Author's Testimony
Early Childhood
I was raised in a humble family with four brothers and four sisters. My father was an upright, strict, self-taught, self-employed entrepreneur chef. A handsome man with big eyes and a European nose, he was my hero. My mother often brought me to visit Chinese temples but I dreaded both the burning incense (which caused my eyes to tear) and those huge statues - some with black faces and long beards.
I remembered that when I was 10 years old when my father was taken ill. He bravely discharged himself from the hospital and started making snacks which my two older brothers and I gamefully peddled from floor to floor of high-rise housing blocks. What an adventurous childhood we had!
My Salvation Story
When I was in secondary school, I used to play table tennis with my friends in the back room of a nearby chapel after classes. One day, I heard a testimony of a fellow senior student who shared about Jesus casting out demons. He said, “Whenever you are in trouble, call on the name of Jesus.” This statement was to surface in my mind 10 years later.
Fortune Teller Encounter
While awaiting my GCE “O” level results, my good friend and I were walking around a housing estate looking for a vacation job. We saw a line of people queuing outside a flat and learned that it was for fortune telling. Curiosity took the better of our young and naive minds and we joined the queue. I foolishly paid $5 for the evil service. The old lady asked for my date of birth and asked to see my palms. Then she pronounced: (1) You will be married by 20 and will have a daughter, (2) You will meet with a car accident at age 27, (3) You will die at 52 with your daughter by your side.
God's Deliverance
The first prediction happened as stated. The second happened at age 25, not 27. The third did not happen because of God’s mercy. As I was trapped in an abusive marriage, the statement “Whenever you are in trouble, call on the name of Jesus” flashed in my mind one day. Imagine, it appeared suddenly after 10 years! So, in faith, I called on the name of Jesus, saying, “Jesus, if You are real, give me a divorce!” Within six months, He miraculously delivered me out of my difficult situation and even sent me to England for further studies!
I was overwhelmed by the unexpected deliverance and my eyes were opened to the reality of an invisible, prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God. I surrendered my life fully to Him and He delivered me from the curse of premature death. Since then, I have consecrated my life to Him, the only True and Living God (and the consecration grew stronger after my marriage to David some years later).
Dream of Family in Black Mourning Clothes
During my first year in England as an overseas student, I had a dream. In the dream, I saw my mother, brothers and sisters wearing black mourning clothes. Someone had died! I woke from the dream, horrified. Where do people go when they die? I realized that my mother’s religion had no answer to the mystery of death. I was determined to find out the truth. Since the only spiritual book I had was a small Bible, I started to search for the answer therein. I was overjoyed to learn that Jesus died to redeem us from death and has defeated the devil and destroyed death. He is now in heaven, preparing a mansion for His people to live with Him forever. One day soon, He will return to take them to the heavenly home. Some 17 years later, when my father passed on, it occurred to me that God might have given me the dream to warn and prepare me for my father’s passing.
As I was mourning over the loss of my father, God in His great heart of love gave me another two dreams to comfort me. I saw my father with his eyes closed lying in a tomb with a smile on his lips. The atmosphere around him was pink and dewy - heavenly. In the dream of my mother, I saw her composed and at peace, quite unlike her usual self.
Resolution to Serve God
Upon completion of my Master’s degree at Durham University at age 28, I was so grateful to God that I wrote in my diary, "God, you are so good to me, I want to serve you when I turn 50." A few years after graduation and my return to Singapore, I met David at work and were married in a chapel on Christmas Day.
Miraculous Provisions to Attend Bible Training
God performed several miracles for us. David was granted six months of unpaid leave by his employer – something unheard of in our culture. We enrolled in the Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism, Sacramento, USA, and rented out our apartment. The last week before we left Singapore for the evangelistic training, a friend requested that we rent out our car to him.
Upon the completion of the Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism training, we returned to Singapore. David went back to his secular job and was given three promotions and pay-raises by his employer. I became a Bible Worker in the Maranatha Church in the east of Singapore.
Meanwhile, we were praying to God to show us what we should do with the spiritual training we had received.
Fulfilling my Resolution
God reminded me a year before my 50th birthday of my resolution, made 22 years earlier, to serve Him. One month and two days before my 50th birthday, I wrote my resignation letter to the Healthcare institution I was working for. When I returned home, I told David about it. Guess what he told me? “I am told that I am going to be retrenched,” he said. I held on to my resignation because we had a mortgage on our private apartment. God worked amazingly. We often think retrenchment is a bad thing. But God used this one year to prepare David’s heart to go with me to study at the Amazing Facts Centre of Evangelism in Sacramento, USA. God’s ways are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our thoughts (see Isaiah 55:8,9). God also gave me a vision to confirm that it was time for me to leave secular employment.
Supernatural Sign to Leave Secular Employment
One Thursday afternoon in 2008, I walked past the front door of the top management meeting room, on the way to the Toilet. Suddenly, looking through the glass panel beside the timber door, I saw the snake’s eyes (luminous white and yellow) on the face of one of the chiefs. I was shocked and ran back to the office and told my best friend, the CEO’s secretary, about it. She was very busy, but told me, “Belinda, please ask your pastor and your church to pray for you. Don’t just pray with your husband.”
Alone and puzzled, I decided to check again. I tiptoed and looked again through the glass panel. The angry face zoomed even more fiercely at me. The luminous eyes were glaring and hissing at me. I emailed my favorite professor about the supernatural phenomenon I’ve just witnessed, and he quoted Ephesians 6:12 - “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (KJV). Praise God for the discernment he provided! It was time to leave my work!
- May my testimony inspire your faith in God -
