Hallelujah, in the name of Lord Jesus Christ I testify and share a few words. I am Sister Alyssa Tan from the Petaling Jaya Church.
I am from Penang and originally a Buddhist. My family also practiced Taoism. Since young, I often followed my parents to the temple to worship Buddha and often involved in Taoism rites during certain festivals. Although my parents were strong in their Buddhism faith, I was always curious about Christianity since young. I always thought that Christianity is associated with Christmas and Christians only attend church services on Sundays.
When I was around the age of 21 years old, my dad suddenly had a serious stroke and was admitted to the emergency ward in the hospital. My mother and I were in great distress at that time due to my father’s condition. He had brain haemorrhage due to the stroke and was in coma for a few days.
At the same time, I had trouble in my work life as well. I felt lost and did not know what to do. My mom was busy taking care of my father and I was also worried for her health. There was no one whom I could talk to about my worries and family’s condition. Slowly, I became depressed and felt very lonely. I turned to online chatting apps which were popular during that time to seek friends to talk to as I was lonely.
Thank God for His grace that I met a friend from the online chat who happened to be from the True Jesus Church. I slowly began to build a good relationship with this friend whom I met online. I found this friend (now my husband) was different from the rest of my gentile friends. He often cared for me, shared God’s words with me and taught me how to pray to Lord Jesus in times of distress.
At first, I was not interested to get to know the Lord Jesus due to my Buddhism faith. I thought to myself that I was praying to Buddha to heal my dad of his illness and I should not pray to another God. However, I often felt emptiness in life even though I prayed to Buddha. It did not help me to overcome my depression at that time.
Thank God that I slowly began to accept the Lord’s teachings. I started attending a local church at my hometown in Penang. I began to feel that God was guiding my life and felt peace whenever I prayed to the Lord Jesus.
After a while, I decided to move to Petaling Jaya church to start a family after I got married to the brother from TJC. However due to financial difficulties, I was not able to move to Petaling Jaya immediately. I started to pray to God to guide me in my relocation. With God’s guidance and prayer, I finally found a job. Everything went off very smoothly and I was finally able to move to Petaling Jaya.
I started to attend truth seeker’s class at Petaling Jaya church. In 2004, I was baptised in TJC and on the same day after the Foot washing sacrament, when I knelt to pray, I felt a bit strange because my tongue started to roll. Elder Andrew Tee came over to me after the prayer and confirmed that I had received the Holy Spirit.
I was so joyful because the Holy Spirit is from God, and He will give to all His believers who have faith and humble themselves before Him. I believe that if we entrust and submit ourselves completely to God, peace and joy will come to all of us. I truly thank God for loving me and bestowing His precious Holy Spirit on me.
In conclusion, I would like to share a bible verse that has guided me throughout my journey of faith.
“Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34; ESV)
Indeed, if we submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus and trust Him, He will guide us throughout our journey in life. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah, Amen.