From Bankruptcy to Blessing
A testimony by David Tan

MY LIFE STARTED to fall apart in November 2005. My business, which I had been struggling to keep afloat, failed badly. I suff ered a loss which amounted to over $100,000. I had over a dozen credit cards and credit lines overdue.

It was a nightmare. I didn’t dare to pick up the phone, because I had banks calling me every other minute. I had legal letters in my mail everyday. Court orders were knocking on my door. I didn’t want to wake up each morning. I couldn’t pray. I couldn’t find the strength to face each day. I was facing mountains of debt. For three weeks, I was a total wreck. I asked God, “Why are all these happening?”

My wife, who was then my girlfriend, prayed for me everyday. After three weeks of indulging in self-pity and sorrow, I decided to face up to reality. I prayed and asked God to give me the strength to take a step in faith and do something. I remembered Pastor Dominic saying in one of his sermons that in order for God to bless us, we have to give Him something to work with, no matter what we have. So I gave God my life. By December 2005, I had ceased my business operations. I knew I had to look for a job. However, after being my own boss for three years, it was very tough getting used to the idea of being an employee again. I received a decent job offer to teach part-time at my alma mater, a polytechnic. I thought, “Great!” However, that

Many times, I asked God to deliver me out of my financial difficulties. By His grace, I found a job as a real estate agent. I felt a sense of peace within me. I knew then that God’s blessing was upon my life. I hung on to His promise in Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future”. I hung on to this promise for dear life, and attended courses to prepare myself for my new career.

Most people think that real estate agents make a lot of money, but it was not easy for me as I was totally new to the industry. To make things worse, I did not have any savings to tide me through the initial period of networking, establishing contacts and so on. Both my girlfriend and I were faced with severe financial difficulties. With no income for a few months, I was dependent on her salary as a church staff to pay for my daily expenses. It was the most difficult time of my life. I was too proud to borrow from anyone, not even family members. At one point, I had a make a decision which all of us take for granted all the time – that is, with $2 in my pocket, what was I going to eat for the entire day? That day, I learnt a huge lesson from God – that there are many others who are worse off than me. I am healthy, and I have family and friends around me. Somehow, by the grace of God, we managed to get by each month.

In February 2006, I decided to file for self-declared bankruptcy, as I couldn’t keep up with the repayments. Even with that decision, I did not have the money to start the process (Apparently, a person needs about $4000 to commence self-petitioned bankruptcy proceedings in Singapore). But God planted many angels around me to take me through the most difficult moments in my life. A Trinitarian helped me to engage a lawyer. By the grace of God, the lawyer who is also a Christian, offered me the option of paying the fees in installments over a period of time, at my convenience! That was definitely God’s grace.

By June, I was declared a bankrupt. In a matter of six months, I had lost my business, my car was towed away, and my bank account hit rock bottom. By this time, I thought to myself, what else could be worse? All this time, while I was struggling with my financial situation, my dad was battling bladder cancer. I had been praying and asking God to heal
him, and he was in remission. Just when I thought all was going to be okay for him, he had to be hospitalised and his bladder removed immediately. This took place on the first day of Chinese New Year. This was another blow to me. It seemed like “curved balls” were being thrown at me, one after another.

The surgery went smoothly. We continued to pray for his recovery. Slowly, my dad got used to having a urinal bag hanging outside his body. Just when I thought things would get better, yet another challenge threatened to take me down.

Two months after the surgery, the doctor diagnosed that the cancerous cells had spread to his liver, lungs and bones. Upon hearing the news, I was devastated. Two months after that, my dad suffered a fall while at home. That fall broke his hip and leg. He became bedridden. His cancer spread beyond what the doctors could do. I remember questioning God, “WHEN? When will it ever stop?” I felt like Job in the Bible. I felt like I had been abandoned by God. It began to feel as if nothing good would ever happen to me. Then I remembered Pastor Dominic’s words, “When you are way down in the rut, at rock bottom, there is only one way to look – UP. Look up to God and He will deliver you”. So I prayed. It was hard for me, but I prayed. I asked God to deliver me out of my misery. I asked God to take care of ALL my problems.

