Hokkien Testimony #86

Hokkien Testimony #86

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 86th 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 once again interviews two sisters, Jay Jay and Jo Jo who will be sharing more about God’s work in their lives regarding relationships. Let’s listen to these two sisters as they continue to share their stories with us. You will see that God has definitely shown his great love to them and their families. An English summary is also provided below.

Sisters Jay Jay and Jo Jo‘s Testimony:

Jay Jay:

When I was young I was punished and whipped by my father with a belt. When that happened to me I really hated my father for it, and I had no intentions of ever forgiving him for doing that. I just wanted to grow up as fast as I could so I could get out of the house. Consequently I didn’t really have much to say to my parents. This went on for ten plus years.

Jo Jo:

After my older sister left home, my father would also whip me as well. Pastor Lim asked me why I thought my father would act like this. Well, I know that his work outside of the home was really rough and when he returned home he had a lot of worries on his mind. I understand that when he was young, he was a bad kid and got into a lot of trouble. So he already had bad habits like smoking, drinking and gambling. My parents both worked together and it was tough making a living. So when they returned home and saw that we did not obey or that things in the house were not in order as they wanted, then they would get angry. As Pastor Lim shared, in today’s society some parents also take out their anger on their children. Although today’s families are not so much like the families in the past who used belts to discipline children.

Jay Jay:

The relationship with our parents changed at the end of the year in 1999 when my parents went to church and accepted Jesus. Prior to this when I made the decision to accept Jesus, my father was very angry and said that he wanted to sever the relationship with me and would have it printed in the local newspaper. As far as I was concerned that was fine with me because we didn’t have a relationship anyway.

Jo Jo:

Talking about severing the father/daughter relationship, I had never raised my voice to my father; however, one day I did just that. I told him that I wanted him to go see what kind of God my sister worshiped, and he could decide for himself if it was good or bad. If he felt it was bad, then I would have the news about us severing the father/daughter relationship put in the newspaper myself. So that Saturday he agreed to go to church with me on Sunday. As far me, I was half happy and half scared. I went to my room and called my sister and let her know.

Jay Jay:

When I saw my father come into the church I was scared. I first thought that he was coming in to make trouble. I even thought about leaving, but I called to him and of course saw my sister as she pushed the wheelchair.

Jo Jo:

This was an English worship service, so I didn’t know how my parents would respond. They didn’t have much education so I thought they probably wouldn’t know what was being said. This was my first time to come to church, so if I didn’t understand or know what was going on I just didn’t say anything. When it came time for the invitation, my father raised his hand. I asked my father if he understood what was being said, and he said he didn’t understand but he wanted this. Then the pastor told the people who raised their hands to come to the front. I didn’t want to go down with him because I knew he didn’t know what was said. However, as the people went forward he said he also wanted to go with them. So along with my father, my daughter and I went forward to receive Christ. Amazing.

After accepting Christ, there was a huge change in my father. It began with the relationship with my father and mother. I saw my father go into my mother’s bedroom and call to her much like foreigners would. Unusual. I was so curious so I stood at the door and listened to the conversation. He admitted his wrong doing. He told her that since he was young he didn’t know how to love her and he told her that he was sorry. He also said in English, “I love you.” Wow! That’s enough to bring tears to your eyes. Later, my father called me in to talk. I asked him what was going on, and he said the same things that he had said to my mother. He told me that he was sorry for things in the past and he told me that he loved me. I also told him that I love him as well. Then he hugged me, and that was so moving. That was my first time to experience this. As Pastor Lim said, it is so great to see God transform these relationships from something bad into something good.

