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My testimony



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

Anonymous said…
Hi :) i found ur blog by chance. What’s GBC? U started ur testimony with “Dear GBC” is that a Christian abbreviation? Cheers
May 27, 2024 at 2:11 PM
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