God is the Almighty Lord who is above all things. When I look back at these seemingly “bad” things that have happened, I see the “good” things He has done for me:

Through all the challenges, I learnt not to ask God “Why?” Instead, I learnt to ask “When?” For His promises will surely to come to pass; I just had to learn to wait on Him. I did not have to wait very much longer, for my breakthrough came on 31 December 2006. While I was queuing up to get into the Watchnight Service at Trinity@Paya Lebar, I received a call. A potential buyer asked me to meet him to discuss a $5,000 deal the very next morning. However, I was due to go off for a short break with some friends that very morning. For the first time in five years, I was going away for a break, and work arrived at my doorstep! After that call, I felt very restless and wondered if I should cancel my trip. I prayed and asked God what I should do. At that moment, God simply told me to go ahead and enjoy myself. Still feeling uncertain, I told my fiancée what God had said. Her reply to me was, “Let go and leave it in God’s hands.” We prayed and asked God to take charge of the situation. I then arranged for a colleague to go for the meeting in my place.

That night, during the Watchnight Service, Pastor Dominic declared 2007 as a year of great increase. The next afternoon while in Bintan, I received a call from my colleague who told me that not only was the deal closed, he managed to get a higher commission for me – nearly $1,000 more! Right there and then, on the very first day of 2007, I saw the wonderful works of God upon my life. In the month of January alone, God blessed me with more than $15,000 – more than five times my average monthly income! Now that is definitely GREAT INCREASE! God’s blessings did not end there. He has continued to place many deals in my hands, such that I am constantly closing one deal after another. His abundant blessings have indeed poured forth from heaven above.

Today, I am happily married to my then girlfriend. Financially, God has provided for us mightily. We have more than sufficient to take us through each month, plus some savings at the end of the month. As a result of the financial distress, I have learnt good financial habits. I am happily serving God as a spiritual parent in my carecell, and as a traffic marshall in church. I have a wonderful relationship with my carecell members. Most importantly, I am proud to be a child of God.

Through it all, I learnt a huge lesson: When we let go and surrender everything to God, He can make miracles happen. It was not by my strength that I was able to go through all those diffi cult moments. It was the strength of God, given by the Holy Spirit, that sustained me during the darkest moments of my life. He has never left my side. Even when I felt abandoned, He was there, taking me through each step. God is forever faithful. He has a barn full of blessings, just waiting for us to take the step to get closer to Him. All glory to Him!

Free From Writer’s Block!
A testimony by Khoo Lilin

Since my teens, I had been active in creative writing. But for a period of five years, I experienced “writer’s block” and had diffi culty writing. It was only after I rededicated my life to Christ in 2005 that the writer’s block disappeared and I started to write poetry again.

One of my faith goals this year was to publish my first book by the end of the year. It took much audacious fervour to believe God for the impossible. One day, most miraculously, I woke up with the idea of a story fully formed in my head. I wrote the bulk of it in one day. I submitted the manuscript for an award. The award included a grant that would fully sponsor the publication and printing costs of the winning manuscript. I had almost forgotten about my application until I received an email asking me to go for an interview. During this period, I prayed, and others prayed with me. God gave me the assurance that He would restore to me what I had lost. In turn, I promised that I would use my infl uence as a writer for His glory and for the extension of His kingdom.

Some time later, I received a letter from the organisers to say that I had won the grant to publish my book! And since the printing costs were fully paid for by the very generous grant, the profi ts from the sales of the book came directly to me.

The profi ts were also a fulfi lment of another promise God had given me last year. At Trinity’s Vision Rally last September, God had impressed upon me to commit a faith promise of $5000. As a student, I had no idea how I was going to get $5000, but I put the amount down anyway (that’s why it’s called a faith promise!) God has restored to me a long-lost and longcherished dream, and also provided for my faith promise. May His name be greatly praised!

From Math Zero to Hero
A testimony by Vincent Chua

I would like to testify that God can do the impossible in our lives. I have never been good in Math. There is a type of person in this world - one who enters the ivory tower and for great seizures of fear, forgets all he has learned. I was such a person. For me, Math and failure were coterminous – they came as a pair. I failed Math in Primary 5, Primary 6, Secondary 2, Secondary 3, JC 1 and JC 2. When something like that happens, you develop a very deep fear of the subject. It is not a nice feeling, a very real bondage – deep pain, many tears.

My poor performance in the Math and Sciences pulled my grades down so significantly the only faculty I managed to squeeze into was NUS’ Arts and Social Sciences. My grades were not suitable for the other more prestigious faculties. I was also very poor in English and hard though I tried, I always ended up with either a C6 or D7 for the General Paper. I also had a D in Physics at the A level examinations. But God had a plan.