Jay Jay:

After talking with my younger sister, my father wanted to see me too. I was prepared for him to scold me or show his anger. He asked me to sit down, and his said that he was sorry for what he had done to me. It was genuine and as a Christian I knew that love is something that can’t be bought. This was the real thing. He asked me if I would forgive me, and I took his hand and said yes. I also told him that I was sorry for my wrong actions as well. I had not been a good daughter. Then he told me that this was all in the past and it’s over now and we don’t need to bring it up again. I agreed to that. He also asked me if I had anything else I needed to say, but I was so moved that I couldn’t speak. Then I went to my bedroom and just cried and cried. This was a different cry for me. It wasn’t that I was crying because I was upset; instead, I was crying because I was so moved by all that had happened. As Pastor Lim shared, Jesus’ love filled my father’s heart and touched me so much. As a result, before my father died we had five years to spend together. From 8 in the morning until about noon, I would take care of my father. He had a stroke and was in a wheelchair. I am so thankful because my mother, my sister and I, plus his two loving son-in-laws all took turns taking care of him. This also made it possible to push his wheelchair into church so that he could worship there.

When my father passed away, I was so much at peace. God had given us five good years together and I am so grateful for that. Every day I had the opportunity to be with my father and continue to strengthen that relationship. That is something that can’t be taken away from me. Even though I no longer have a father here on earth, I feel blessed because I have these memories and feelings from this time with my father.

Jo Jo:

When my father died, I felt pretty much the same. I thanked the Lord, because without him none of us would have known what love really is. This love is present in every one of our family members.

Jay Jay:

Today before we close I would like to encourage any person who is struggling with family relationships to come before Jesus and accept him as Savior and Lord. He can change us, our lives, our families and everything about us.

Pastor Lim:

Maybe some of you today who are listening to this program agree with Jay Jay and Jo Jo and know that you too have some relationship problems. It might be parent child relationships or problems with other relationships in your life.  If you have the desire for Jesus to help you, then follow me as I pray.

Lord Jesus, I thank you. You are the true God, Lord and Savior. You can save us and your salvation is eternal.  We don’t know you, but today we know that you are a good God. At this time I beseech you to help me and allow me to have a relationship with you. Please use your precious blood to wash away my sin and cleanse me. At this time I invite the Lord Jesus to come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. I believe that your love will fill me and give me the strength that I need to restore relationships in my life. This will enable me to tell people that I am sorry in order to restore broken relationships. Thank you Lord Jesus. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

God bless you.

Hokkien Testimony #85

Hokkien Testimony #85

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 85th 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 two sisters, Jay Jay and Jo Jo who will be sharing about God’s work in their lives. Let’s listen to these two sisters as they share their personal stories. You will see that God has definitely shown his great love to them and their families. An English summary is also provided below.

Sisters Jay Jay and Jo Jo‘s Testimony:

Jay Jay:

We accepted Christ in March of 1998. As Pastor Lim has said, accepting Christ is a new beginning. So this infers that we also had an “old me” as well, and this is certainly true. Even though we speak of ourselves before we accepted Christ, some people are hesitant to share this because it brings up hurt, or we might even feel ashamed. However, because of what Christ has done for us, we do want people to know how he has worked in our lives.

When we were growing up the two of us were the only children and we did not have a loving family. The two of us are 7 years apart in age. Both of our parents worked and were very busy and didn’t reflect much love toward us. So my grandmother took care of us at her house. There wasn’t much joy at home, so when I was eighteen I left home and went to work. At this time my younger sister and I didn’t really have much communication with each other.

Jo Jo:

While I was growing up I viewed my sister as a tiger ready to gobble me up. She was very stern toward me and would hit me if she was upset with me, so when I saw her I wouldn’t dare say anything. I just tried to stay out of her way and avoid her. At that point in my life I just viewed my older sister as a person who was no good, not kind and didn’t love me at all. I didn’t know why she was like this.

Jay Jay:

I felt that my parents loved my younger sister, but they didn’t love me. So this was very difficult for me to accept.  I felt that all of the responsibility fell on me and I also was blamed by my parents and punished for most things. As Pastor Lim said, after accepting Christ, He changed our lives and we now are able to talk with each other. At eighteen when I went to work, I felt things went pretty well for me. I had money so I could go to the Disco or other places to just enjoy myself. Since my parents had not been loving to me, I was willing to “buy” friends for myself. Consequently, I was a night owl and developed a lot of bad habits. At this time my parents and family viewed me as a bad person, and a daughter who didn’t want to listen to anything they had to say.

