Good morning, brothers and sisters in the Lord. For those who do not know me, my name is Joni. I am married with two children Joel, in P4 and Jayden, in P1, who come to church with me every Sunday.
I was invited to Bethany I, the house church at Jalan Lakum when I was in Sec 2. I accepted the Lord as my Saviour and continued coming to church for many years but stopped in recent years due to work.
I was very unhappy in my marriage and lost my love for God along the way. For many years, I was filled with anger, bitterness and resentment over my marriage and that spilled into my relationship with my children. I was quarrelling with my husband a lot, and constantly nagging and shouting at my older son, Joel, even hitting him. I wanted out of the marriage, but God reminded me that I had made a vow, for better or for worse and whether I liked it or not, it was a marriage for keeps.
Last year, in the depths of my spiritual abyss, God called me back to church. During one service, I remember Li Yen and Chung Han sharing about how they have benefitted from attending church camps with their family every year and that encouraged me to sign up for camp last year.
That was a turning point for me.
Pastor shared about the Day of the Lord and how that should change our perspective of life. We are not just living for the here and now, but preparing for a lifetime of eternity with God.
I John 2:28 says “And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.”
2 Peter 3:11-12,14
Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and holiness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God…
Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.
I realized I needed to get my act together and I prayed and asked God to help me grow in my faith so that I could be a role model to my children and help them to grow in their faith too. The first thing I did after camp last year was to start attending SSS and bring my children to SS as well. I was put into Teacher Annie’s class and was greatly impacted by her teaching of God’s Word as well as my SS classmates’ life and examples.
She was teaching about submission to husbands in 1 Peter 3 and verses 1-4 say:
Wives, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. Do not let your adornment be merely outward – arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel – rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.
I was very resistant to this teaching at first. Why should I be the one to submit when my husband does not even meet my needs and expectations? But teacher Annie reminded me that we don’t pick and choose which commands of the Lord we want to obey. It’s about going back to basics, getting right with God and He will give you the desire to follow His ways, even if they seem contradictory to what worldly wisdom or what logic tells you. That’s what we call radical living!
Slowly but surely God helped me see the need to submit to my husband, see only, mind you, not practice it yet. It was like starting all over again - starting to learn to read God’s Word every day, to pray every day, to pray for my children, to read Bible stories to them at night.
I went to church camp last year a very unhappy person, but this year I went to camp with great anticipation. I think many of us were thinking Pastor would share some methodology on how we can be effective fishers of men but we were so wrong. It was still about going back to basics, going back to first principles.
The most important thing is still our relationship with God. Do we have a close relationship with God? Only when we are close to God, can we become effective servants for Him. That really impacted me. So often we think, we go to church, we read the Bible, we pray, we’re ok. But are we really close to God? Do we pray with ceasing, do we abide in the Lord and seek Him in all the decisions we make?
I realize I was still far from that. And Pastor talked about being born again. Those who are truly born again will have the water that Jesus gives that will cause me to never thirst again, become in me a fountain springing up into everlasting life, and eventually become rivers of living water flowing out of my heart to touch others’ lives.
At camp, I committed my life afresh to God and shared with Him my desire to have a close relationship with Him so that I can experience His transforming power in my life, to be a godly wife and mother, which I believe is God’s calling for me.
I was also greatly impacted by Peggy and Siew Chiong’s sharing of how they reached out to others despite their fears and feelings of inadequacies. It isn’t about our own efforts but the church of God coming together to support you and help to share God’s love together to touch lives. I was touched by how when Siew Chiong’s gugu could not go to church, the church went to her. Siew Chiong and her friends from YAG went to visit her gugu in hospital and sang songs, read the Bible to her.
I am the only believer in my family and God has placed me here for a purpose. He wants me to be a fisher of men to reach my children, my husband, my parents, my siblings and their family, and my extended family of more than 30 cousins, more than 30 nephews and nieces. How can I be that fisher of men for God and reach my family, unless I first walk right with Him, walk close to Him?
Now I can speak of a happiness that God puts in my heart, knowing that He loves me, and regardless of the challenges I am facing, whether in marriage, in parenting or at work, He gives me the grace and strength to face each day and live for Him. I’m so thankful that God is faithful and never gave up on me even when I was faithless.
I would like to invite all of you to sing with me the song, Happiness is the Lord.
"Happiness Is The Lord"
Happiness is to know the Savior,
Living a life within His favor
Having a change in my behavior,
Happiness is the Lord
Happiness is a new creation,
Jesus and me in close relation
Having a part in His salvation,
Happiness is the Lord
Real joy is mine,
no matter if teardrops start
I've found the secret
It's Jesus in my heart.
Happiness is to be forgiven,
Living a life that's worth the livin'
Taking a trip that leads to heaven,
Happiness is the Lord
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