Grateful for the chance to attend university, I decided to work hard and harder. This coincided with my returning to church and rededicating my miserable life to God – that was 1997. God healed my mind and my fears. In 1999, God challenged me to take a reputably difficult statistics course at the Department of Sociology at NUS. I wanted to confront my fears, so I responded in faith. With hard work and God’s help, I scored a surprising A for that course. It built my confidence, but I still wondered if it was something I had achieved by pure chance. I started for the first time to do well in life. God healed my mind. My good performance at University led me to doing an honours degree in Sociology, and then a Masters, and now a PhD. I am now based at the University of Toronto, my

But I worked hard and asked God to help me repeatedly. I felt so inadequate. There were times during the semester that I would break down before God and told Him I couldn’t do it. But God told me to press on, and not lose heart. So I continued to apply myself to my projects faithfully, not always understanding what was going on, but pushing on blindly. One night, as I was studying, I felt the Spirit of God come upon me and I boldly prophesized that I would become the next Teaching Assistant (TA) for that difficult PhD statistics course. I prophesized it again and again, but quickly felt ashamed of myself for being so misguided and recklessly courageous.

As the story goes, God showed Himself to me as the God of the impossible. In both courses, I emerged as one of the top students - scoring A+ s for both papers. Just one year before, my knowledge of statistics was minimal, now – one year on, I have learnt so much more. God granted me success in my other courses as well. By the time the first year had ended, I had A+ s for all my courses – to the amazement of my professors. Chinese boy from the village town of Singapore, over-achieving in North America.

September 2006 comes around - term is about to re-open. As is convention, graduate students would be engaged in a frantic search for teaching appointments at the department - it helps them remain financially stable. As was the previous year, I filed an application to teach the staple undergraduate “Introduction to Sociology” course and then made plans with the presiding professor to be one of the Teaching Assistants (TA). He agreed. We struck a deal, plans were made and finalized. But with God, things do change even at the last minute. The day after - a call comes – I am summoned to the Head’s office. As unexpected as can be, the Head speaks to me, and then says, “I want you to be

As a person who used to fail Math repeatedly I now teach the subject to PhD students at a prestigious North America university. Because of my previous Math troubles, I am especially effective and attuned to understanding and anticipating student problems. God has turned my weakness into strength. I now help students understand the subject matter better, and they have so far expressed great appreciation for my clear explanations. Since being in Toronto, I have had the privilege to come under the mentorship of many world renowned professors - professors whose books and articles I had read from afar, but now am tutored by, face to face. God has made me from Math zero to Math hero.

I give Him all the glory.

I needed to rest and spend time with my loved ones
A testimony by R.L.

I have been working as a Graphic Designer for the past 7 years. I was constantly complaining to my husband about the stress at work. I worked late every night, till past 9pm, 10pm, 11pm or 12 midnite. I wasn't able to spend time with my mum or my husband. It was like this everyday.

I felt guilty for not spending time with my loved ones. I felt bad too, for not having Time Alone with God. I didn't have time for myself. I was tired, angry and frustrated. I told my husband that I cannot take it anymore and wanted to quit. I was thinking of working as a freelance designer (part-time basis) and hopefully the hours would be 9-6pm. No more over-time. But I needed to hear from God.

I came before God one day and poured out all my frustrations. I told God I needed REST badly. I needed to spend time with my family, friends and have time for God. God said to me, events and situations will come but the favour of God will not leave you. I will always be with you. I will provide you a job, I will guide you. Do not fret. There will be food on the table. Do not be anxious.”

I sensed God's peace and assurance that when I leave my job, He'll provide a way. When I tendered my resignation letter, to my amazement, my boss took it well. She said that she will speak to the management to allow me to come back to work as a freelancer. Praise God! In fact, right after I stepped out of the company on the last day, I received an SMS from my company to start work as a freelancer the next day. Talk about favour from God! It was amazing.

One day, an ex-colleague called me regarding a job vacancy. It's a full time/part time design job. When I met up with the interviewer, he was impressed with my portfolio, and we spend an hour going through my work. I committed this to the Lord. While I was in KL, I received a call that I got the job. I was so excited.

I requested that the time be from 9-6pm. I was told it was no problem. As long as I finished my work, the hours were flexible. I couldn't wait to spend more time with my family, friends and God.

The only thing was because it was a quarterly project, I only had work for 6 to 8 months in a year. The rest of the time, I would have to look for other jobs. I was kind of worried. Yet, praise God …Whenever I finished my work with this company, the next month, my ex-company would have projects for me.