Jo Jo:

During this time when Jay Jay was working, I was the only one at home. This meant that I had to do all the work around the house. I really didn’t know what Jay Jay was doing. I just knew she had a job and was living in a company dormitory. We didn’t hear much from her, and sometimes I would go and try to find her. However, she didn’t really want me around there. And of course she didn’t want us to know all that she was doing.

Jay Jay:

I had a lot of friends and during this time I met a person from India and we were married. I thought that I could totally change my life by marrying a person from a different culture. I had heard that Indian men were caring and loving toward their family, and I felt that this was something that would “give me face.” So for a period of time we moved to England and then returned to Singapore. While we were in England we had a good relationship; however, after returning to Singapore problems began to surface and things were not going as well. We were not communicating or going out together. I also had some problems finding work so adding that on to problems in our marriage, I was unhappy. As a result I began going to different idols (gods) searching for answers. When I went to these temples and asked the shamen, I had to pay a lot of money and of course follow their instructions. This meant that I would have to spend more money to purchase things that they told me to buy in order to obtain peace and restore the relationship in my marriage and also with my parents. However, none of this worked at all. It made no difference in my life. During this time I went to every god I knew about in order to find a solution to my problems.

In 1998 things changed for me. My husband worked long hourse 7 days a week; however, one day he came back very early. I didn’t say anything, but the second time he did this I asked him where he had gone, and the way he answered me wasn’t very kind like it was none of my business. The third time that this happened I was determined to find out where he had gone. He finally told me that he had gone to church. So I told him that I wanted to go with him. I asked him to wait just a minute for me to get ready, and then I followed him to church.

I wanted him to tell me about this church and all that was going on, but he didn’t. So I thought I might as was well go shopping. Actually, the first time that I entered a church I had a lot of thoughts. I noticed that churches have gatherings at certain times, but temples are open 24/7. Also I was impressed by the beautiful decorations. And when they sang, I was very moved. I had never had feelings like this before. The Holy Spirit really warmed my heart and tears just kept rolling down my face. I was embarrassed because I had never done this before. The pastor also preached about family relationships, people having extramarital affairs and the effect that work has on all of this. I had gone to so many temples looking for help, and came up empty. However, I carefully listened to what the pastor said. The pastor asked if anyone had been moved to come forward to the front for him to pray for them. So I went forward and accepted Jesus as my Savior.

The relationship between the two of us as sisters immediately began to change. After just a few months we had a loving relationship and it was getting better and better. Previously I had a bad temper, but after accepting Jesus the Holy Spirit began work in my life to change me into a better person.  I am completely different in the ways that I relate to people. Previously I was so hateful to my parents and older people, but God has changed all of that. Amazingly enough, today God has called me into senior adult ministry with Hokkien people. Now, that is a big change and I am so happy.

Jo Jo:

I saw such a change in my older sister. After accepting Jesus I could see this new love in her life. She really changed. Her attitude, bad habits, everything changed. Today we have a great relationship. Praise the Lord. So we are also part of a small group and are able to share our lives together as a family.

Pastor Lim:

So once again we can see that after accepting Jesus, peoples lives have dramatic changes. These are good changes not bad changes. To those of you who are listening today, you too can have this change in your life. If you are willing to trust Jesus as your Savior, your life will definitely change. Do you want to experience this kind of change in your life? If you do, then just follow me sentence by sentence as I lead us in prayer.

Dear Jesus, I thank you. You are the true God and you change peoples’ lives from bad to good, and from the impossible to the possible. At this time I acknowledge my wrongs. Please forgive me of my sins.  Please come into my heart and be my Lord and Savior. I believe and desire peace, joy, a new life and a new beginning. Thank you, Jesus. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

Dear friends, as we have listened to Jay Jay and Jo Jo’s testimonies we have been moved. If you desire to know more of how God can change lives like this and heal relationships, then please continue listening to our weekly programs. God bless you.

