My Testimony
by
Yee Kiat, Tan
9th June
2011
Dear GBC family, my name is Tan
Yee Kiat, otherwise more affectionately known as yeeks among some of you here.
Today I am very thankful for the opportunity to share my testimony with you. I
have been attending GBC since 2004, brought here by my friend (redacted),
his sister, (redacted) and (redacted) who was attending the Chinese congregation.
I was born in Kuching on December
1986 into a pretty much agnostic family, partially ambivalent towards religion
or Christianity. I say partially because while my Dad couldn’t care less about
religion, I had a mother who, although strangely enough believed in the
Christian-version of a God, was not attending any church. My first taste of
Christianity came in the form of a Children’s Bible, when I was Primary 1,
bought for me by my aunt. Since then however, God, through His Spirit, has
opened my eyes to His love and promises. Life took a drastic turn for me in
1997 when my dad got himself into a financial mess, owing not only the Inland
Revenue a huge sum of money but also loan sharks. One tragic night in 1997, the
very same loan sharks came to my house with jerry cans of kerosene preparing to
torch my house there and then.
Since then however, God has
provided and cared for me and my family in a lot of ways. Things are not always
perfect, but His grace is indeed sufficient.
Through Christ, I learn today
that my identity is not that of someone who managed to turn his life around and
managed to attain for himself some social mobility. My identity is that of a
sinner. This is after all a testimony and I am testifying that I am a sinner
whom God has unfathomably chosen to love – by dying on the Cross for me so that
I can be in a relationship with Him and be called His disciple, and demonstrated
also through His faithfulness and countless providence. You would think that
someone who has been blessed so much would have been faithful but alas, it is
no bigger than a mustard seed. In my life, I still find it a struggle to be
shepherded by Him, to believe that His rod and His staff are truly comforting. Believing
that His grace is really sufficient will continue to be a daily struggle. Nevertheless,
I firmly believe that He is faithful even when I have not been so. I would like
to leave this verse with you all.
“I therefore, a prisoner for
the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which
you have been called, with all humility and gentleness,
with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to
maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph 4:1-3)
Comments