Born into a Catholic family, I knew of Jesus Christ as the Son of God simply because we celebrate Christmas every year. As a child, I saw my father praying regularly in front of the family altar at home but I was too young to understand the difference between a Catholic and a Christian.

My first bible was an illustrated Children’s bible given to me by my sister and that was how I started to know the Lord as my savior. I learnt that God is love and if you need anything, you just have to pray and the Lord will answer your prayers.

It was also my sister who convinced me to go to church so I started attending youth fellowship and Sunday school when I was in secondary school. However, I only stayed in church for less than a year. I left not because I stopped believing in God—I have never doubted His existence. As a teenager, I did not understand the significance of attending church and felt that I was attending church merely because I was told to do so.

Faith alone is sufficient for salvation and I had already accepted Jesus as my savior. So, what difference does it make whether I attended church or not? Sadly, it was when I stopped attending church that I grew spiritually weaker by day and eventually, I stopped reading the bible. I took the things that I have received through God’s grace for granted and I only prayed to Him when I was desperate for a solution to my problems.

A pivotal point in my faith journey occurred when I turned 21. I realized that I did not know what I wanted in life even though I was already an adult. I felt that I had been leading a life of decadence and my priorities in life were all wrong. Surely there must be a deeper meaning to life than chasing after fame and fortune to validate one’s self-worth. I had led a life away from God for the past 7 years and it dawned upon me that it must be the sole reason why I felt so lost. It was the first time in so many years that I felt that I needed to know God and build a closer relationship with Him.

I knew that the first step to knowing God was to go back to church but I was not prepared to join a new church alone. I did not know which church I should attend and the differences of the various denominations. I had no one to turn to as none of my close friends are Christians.

God found me wandering and through Sister Pow Lee who invited my sister and I to the Maundy Thursday service this year, I was drawn back to God himself.

After a few months of Sunday worship and Basic Bible Class, I finally understood the importance of attending church. The church is like a body and each part of the body exists to meet the needs of other body parts. In the same way, God intends each of us to meet the needs of other believers, using our strengths to help in their areas of weakness. “The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you.” – I Corinthians 12:21.

I thank God for what He has done in my life and the many blessings that He has given me. My life is not perfect but I have confidence in God—I place all my trust in Him, knowing that He will work things out in accordance to His perfect will.