Hokkien Testimony #84

Hokkien Testimony #84

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 84th 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 Xu Jing Jing who will be sharing about God’s work in her life. Let’s listen to Jing Jing 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.

Xu Jing Jing’s Testimony:

Pastor Lim:

Chinese people often say that we live in a bitter world. Sometimes we can talk about that and sometimes we don’t even have the words to share the bitterness in our life. Today we have Xu Jing Jing who will share her story with us. In Hokkien that name is Xu is Kho which also has the same sound as bitter.

Xu Jing Jing:

That is true. My surname in Hokkien is Kho and as a child I really did have a bitter and hard life. When I was very small my mother passed away, so I was raised by my father. So from the time I was very small I often had to acknowledge that I had no living mother. My father was really great to raise me by himself. I also have an older brother. So since I was the only female, then a lot of a mother’s responsibilities fell on me from a young age such as washing clothes, cleaning and taking care of household responsibilities. At that time boys and men seldom did that kind of work. Of course I also had school work as well. I got married in my early twenties. My husband was a hard worker and very successful in his business. However, all of a sudden his business crashed and it all fell apart. When I found out I was really worried. Prior to this, since he was so successful in business, our personal lives were pretty good. But learning that the business folded was like losing everything because that was what we depended on in our lives. Now what would we do? Food, clothing, and well just everything was dependent on the money that came from the business. And our son was in school and that was one more thing to consider. That required money as well.

Prior to the collapse of our business I didn’t work outside the home. But when all of this happened, I had to get a job. As Pastor Lim said, some people see themselves as people of good fortunate and live like that will last forever, the truth is that we never know what the future holds for any of us. As a result of this failure in business, my husband really changed. He reflected a really bad temper. He also started drinking, smoking and gambling, and it just got worse and worse. I tried to encourage and exhort him, but it didn’t do any good. He was down and depressed. I really didn’t know what to do.

One day I heard about a church event that I thought might help and I suggested that we attend. Of course he really didn’t have much interest, but because our son and I encouraged him to go, he said he would attend. When a person experiences something like this and is depressed, they really don’t want to do anything. And as Pastor Lim reminded us, it can get so bad that a person doesn’t even want to live any more. As his wife I really didn’t know that he had given up and didn’t want to live anymore. He had no hope. However, as Pastor Lim said, suicide does not solve problems at all. So when I received the church’s advertisement about this upcoming event, I thought maybe this would be helpful. I didn’t know what else to do. So since he really didn’t desire to attend, I took him to the church but I had to go to work.

The truth is that he attended church for a bit, but then quit going because he didn’t feel that it suited him. However, there were several older people who also connected with him and encouraged him to return and he enjoyed going and experienced real joy and peace. The more he listened to the music the happier he became and he accepted Christ. Consequently, he continued to attend the church and also attended the worship on Sunday.  

I could definitely see a change in him. His attitude was not the same and he didn’t lose his temper or use coarse language as he had before. He was truly changing. Unfortunately not long after this he had a stroke and we discovered that he had intestinal cancer. However, it wasn’t very long before he passed away. After this I myself started going to church. I had seen the difference in my husband’s life. So I began to attend, but I didn’t immediately accept Jesus. About a year or two after I started going I accepted Christ and was baptized. I went back and forth in my mind as to whether I should make this decision, so that is why it took so long before I finally decided to become a Christian. The truth is that in my life I had a lot of different fears, so it took time for me to work through this. And of course, losing my husband was also a difficult and fearful time for me. But as I attended church and saw the joy of the people around me I questioned myself as to why I should be afraid. At this point I made the decision to accept Jesus.

