Testimony by Sista Anna

Testimony from a sista

Testimony of God’s transformation and testing of faith (by Neo Wan Che, Anna)

Good morning church, my name is Wanqi. Otherwise known as Anna from NG2C2. Presently I am teaching children with autism at a special school. Today, I am here to testify about God’s transformation in my life. Christian life is about the constant testing of faith. Just like Abraham who was challenged to give up Isaac, his only son, I was also challenged to give up the “Isaac” of my life - my family.

On the 6^th of August last year, my mum was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor located somewhere between the chest and stomach. I remember that day vividly because my school was having National Day celebrations.

God is a good God. He knows what is happening in my life and He meets my needs. Strangely, a brother (Eugene Chong, my ex-sheep in Youth) who seldom keeps in contact suddenly messaged me that day to ask how I was. Stifling my feelings of confusion and devastation, I only told him that something had happened to my family. To my amazement, he replied that as he was spending time with God that day, God suddenly prompted him that something had happened to me. Upon hearing that, I divulged my mum’s condition and requested that he pray for us.

Since the hospital only gave us a computer print out of the report on my mum’s diagnosis, we decided to seek a second opinion from our family doctor. Our family doctor helped us to make an appointment with a cancer specialist at a private hospital on 10/8/04 (which happened to be my birthday). The specialist looked at the report from the hospital and told us it showed terminal cancer. He then did a biopsy and asked us to come back on 12/8/04 for the biopsy results to confirm the stage of my mum’s cancer. Surgery was not advised as it would be complicated and considered high-risk.

As my family had never experienced anyone contracting cancer before, it was a new thing to me. I was really troubled by the result and did not know what to do. As I prayed and sought God, He prompted me to listen to a sermon preached by Rev. Glen. The message of the day was John 11:40, “If I believe, I will see the glory of God.” On 12/8/04, the biopsy result confirmed my mum’s cancer was terminal. The specialist estimated my mum had only 9 months left on this earth…

That day, after asking God for direction, I was convicted to embark on a fast just like Esther (meaning 3 days without food) because it was three days from 12/8/04 to 14/8/04 before we went for the healing service at Trinity Christian Centre. It was really a great challenge to me because I had never tried fasting from food for 3 days. But out of desperation and love for my mum, I went ahead and fasted with my sister. I also mobilized other Christians to fast and pray for my mum’s salvation and healing.

As I fasted and prayed, God reassured me two more times that “If I believe, I will see the glory of God.” Once was through a book I felt prompted to buy on 13/08/04 and the other time was at the healing service. Initially, I thought the glory of God was that my mum would be healed at the first healing service and then my whole family will be saved. That did not happen for God’s had a higher plan and purpose than what I had in mind. My parents did accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior at the first healing service but my mum was yet to be healed.

As the days went by, my mum had to undergo chemotherapy. Up till now, she has gone through a total of 7 rounds of chemotherapy. Seeing her suffer from the side effects of the treatment, my faith in God wavered and I became depressed. I was just like Peter. He was confidently walking on water until he started focusing on the turbulent waves around him. At which point, his faith was shaken and he sunk. In fact, God is so good that He will never let us go.

In the days to come, I continued to bring my mum to all sort of healing services in the hope that she would be healed. God, in His grace and mercy, slowly revealed my own motive for wanting my mum to be healed. Being the only member of the family who was unmarried, the responsibility of caring for my mum would fall on me and I was hoping to get out of it.

