~~Baptism testimony~~

Witnessed baptism lately, it reminds me of my baptism testimony. Would like to share this moment of turning point in my life with all of you. No fancy story, nothing to boast about and nothing to take pride of. It is a story about God who chooses to demonstrate His gracious power through me. When advance medical technology can't help, when brilliant doctors scratching their heads for solution, when no one seems to be able to assist, when the only resort I have is to knee down before Him... In this life and death moment, He listened to my prayer and made His light shine in my heart to give me the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

It goes like this...

"Before I become a Christian, I used to think that human has the power to change whatever circumstances they are in. They can achieve everything as long as they put in 100% effort. History does tell that with determination and hard work, Wright brothers had enable human beings to fly in the sky though this idea seems ridiculous centuries ago. However, I had a new perception on August 2006. Last year of that time I experienced the biggest crisis in my life.

I went to work as usual. Half way through the work, I realized that there was a tiny white dot that blocked my central vision. No matter how hard I tried to see, there was always a missing part. I quickly went to nearby polyclinic to seek help. I was soon referred to hospital because my case was special. I experienced sudden but painless monocular decline in central acuity. For almost a week, the consultant at the hospital was still unable to identify the root cause of my disease. I was like walking in a maze, to and forth the hospital, doing more and more testing. My vision deteriorated with each passing days. My imagination continued to run wild with lots of unpleasant and in fact scary possibilities. “Come on, let’s face the reality, you might become blind eventually,” my inner voice keeps pestering me. This kind of negative thinking keep haunting me days and nights to such an extent that I dare not close my eyes for fear that I might not be able to see the next minute I open my eyes. All the cares and consoles from my family and friends seemed so distant to me. I suddenly feel that I have no one to turn to except to Jesus Christ.

I can still remember vividly that was the first time I kneeled down to Jesus even though I accepted Christ some where in May 2006 after my best friend said a sinner prayer to me. I was in floods of tears. Again and again I begged Him to heal my eyes since human effort did not seem to work any better. After which, I decided to seek second opinion at Singapore National Eyes Centre. When we kneel down to pray, God actually bends down to listen. True enough, I met with a very good consultant and he managed to give precise diagnosis to my situation. I was diagnosed with Multiple Evanescent White Dot Syndrome (MEWDS). It is a rare, unilateral, self-limiting inflammatory eyes disease that primarily affects young women. According to the consultant, it is like chicken-pox but it happens inside the eyes. I was healed miraculously in few months time. "

When I am suffering, God reveals two things to me: His grace and His power – His grace to sustain me and keep me, and His power to deliver me. He waits until all hope outside of Him is dead so that I will know it is He who brought life where there was none. Sometimes He takes things out of our lives so that we will turn to Him to supply our need. No matter how much God blesses us, He wants us to acknowledge that we depend on Him. He uses the storms of our lives to accomplish that purpose. -- extracted from Stormie Omartian

Ever since that incident, I had a better understanding of what faith is all about. Faith is not demanding what we want; it is trusting God’s goodness in spite of life’s tragedies. I truly thanked God for granting me a vision far outweighs the temporary physical impairment. I am glad that this incident happened because the predicament actually draws me closer to Him.

~ ~ When we open our heart to the Lord, He opens our eyes to the lost ~ ~
Prepared by Agnes Tan Ah Har