YipWH's Testimony 2020 - "Only He is the Lord"

Part 1: Family Background (Before 2009)

I came from a single-parent family. When I was a primary pupil, my dad left mum alone. Since then, she suffered such an insecurity that she spent all her time and efforts earning money. Sister and I were growing up in fear, filled with a sense of powerlessness. We lost an impetus to do what we wanted to do, and to live a life that we wanted to live. In 2006, God guided dad back home but his coming back brought no change at all to my family dynamics. In the meantime, I found great problems in my character that adversely impacted not only my work performance, but also all the relationships around me. In 2008, I was unemployed. I lived as a “freeloader” and used up all my savings. In 2009, God guided me to a teaching position in Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). Then I met Brent, a HKBU lecturer at that time as well as a Christian counsellor. Having studied in a Catholic primary school and a Christian secondary school, I subconsciously believe that only Jesus could solve my problems. I therefore committed myself to Jesus in 2009 and got baptised in 2012.

Part 2: The Bible is God (2009 to mid 2019)

From my commitment to Jesus until May 2019, despite my involvement in bible studies from being a participant to being a leader, I could not get away from a rigid thought: Bible is God. I depended a lot on my academic ability to study the Bible for ways to tackle my relationship problems. Over the last 9 and a half year, I did experience certain level of spiritual growth but made no improvement at all in my family relationship. My whole family was still bound by sin. My mum was bitter, my dad was guilty and my sister was powerless.

Part 3: The watershed to change (May 2019)

Some day in May 2019, I flipped open a book that my previous Sunday School teacher recommended - “Safe People”. The book writes, “In order to make changes, you have to re-establish a relationship with God and build many relationships with different people around you. You get to open up yourself and accept all the necessary aid God will hand you through different relationships.” I had a deep reflection. Over the last 9 years and a half, I work hard in the Bible, yet not in relationship building.”

Part 4: Proactive Relationship Building

First, I asked Brent for an intercessory prayer. I told him I would work harder in building relationships. I strengthened the connection with the group members I had been caring, took the initiative to greet any I came across in the church, joined the meal with my friends, participated in the gatherings with secondary school classmates I had barely met since graduation, and asked my university students for lunch...It seemed that I was proactively getting ready for a change that had been awaiting for years.

Part 5: The 1st Spiritual Warfare

At the end of December 2019, I went cycling with my group members. After cycling, some brought me to their friends in Tai Po to play with a dog. All of a sudden, to my mind came episodes of playing with the 3 dogs with my sister and cousins. When I was back home, I told my mum my desire to keep a dog. But she answered my request by counting her many worries like a flood surging out of a wrecked dam. The most repeated one is “Who is going to be responsible?” Even though I said I would take full responsibility, she did not stop counting her many worries. Mum and I started arguments that seem endless. After each argument, I found myself very emotional. On the one hand, I knew I should respect and love her, who has devoted so much for our good. On the other hand, I did not want to be bound by her worries. So every time I gave ceaseless prayers to God, asked my Bible teachers Maggie and Brent for intercessory prayers, talked to my friends to ease my emotions and retrieve my impetus to fight the spiritual warfare. Meanwhile, with the support from my Christian dog-lovers Joel and Charmy, and the advice from Meana, a Christian vet, from whom I could find answers to pet-keeping problems, I finally managed to bring the puppy home. When it stepped into my family life, my parents, both of whom  seemed to have very little communication, started communicating with each other all of a sudden and my sister, who had been disappointed about numerous empty promises, got excited about the promise being fulfilled this time. It seemed that my family was raised from a deadly silence deep under which we were once buried.

Part 6: The 2nd Spiritual Warfare

In order to wake all four members in my family, I did not think a dog was enough. Meanwhile, my mum happened to tell me that she loves cats. I took this chance and planned to get a cat. When I announced my decision, mum got even more out of control. I had with her outside the pet shop in Prince Edward an argument even more fierce than ever before and I gave in. Later, one night, on the way to the BSF gathering in Ma On Shan, I prayed, “God, though I’m the only Christian in my family, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’d fight all the way on my own. I’m very tired. I need your help.” Soon after, God reminded me of my sister. I asked her for help only to find that she volunteered to help with the installation of mosquito net in an hour and persuade my mum. Since then, dad’s attitude started changing and mum’s heart got softened.

Conclusion: God is God

To keep cats and dogs is not only to pick up a hobby that I have left behind for many years, but also to make a breakthrough of the way I view who God is. With Him, I am expelling the sense of powerlessness that has piled up high deep in my heart. Through my faith in him, I am taking a step after another further to accept the many intertwining relationships around me where I can receive the full spectrum of help He offers me and experience the one who is far greater than the Bible - God.