I think one of my biggest take aways about accepting is Jesus is that he has removed the fears in my life. My confidence continues to grow. In earlier years I had no confidence in myself, and didn’t trust others, but Jesus has changed all of that and has transformed me from a weak person to someone who has the strength to face life.  Jesus changes our thinking. Before we accept Jesus, we often find ourselves thinking about things that are negative. However, Jesus really does change that. Before I accepted Christ I so often worried about things that had not yet happened including death. Living this way is like being held captive and bound up with these kind of negative thoughts.  So as Pastor Lim said, when we trust in Jesus, then Jesus frees us from all of this. He removes the fear and the bad things that are in our lives and replaces them with good things. So after accepting Christ, our perspective changes from looking at things in a negative way to perceiving things with a good outlook. Of course we must acknowledge our problems and challenges, but we can always remind ourselves that God is with us. Before we accept Jesus we have a lot of bad thoughts; however, after accepting Jesus we have a heart that is filled with happiness and peace and is satisfied. People often think that money or a luxiours life will bring us happiness. The real truth is that only through Jesus can we experience true satisfaction and happiness.  

I have been a Christian now for about 7 years. After accepting Christ I continue to have more and more confidence. In my daily life or at work, no matter where I am I don’t live in fear anymore because I trust in the Lord and know that he is with me.  My son is grown now. So because my husband first accepted Jesus, my family totally changed. Little by little as my family has seen the difference that God has made in our lives, they too are willing to accept Christ.

Pastor Lim:

Today as we look around us, we can acknowledge that the Lord is indeed good. He leads us in our daily lives and If we live our lives as a good testimony of what God has done for us, then we can be a huge influence and lead others to Christ as well. Just like this story of how this husband accepted Jesus and experienced a transformed life, this testimony eventually led his wife to Christ as well. This too can happen to us. So since Jing Jing was willing to open her life to Christ, she now experiences a very meaningful life that is worth so much. You too can experience this kind of life by allowing Jesus to come into your heart., then your life will also be more meaningful and that is worth so much to all of us. You can receive a new life. Would you like to receive this? If you desire to do this then you can just follow me as I pray sentence by sentence.

Dear Jesus, I thank you because the reason that you came to this earth was to save us. In the past we have had failtures and have not been perfect for sure. But I want to thank you because you are willing to save me. You are wiling to support me. You are willing to forgive me of my sin and wrong doing. You don’t look down on me. You love me with your eternal love. At this time I invite you to come into my heart to be my Lord and Savior and direct my path. I know that if I have you in my life then my life will have purpose, and be so much more meaningful. Thank you, Jesus. In the name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

Dear friends, we hope that you are willing to pray this prayer with us, and I also want to encourage you to find a church nearby that you can attend. They can help you more deeply understand Jesus and also help you to deepen your faith in him. God bless you.

Hokkien Testimony #83

Hokkien Testimony #83

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 83rd 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 Sister Qiu Yaxue who will be sharing about God’s work in her life. Let’s listen to Yaxue 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.

Sister Qiu Yaxue’s Testimony:

I am originally from China and my environment and surroundings there were much different from those in Singapore. As a small child the area that I grew up in was a place that held a lot of superstitions and we worshiped just about anything that was there to worship. So I grew up with that kind of background, but the more I worshiped idols and such things the less peace I had in my life. I married very young so I became a mother at a very young age.

I would carry the child around and care for her during the day, but from about five in the afternoon until five the next morning she just screamed out. This was not a typical cry. Instead she was screaming continually without stopping all night long. I was so heavy hearted and didn’t know what to do. So I took the child to the doctor, but he said that there didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong. Maybe the child was frightened. He prescribed medicine, but it didn’t make any difference at all. So we sought out religious people to “remove the fear” from the child. However, this also didn’t help. The child was the same every day. I worshiped many gods and also drank ash water, wore amulets, etc. and I was told these would help, but nothing worked. When five p.m. arrived, the child would start howling again and would scream all through the night. Then I sought out a god that Hokkien people feel can solve everything. And of course I had to pay money as well. For about 7 months I spent a lot of money trying to find a solution, and the gods that I sought out also had different answers for me. What was I going to do?  Some said it was ghosts, others said it was connected to my ancestors and still others were directing me to worship different gods to find an answer. Finally at the end of seven months it was suggested to me that I had come to the end, and I should change religions. My mother-in-law and I both thought this was preposterous. Here I was paying money and passionately searching for answers with my own religion, but now was told that I needed something else, some other religion.

