Peace to you my brothers and sisters-in-Christ. I thank God that I could share my testimony with you this morning. I would like to share with you how I have walked from Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) to Thomson Road Baptist Church (TRBC). Both TTSH and TRBC are actually very near, but if you walk the wrong direction, the result would be very different. Either you feel miserable over your disease-stricken body or you experience rebirth and be filled with joy.

After walking past the gantries of Novena MRT, there are 2 exits, one on my left and one on my right. One exit leads to TTSH and the other leads to TRBC. All along, I have been using the exit that leads to TTSH, a place that I do not wish to go.

One morning in December 2008, I was found lying unconscious on a road next to the park. In a semi-conscious state, I felt myself being carried into an ambulance and rushed to the hospital. As the ambulance rushed to the hospital, I could feel its jerky motions. I felt it braking and accelerating, turning left and right. In fact, I was actually awakened by all these jerky motions. I understand that the earlier an unconscious person regains consciousness, the lesser the damage to the brain. Thank God!

After an eventful day in the hospital, the doctor told me that I suffered a heart attack. I had serious irregular heartbeat and 3 blocked arteries. The doctor advised immediate surgery to put a pacemaker on my chest. I would also need to have a heart bypass at a later date. He emphasized that this was the only way to ensure that my life was not endangered. I felt that this was as good as giving me a death sentence.

There were many patients in the hospital. Except for those who were ready for discharge(they looked cheerful),the rest of the patients looked miserable. Sometimes in the middle of the night, some patients cried loudly. The patients in my ward were high-risk patients with listless eyes and pale faces. Some patients were able to sit while some were lying down and there were some who were still in coma. Time passed by slowly, a day seemed to be a year. Time was lost, health was lost, there was no hope, and everybody seemed to be hoping for something good to happen.

In the midst of all these, we could hear singing and guitar strings. The singing seemed to break through the fear of death. More than 10 young adults were singing hymns of praise to God. Their liveliness and happiness were like rainbow-coloured petals falling upon each patient. They brought the love of the Holy Spirit and they comforted the spirit of each patient. Walking towards us were none other than the members of TRBC Christmas choir. They spoke and cared for us, bringing us their joy and love. However, they were not able to stay long as the patients needed to rest.

Though I have left my contact number with them, I was not sure whether they would contact me and I felt an unknown sense of anxiety. After dinner, as I walked alone to the day room for patients, I found a package from TRBC with 2 bible tracts inside. I was elated and was thinking whether I should give them a call. I could not recall how I found the telephone number. Not long after I have called, someone came over and he was Brother Isaac Wong. He was concerned about my illness and prayed for me.

After discharge, while I was home alone, recollections of the past made me feel sad. I called Brother Wong’s again and requested him to pray for me. He told me that he would need to stop his car first. Then I realized that Brother Wong was driving. He sincerely prayed for me and I was very touched. During this period, when I was besieged by illness, Brother Chen Jia Jun led the home visitation group to visit me; Brother Shen Yuan Xing and others visited me regularly to care, support and pray for me and lifted me up in spirits. There was also Rev Andrew Zhang who drove me to NUH for my heart bypass surgery. I am indeed very grateful to them.

I thank our heavenly Father for His promises and for being my Saviour. Time passed quickly and it has been 2 years since my operation. It was because of the visitation to Tan Tock Seng Hospital by our brothers and sisters that I now baptized and I became a member of Thomson Road Baptist Church.

In future, when I am walking out of Novena MRT, I am not going towards the direction of TTSH because there is another exit whereby there is God’s love, grace, joy and care. I will walk towards this direction and I would like to tell all patients that there is hope in walking in this direction.