God Helped Me Start
Anew
by Marchus Chua
28 September 2006
I
was born and raised in a Christian family, so I’ve been exposed to
God my whole life. I went to Sunday school until I turned 13, when I
moved on to the then St. Andrews Youth Fellowship. It was quite a
drastic change from Sunday school; I remember the first time I went
there, during worship, they all spoke in tongues, leaving me
stunned. However, during the course of my stay there, I grew to like
the place. Its cell groups, live band worship thingys, and sermons.
I would look forward every week to attending the gathering, and my
first encounter with the Holy Spirit took place there. Soon though,
YF was closed down because they wanted to bring the whole church
back to one place. I was devastated. I felt as though my real walk
with Jesus Christ had begun, and now they wanted to take it away
from me? I tried to be a good Christian and pretend as though ‘it’s
alright, God knows what He’s doing’, but I felt confused. Why did
God want to take away the one group where I felt as though I was
growing?
I felt so lost I went around looking for a service to attend. I had
no intention of leaving St. Andrews Cathedral, but I also had no
intention of going to this other youth group, LYnC. People had told
me it was a really ‘touchy place’. Ugh. Anyway, for the next few
months I attended the 9am service. I quite liked the service, but
missed the fellowship of my peers. I would sing praises, alone.
Listen to the sermon, alone. Go eat lunch, well with my family, but
my church life was reduced to a life of solitude. I felt an urge to
go see how LYnC really was like, but I had this notion that ‘since I
wasn’t there at the beginning, I’ll just feel out of place’. It
wasn’t as if going to the 9am service alone was much better. I kept
praying to God that somehow I would be accepted into LYnC. I didn’t
want to go there by myself, but I wanted someone to invite me
because it would be less scary. God took me literally.
It was during this special 9am service. The preacher had an altar
call, and those who wanted to be anointed with the Holy Spirit were
called to the front. I followed, not wanting to miss out on this
opportunity. In the end, I had another miraculous encounter with the
Holy Spirit. I collapsed and began crying, or rather convulsing. All
I remember hearing was a person talking into my ear about Jesus
Christ having taken my stripes and renewed me. The person prayed
that I would be once again cleansed and that it would be a new
beginning for me in Christ. When I opened my eyes, I realized the
whole sanctuary had cleared out and I had been lying on the ground
crying for God knows how long. I got up and sat down at the nearest
seat and just kept on crying. I couldn’t help but feel so blessed,
‘God has cleansed you and now you’re starting anew!’ Next thing I
knew, this guy was standing next to me asking me if I was okay. I
must’ve looked quite stupid crying in the middle of an empty
sanctuary. We talked for a bit and he invited me to join LYnC. I was
like ‘Oh my God, oh my God! Yeahh!’ But I kept my emotions hidden. I
was overjoyed! God helped me start anew, AND, He answered my prayer
by letting me join LYnC.
Like I said earlier, in YF, I thought I had reached a new stage in
my walk with Christ. Looking back, the stint in YF and the 9am
service was actually a period where I was suffocated. I wasn’t going
anywhere. My service for Christ was limited. But now in LYnC, I feel
totally new. God has opened these opportunities for me, and I am
growing so much more in this environment. I guess God knew what He
was doing after all.
Marcus
