My "New Birth" Day - 7 Feb 2009

The 7th of Feb 2009 was a very special day for me. It was the day I got baptised again. I was baptised as a child but had walked away from God for a few years of my life. 2002 was a turning point for me and I decided to live my life for Jesus from then on. Though I have wanted to get baptised again for a while now, I never really had the opportunity until our church had its very first baptism service last Saturday. It was held at the swimming pool of Garden Hotel and I got the chance to share my testimony (see below). It was nice to see some of the hotel guests joining in the festivities. James, John, my father-in-law, my mum, my dad and my brother were all there to witness the moment and their presence made it that bit more special. Also present were good friends like Ps Henson & his tribe, Ps Andrew, Ps George & Belinda and the rest of the Covenant Vision family. I'm still reeling from the excitement of the day and it is my prayer that everyone I know who hasn't come to know God will one day have that experience as well.

Here are some photos of the baptism:

Praying before the baptism.

Giving my testimony.

Hallelujah!!!

The bub looking on.

After lunch with part of the Lim Tribe.

Sarah (far left) and David (far right) were also baptised on Sat.

And here is the testimony I shared during the service:

"I stand here today to testify of God’s goodness in my life.

I was baptised as a child and grew up in a Christian family. I attended Sunday school and as a teenager, I was also involved in church.

When I left JC, however, everything went downhill. I started hanging with people who led very worldly lives and by the time I was in my second year at Uni, my life had taken a 180 degree turn for the worse. I smoked, I drank, and I partied a lot. I stayed in the hostel where playing hard was a way of life. I battled an eating disorder which involved me taking laxatives every single day. At the peak of the problem, I was taking 3 pills a day to purge everything I was eating.

I didn’t go to church and I’d lie to my parents that I did. I had almost completely forgotten about God.

At this point I want to thank God again for praying parents and thank them for never giving up on me. Although they knew I had backslided, they never pushed me nor pressured me. They just prayed for me.

Then in my third year, I almost had a breakdown. And at my lowest point, God used them to remind me that He was still in control of my life… That I was still His child. The whole story is very drama and it included one phone call and me crying my eyes out at the NUSS coffee house at NUS. But that was the turning point in my life. I knew I had to turn back to God.

And when I did, everything started to fall into place. In my final year, I was surrounded by Christian classmates. My non-Christian boyfriend broke up with me because suddenly we had very different values. I did exceptionally well in my studies as well and even got onto the dean’s list. I also decided to stop taking the pills cold turkey and within a week, I was free from that addiction.

Since then, I have experienced the goodness of God in all aspects of my life. I have a loving husband, a beautiful son, and loving family and a job serving God.

I had wanted to get baptized again for a while now. When I was in England, a baptism service at the church I was attending had such an impact on me. I cried as each person came out from the water. I just bore witness to how they wanted to declare publicly their faith and symbolically die and rise again with Christ. In fact, I almost signed up to get baptized again there.

But I’m glad I didn’t get a chance to do it and I believe God had a purpose in delaying it for me. Because I now have the chance to not only to give my testimony here today, to boast of God’s goodness, to stand here and say that if not for my praying parents, it may have taken a lot longer for me to come back to God. I also get to be baptized in the very first baptism service of the church my own dad started and get baptized by two pastors that I love and respect very much and witnessed by my husband and my son, whom I hope to be an example to, and also witnessed by all of you, my spiritual family.

This is indeed a special day for me. As I get baptized and die and rise with Christ, I declare that I am a new creation, the old has passed, behold all things have become new. I declare in the heavenlies that I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back."