I used to feel secure with a full-time job as I know, at the end of the month, I will be paid. For the past year, my faith has been enlarged and tested. Some days, I was worried I might not get any projects at all. Now, my security rests on Jehovah Jireh my provider.

This half a year has been what I call a YEAR OF REST. God gave me the physical rest that I needed so badly and the spiritual REST. God is teaching me to learn how to rest in Him, to put my trust in Him and to have the assurance that comes from Him, and not from the world.

I thank God, because I got to go on a mission trip, to be a blessing to children overseas. I have time for my family, time for myself and most importantly, time for God. The other day, I came before God and asked Him what His agenda was. He told me, you will not go hungry. I will guide you each step of the way. Don't worry about the future, for I hold your tomorrows.”

Through it all, indeed, He is a God of my tomorrows, a God who reveals His heart to me.

My First Day at Work
A testimony by V.L.

It was my first day of work at a new posting, and I was feeling frustrated and upset. It seemed like I was moved from a less stressful environment to a place that I never wanted to be.  When a colleague asked if I was looking forward to my new job, my straightforward answer was a 'no'.  Some even had to console me by telling me to "look at the bright side....." The more I thought about it, the more I compared the job environment, the more frustrated I felt.
 
Then, I received a SMS: "How's your first day at work/school? Chase away the blues with praise.  Thank God for being with you today. The sender: TRINITY.
 
It was like a wake up call to me.  I began praying and thanking God for His presence with me.  As I reflected on the day's activities, I realised I could praise Him for many things, for a wonderful morning, for favour, for clearing my emails, and for being able to reach home before 6pm that day. I claimed victory over anxiety and continued to pray till I reached home. 

It has been a long time since I enjoyed the presence of the Lord in this way.  Thank You God, and thanks Trinity for sending the SMS. 

God set me free from debt and financial distress
A testimony by C.Q.

When I graduated from university 4 years ago, I took the job to run a start-up company which was a subsidiary of a public company. Pride and arrogance swelled in me with the prestigious title and salary. Combined with a good inheritance I received, I lived this dream that I was already successful in life and career.

For the first 2 years, I signed up for over 12 credit cards in 5 banks and happily swiped one card after another, racking up bills tremendously. Soon enough, each month, I was racking up $6,000 worth of credit card bills each month and my savings were dwindling rapidly. To make things worse, the reckless spending attitude was carried to my business, which also saw a very bad cash flow due to poor financial management. Despite this stress on finances, I could not kick the habit of spending.

Finally, Trinity's Vision Rally in 2004 changed my life. God told me to surrender both my personal and corporate finances to Him and to trust Him by providing a sum of money to the church building fund as a faith step to break out of this financial debt.

It was a difficult time over the following 8 months. I had withdrawal issues from spending and was feeling depressed. With God's help, I cut up my credit cards down to two. God surrounded me with sensible Christian friends who showed me how to cut unnecessary expenditure and plan properly. Soon enough, the savings came back and God recovered my worthless investments and I succeeded in submitting my faith sum to the building fund in 8 months.

In summary, the most important lesson is God changed my financial life and saved me from financial distress. I no longer serve money, but serve God. God taught me to rely on Him solely to be my provider, and He has never failed me. I may not be rich and successful in material wealth, but I am more blessed by the riches and favour of God.

For those in financial distress, surrender your finances to God and serve God, not money. You will see a great whirlwind of change in your life. May God Bless You and Keep You.

Promotion comes from the Lord
A testimony by A.L.

I started a new job. However, after a month, my morale dropped when a senior colleague took credit for my achievement. I lost my fighting spirit and even tried to avoid going to work. My boss promised me a promotion in 6 months but it did not materialize. I was really demoralized and kept blaming myself for not doing better.

One weekend, I attended service at Trinity. The series was Refreshing Sundays, Loving Mondays. Pastor Bryan said one thing which really struck me. He said: Promotion comes from God. If you don't get the promotion, it doesn't mean that you're not good enough but because it's not your time yet.”

Immediately, I realized that that's the message for me because I was at my lowest point. Miraculously the next day, I woke up feeling so energetic and fresh -- a feeling that I never felt before.

I bore in my mind what Pastor Bryan said and started to give my all in my work. My hard work finally paid off. A month later, I was promoted and had my increment at the same time. To date, I have survived 2 retrenchments and pay cuts. When everyone got their pay cut, my boss increased my pay unexpectedly. God certainly has been so faithful to me and I know I'm serving a faithful God.