Hi church, my name is Priscilla. In the beginning of 2009, I was full of excitement about enrolling into SOT. However, a tragedy took place in my family. My father collapsed one day and was rushed to hospital in a critical condition. The doctors tried to revive him, but it was in vain. My family was in a state of shock at my dad’s sudden death and we went through a time of grief and great uncertainty for the future.

To make matters worse, my father left behind a business and a huge pile of debts. After his death, his creditors came after us and demanded for money. The banks started calling and sending their letters to demand for payment. Almost daily, I would receive calls from banks and lawyer letters that threatened to sue us. I was so tired and afraid of the calls that I resorted to plucking out the phone line. The business that my father left was in chaos. There were uncompleted projects and since we were not familiar with the operations of the company, my family did not know what to do and wanted to close down the company. All that happened were physically and emotionally draining for us.

I wanted to give up the idea of going to SOT as I was afraid I would not be able to cope financially. But thank God for my mother, who encouraged me to go ahead and enrol into SOT. She assured me that our family was behind my decision and would support me financially.

During the SOT orientation, even though I looked excited, I carried a heavy heart. I was constantly disturbed and affected by the death of my father and the financial situation my family was in. During one of the sessions, God spoke to me through Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we have great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” I thought to myself, if the devil wants to take me down, then I shall make it even harder for him.

My 5 months in SOT proved to be the best decision I ever made. One of the principles I’ve learned in SOT is found in The Sermon On The Mount series, where I learned the importance of developing good relationship with people, being a peace maker and learning how to relate to people that are different from me. Applying this knowledge has actually enabled me to resolve conflicts among my colleagues at work.

Another principle that I’ve learned in Christian Faith and Ministry is the Lifestyle of Tithing and Giving. This is a lesson that touched me deeply. Despite the lack of finances, I continued to sow into the Kingdom of God faithfully. The teaching on sowing and reaping has helped me to navigate through the problems we faced in my dad’s company. As a result, my family was able to slowly clear the debts and business even began to pick up.

Today, the company is doing well and by God’s grace, we managed to finish the uncompleted projects and secured new projects in spite of the economic downturn. While other companies are cutting bonuses and salaries, we gave out pay increments and performance bonuses to our staff because we experienced tremendous breakthrough in our sales. In a span of 6 months, we hit an all time sales record of S$1.6million dollars. Praise the Lord!

As I went through the series on Home Cell Leadership, God began to rekindled my vision of being a cell group leader. Now I am undergoing training and I’m looking forward to leading a cell group within a year.

Joining SOT 2009 was a decision I never regretted. And I thank my family, especially my mom, for all their support and encouragement. The Bible says that “God is faithful even when we are faithless.” Through SOT, the presence and encounters I have had with God has built up my faith, love and trust in Him. Even though I lost my earthly father, God has never failed to fill the emptiness within me.

I want to thank Pastor Kong and Pastor Bobby for the teachings and impartation during SOT and most importantly I want to thank God because with Him all things are possible.