God Is My Senior Partner

I grew up in a notorious neighbourhood where there were frequent gang fights. Our priority at the time was survival. How we fared in school, whether we were mixing with the wrong company and hanging out with the gangsters, were the last things on my mother’s mind. What was most important then was to feed us. And to top it all, I had a violent and hot-tempered father who ruled the house with an iron fist. He would rather that I drop out of school and join the workforce. It was his excuse, I suppose, for not supporting my education.

Home was like a living hell. The only reprieve was a couple of hours when I was allowed to go to Sunday school each week. The two hours break was precious to me, as it was my refuge from all the turmoil at home. It was in Sunday School that I learned Christian values. It was Sunday school that kept me out of trouble. I was the best student in my class, for I could recite all the memory verses and had almost perfect attendance. I accepted Christ as my Lord and Saviour when I was ten. With so much stacked against me, I naturally did poorly in school. Except for my Primary School Leaving Examination, which I scraped through by the skin of my teeth, I failed all the way from Primary 1 up to Secondary 3.

Praying mother

I prayed to God to help me get out of this hopeless rut. I needed to pass my O-Level Exam to make something out of my life. Up to this point, I have painted for you the backdrop of the situation that I had grown up in, and you must be wondering, what has all this got to do with the faithfulness of God in my life? You must be wondering where God is in all of this. In truth, he has been my heavenly father all the while. If not for the love and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the situation today would have been very different. I’m grateful to God Almighty for blessing me with a godly mother who prayed for all nine of us, all the time. She would be on her knees day and night, praying for God to watch over us, protect and bless us, because that was all she could do.

The grace of God saw me through the storms of my life. His promises in the Bible gave me the strength to persevere. Finally, when I sat for my O-Level exam, I was as prepared as I could be. It was my final and last chance at my education. So I had to study very hard. When I was in Secondary 4, I attended two sessions of school, in the morning and afternoon, so that what I did not understand in the morning, I would understand in the afternoon.

Against all odds

I got through the O-Level exam and topped the school. From usually being at the bottom of the barrel, I was at the top in my school! The Lord blessed me with a Grade 1 result. It was really by the grace of God that this was possible. My grades were good enough to allow me to enrol into National Junior College, where I could do my A-Levels. Even my father couldn’t believe that I could get a Grade 1. Because he deemed me useless, hopeless and good-for-nothing at home, he even called the Straits Times to confirm my results were accurate. He thought there was a typographical error.

I claimed the promise of God in Philippians 4:13, which says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. Also, this would not have been possible without my mother’s prayers. What took place was a miracle that only God can do. It was a miracle that no one could deny.

There was finally a breakthrough. Only by the love and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ could this happen. God says, “My Grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in your weakness.”

It took nine years for me to realise my dreams. It took nine years before God showed me that he had orchestrated all the events. All along he had been in control of all things. He allowed the failures and calamities in my life to glorify his name. He used the storms in my life to refine me and ultimately made me more like himself. I went on to receive my Masters in Design and graduated with distinction.

Suffering makes me fit for the dreams God had for me. My mother depended on the Lord to help her raise her nine children, and the Lord delivered. I was in dire straits, and the faithfulness of God delivered me. In Jeremiah 29:11, he says, “For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

A design entrepreneur

I could draw even before writing when I was about four or five years old. It gave me great satisfaction to draw, sketch and doodle beautiful pictures, and I wished I could do that for the rest of my life.

After my O-Levels results, I traded my place in the National Junior College for a place in the Baharuddin Vocational Institute to pursue a career in advertising art, the only institution in Singapore that offered this course. I was convinced that this was where I was meant to be, a place where I could develop the gift of art and design that the Lord has so blessed me with. To get entry into this course, I needed strong results to qualify, as competition for slots was very keen. There were 500 applicants for only 20 places. I knew then that the Lord had equipped me with the necessary results to qualify. To support myself through this course, I participated in numerous design competitions simply for the prize money. I needed the money, and by the grace of God, he enabled me to win every one of the competitions I participated in. Sometime in the second year of my course, a top local design firm came to the school to recruit designers to assist in developing Singapore’s National Airlines brand identity. And I was selected. The remuneration was enough to see me through the course and supplement the family expenses. The Lord has provided for all my needs, just as he has promised. As the Bible states, “My God will supply your every need according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus”.

After working for a few years, I decided to break out on my own. I put all my savings into starting my own design company. I poured every ounce of my energy and time into the company. Failure was not an option, as there was too much at stake. I worked around the clock. I relied solely on my ability as I wanted to succeed and give my mother a better life. I was taking all the pressure of bringing in the business and producing all the creatives on my shoulder. I pushed myself very hard. I had forgotten about God, the One who had lifted me out of poverty and had given me a future. I was motivated more out of my fear of failure. It was during this period that my spiritual health took a dive. I was too busy for God. I started drifting away. My whole life was centred around my company; eventually, the company became my idol. Because I slept very little, I was perpetually tired and exhausted. I began to wonder, what is all this for? The bottom line did not seem commensurate with the effort I had put in.

In one of my quieter moments, the Lord spoke to me from Psalm 127:1,2: “Unless he builds the house, its builders labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand and watch in vain. In vain, you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat. He gives sleep to those he loves.” In Haggai 1:6: “You planted much and harvested little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink, but you are still thirsty. Your wages disappear like you were putting them in a pocket full of holes”.

True success

I was reminded that God’s absolute sovereignty in my life is the key to success in any endeavour. I needed God’s blessing; otherwise, all I have accomplished will be nothing if the Lord is not in the equation. I can build, and I can watch, but it’s the Lord who can make it succeed. Without the Lord’s involvement in my life, I cannot hope to have a fulfilling and truly successful life. It gives me great comfort and peace, knowing that my God is in control of every situation. He promised that he would look after things even while I was asleep. Psalms 121:3-8: “He will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber.”

And so, I rededicated my life to God afresh. I surrendered everything to him. I would rely on God rather than on my ability. So I put God in charge as my Senior Partner.

Things began to change. God was truly gracious and merciful. Despite my sinfulness, the Lord continued to bless me. The business grew, and I began receiving work from all over the region: Taiwan, China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh and as far as Tokyo and Canada. It was something that I could never hope to achieve on my own. I had no connections nor knew how to penetrate these markets. And it was a dream that the Lord had given to me. We survived three major financial crises: The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997, the Global Financial Crisis of 2007 and the US Financial Crisis of 2015. The grace of God brought us through all these crises.

The company is now 44 years old. He was there with me through the ups and downs. Even though there were times that I wandered, he was merciful and continued to bless me abundantly.

As I leaned on his presence, I was grateful for the trials as they drew me closer to Christ. Right from the start, God through my mother’s prayers had faithfully kept his sights on me, from my time in school when he protected me from any psychological scarring and from the gangsters in my neighbourhood. In Isaiah 46:4:  “I made you and I will carry you. I will sustain you, and I will rescue you”. He watches over my every movement and is faithful, even when I wander away from him. This verse assures me that God is not only interested in my early years. He’s with me every day, from the cradle to the grave. He cares for me from womb to tomb. If this sounds like I’m boasting, yes, I am boasting that I have an Almighty God faithful to all his promises and I praise his holy name.