God is not only interested in healing our physical bodies; He is more interested in transforming us totally. I was really tested in every aspect. Emotionally and mentally I was stressed with numerous fears. Fear of losing my mum, of losing my job (as it is a requirement that I pass NIE before I can continue as a special education teacher) as well as the fear of loneliness (as I was still single and very much available) was overwhelming. Physically, a student at school was abusing me. Spiritually, I felt a great distance from God even though I prayed, fasted, and even listened to God’s word during my sleep, but I still my depression did not lift. To add insult to injury, my house was also burgled… Burdened by all these trials, I started having suicidal thoughts. Knowing that I was on the verge of a breakdown, I decided to go for counseling at Agape counseling centre where I was diagnosed with bi-polar syndrome by the psychiatrist and put on medical therapy. Even though I have been faithless, God is faithful. He knows that the root cause of my depression was not the trials I was facing but a spiritual bondage I had. Before becoming a Christian, I was devoted to a god in a medium house as goddaughter. I was not aware I needed to renounce it when I received Christ. Even as I served God in my new life as a child of God, I harbored bitterness towards people, especially my shepherds and leaders. That was the reason why I could not overcome my depression even though I had tried everything I could. I was also contemplating to leave church and God.

However, God continued to send me help through people. Everyday, I will receive a scripture message from a colleague. There are also friends from other churches who ministered to me. My understanding of the body of Christ was broadened during that period. Even my classmate (Pauline) in NIE is from Hope too. Pauline and my other Christian classmates helped me with my studies and kept me in constant prayer. The final breakthrough came when I responded to an altar call in the “Seasons of life” seminar taught by Charmaine. She and Rosaline (my Unit Leader) took two sessions to go through the bondage breaker, steps to freedom in Christ. In the first session I was told to write down at least 5-10 blessings per day and to meditate on Psalms. At first, I did not believe in my heart that there could be so many blessings in a day. However, I decided to try, as I really wanted to overcome my depression. God is good. After the first round of deliverance, I had truly found 5-10 blessings everyday and all of them were spirit-led…

Spiritually, I finally understood what it meant to rest in the love of Jesus and His love is unconditional. Ten years ago, a prophet who came to our church prophesized that the devil hates me because I had strength and that bothered him. The prophet also asked me to pray for the gift of healing. I did not understand then, but now it is crystal clear. My parents’ salvation had a tremendous impact on my family, relatives and friends. For many years, it had been my desire to reach out to all the people I know, especially my family and relatives. Cancer’s effect on my mum has also been minimum. Even though she had been through seven rounds of chemotherapy, she still has her hair. She is thinner though. Now, my parents are committed to the mandarin church and they have started to serve God. They have even started tithing and contributing to the building fund too. They are even willing to open up our house for care group and even to international brothers and sisters that they may have a place to stay. Personally, because I had triumphed over depression, I am able to minister to people who are depressed. Not only that, God has used me to pray for their deliverance from depression. Right now, I can even intercede and inspire the rest of the intercessors to pray for the church to have more breakthroughs. Thank God for using me to pray for people who are sick. I am also seeing these people getting healed progressively. I also came to understand that Jesus came not only to save us from our sins but also to heal us. There is healing power in taking the Holy Communion.

Recently, I just graduated from NIE. I was pleasantly surprised that I had managed to get the best results for my last semester of studies even though I had to repeat one module on top of the depression I was suffering having been through so many trials. I even got credit in my studies. Financially, God also provided a future business opportunity for me and I can be anointed to teach these autistic children. I am also seeing my mum progressively healed and the relationship in my family getting stronger and closer. God has also revealed to me the root cause of my mum’s cancer: a generation curse. I have also built many stronger friendships with the people around me.

I am just overwhelmed with the number of blessings I have received. I know that I would not be who I am today without God. His grace is sufficient for me. I just want to encourage people who are going through trials and temptations to continue to believe God for breakthroughs and persevere on.

For the shepherds and leaders who are ministering to depressed people, please continue to believe God will deliver them and to love these people unconditionally. I really thank God for providing friends e.g. Pauline, Fiona, Nicky, Jane, intercessory friends like Limei (who consistently prayed for me), Siew Fong (who gave me the book and VCD on Victory over cancer and many more), care group brothers and sisters (e.g. Canis, Esther, Hillary, John, Lawrence, Jiebing etc.), and last but not least, family members, especially my younger sister, Peijin who supported me throughout my depression.

Freely I receive from God and others, freely I give to others. To end off my testimony, Psalms 30: 5, “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime.”

Hope that this will encourage you. Thank you.