemed to be normal at the time. However, 2 days later the physician said that he had 4 problems. First of all he had 3 holes in his heart and was very serious. Also his white blood cells outnumbered his red blood cells. The doctor also said that his brain had problems as well and as a result he would be slow in processing information. The doctor said that he would only live about 6 months. I was so sad. I felt that I had so many bad things that happened in my life. I had no father to love me, and now I was faced with losing my child. My life was filled with a lot of bitterness.

On top of all of this, my husband also left me. I needed someone by my side to help me during this difficult time. I was really hurting. If you have no money, you have no friends, and you don’t want your family to know about this. I was penniless and caring for a child who always needed medical attention. Life was bitter and I felt that it would be better for me to die. I climbed up to the 14^th floor with the intention of jumping with my child so that I could end this nightmare. But I did not jump. I had also written a letter to my mother explaining everything. However, that afternoon an insurance salesman telephoned me. They knew that I had a child. I told them that I had no money to buy insurance, and the salesman invited me to go with him to church.  I accepted the offer and went to the church. This was my first time to ever attend a church service.

The church service was in English, so I didn’t understand anything. My head was also filled with the intent to kill myself. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Later the pastor asked that if anyone needed prayer then they should come to the front. I did not move. However, then the pastor said that the woman with the child should come forward. Wow. I did go to the front and the pastor prayed for me. Then he said that God wants to use me and if I follow after him I will be a better person and God’s servant. At that time I accepted Christ, and that night I had so much peace. I also slept well, and at that time since I was depressed I hadn’t slept well for many nights. When I woke up the next morning, my heavy heart was gone and I told myself that I didn’t want to die. So I share with people that Jesus is real, and he took my pain away immediately.

Regarding my son, the doctor said that he was going to die. However, at 6 months I took him to see the doctor. He had said that he needed surgery, but I had no money. It would be expensive. After the doctor ran tests he asked me what I had been doing for my son. I told him that I had not done anything special. He said it was impossible, but my son’s heart looked like it was brand new. That was really a miracle. Originally his heart was in really bad shape and he had no hope to live. Now, it was evident that God had healed him.

I needed to find work, and my mother was willing to take care of my son. I had a tough time finding a job because I had no English. Even at McDonald’s I couldn’t find work because I couldn’t speak English. I did speak Bahasa though, but the pay was really not enough for me to live on. But I just kept praying and trusting God. I didn’t have much, but I had peace. And God took care of me and I was able to find a better job as an administrator. I continued to rise in my job until I was overseeing the company. Just think about this . . . God has used an uneducated person and given me the opportunity to rise in position and do what I am doing.

If I didn’t have Jesus, I would have no life. My son is now a happy fulfilled person. I also have a new husband who loves us.

Pastor Lim:

As you listened to this story I am sure that you would agree Jesus is number one. If you are willing to trust Jesus, you too can experience this kind of change in your life. You can find solutions to the problems in your life. If you desire to experience this change in your life, then follow me in prayer sentence by sentence.

Lord Jesus, I come before you and acknowledge that I am weak. I have sin in my life and have a lot of problems. Lord, at this time forgive my sin and take away all the bad and wrong in my life and be my Lord and King. Direct the steps of my life. I ask you to solve my problems and fill my life with hope. Thank you Jesus. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Dear friends, if you desire to know more about Jesus, we encourage you to find a church in your neighborhood and attend. They will be glad to assist you.

May God bless you.