After some time I encountered demons, and my mother told me that I should go and check out the Christian faith. We knew nothing about Jesus. I had been taught to worship my ancestors, so how would I go worship Jesus?  However, we were at the end of our rope. For the sake of our child we had to do something. So I went to ask what this endeavor might cost us. I had no idea. The lady whom I spoke to said, nothing, that I would immediately be set free from all of this. However, I wasn’t going to immediately believe in something like this. I had already heard so many different things from other people, so I was hesitant but desperate. So I thought I should at least try it. I had tried everything else.

When I stepped into the church building I was surprised. The people were so friendly and I felt a peace about it all. The people prayed for my child. I had not told my husband or anyone else that I was going to church. I didn’t know if this was the real solution or not. Was Jesus the real thing? I just didn’t know. However, that night my child slept peacefully the entire night and did not cry. We were already accustomed to losing sleep, and I kept watching. One hour, two hours, the child slept the entire night. I had worshiped local idols my whole life and begged them for solutions, but no help. However, these Christians just prayed for my child one time, and the child slept all night. But I still had my doubts.

 I was afraid that evil spirits would once again attack my child, so I stayed close to the church. After a while I realized that this healing was genuine and encouraged my husband to go with me to church. We also experienced another challenge. My husband was in a traffic accident, was thrown from the vehicle and it looked like he was badly injured. Actually at the time people didn’t know if he was dead or alive. Because my husband had seen what God had done for our child, he prayed a simple prayer and asked the Lord to save him. He saw the Lord reach out his hand to him, and he immediately rose to his feet and walked. His mother already assumed he was dead and so when he returned home his mother scolded us and blamed us for this mishap because we had gone to church. She probably felt that the gods were angry. My husband really had no idea why he was thrown from the vehicle, but the vehicle was totaled. So how did he escape injury, and how did he get out of the vehicle. No one knows. All of the other people in the vehicle were seriously injured and had to be taken to the hospital. But my husband was completely unharmed with not even a scratch on him. So without a doubt my husband, I and our child were in church each week. This really brought peace into our lives.

We discovered that whenever we face challenges, then we take them to the Lord in prayer and he will help us find a solution. Today our child is growing and no longer has problems that we faced in childhood. Today our child is fourteen. Following this my mother-in-law didn’t scold us, and she didn’t try to prevent us from being Christian. She knew God had performed miracles in our family. That was a change in her response to us.

Pastor Lim:

Dear friends, I’m sure that through listening to this testimony you can see that Jesus is very real. No matter where we are or what danger we are in, he can save us. As you can tell through this testimony, even though her husband had only been to church a few times, he experienced the Lord’s protection. So when he encountered this dangerous situation, he called out to the Lord and asked the Jesus to save him. He actually saw the Lord’s arm reach out to him and save him. This was a miracle. So friends in your faith you too can experience God like this family. He is a real and living God. The Bible tells us that many things with men are impossible, but with God all things are possible. So if we trust in the Lord we can experience a victorious life with God. So if we trust in the Lord, he will direct our steps and protect us. Would you like to put your trust in Jesus? If you desire to do this, then follow me as I pray.

Dear Jesus, I thank you because you are our Savior and Lord. You are also the Master of our lives. We desire for you to lead us in every area of our lives. Lord Jesus, I believe in you. I invite you into my heart to forgive me of my sin and cleanse me of all of my wrong doing. I also invite you into my heart to be my Lord and King. I ask you to transform my life, heal me of any disease and solve the problems in my life. Thank you, Jesus. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

May the Lord bless you.