Hello church, my name is Esmonde and I am 32 this year. I am currently working in the Finance department of a non-profit social work organization. My parents and I came to WEFC in year 2005 when I was in Primary 5, so our church is like the second home that I grew up in.
I am fortunate and incredibly blessed to be born and raised in a Christian family. My parents have always emphasized to me the importance of walking closely with God, and they strongly advocated daily prayer and devotion. As I grew into my teenage and young adult years, the most prominent challenge I faced was that I found the Bible to be a very profound and abstract book to study. I struggled with understanding passages because I found it diicult to grasp their concept and meaning. As such, my desire and motivation to read the Bible gradually decreased. I excused myself by saying that as long as I lead an honest life and was patient and kind towards people, it would be enough and I would be alright.
My understanding of God and our Christian faith was vague and lacking in depth. My spiritual growth also felt like it was trapped under a glass ceiling, unable to progress any further. I continued praying, and God has been very loving and gracious to me by always answering my prayers. However, I knew that prayer alone without reading the Bible, is incomplete. I think it was the Holy Spirit who helped me to sense that something significant was missing.
As I continued attending service on Sundays, I began noticing many of us desiring to learn God’s word, faithfully serving God, passionately helping one another, and also actively involved in one or more ministry(ies) in church. It was inspiring and heartwarming. The turning point came in May 2025 last year when I felt a need to get right with God and to take Him seriously. As such, I said the sinner’s prayer because I acknowledge that I cannot save myself and I am in need of a saviour who is none other than Jesus Christ.
Subsequently, I noticed a shift in me whereby I became curious to know more about our Christian faith and my mind always had questions regarding the Gospel. Because the internet is readily accessible in our pockets, each time a question pops into my head I will just Google it and read up to find out more. The more I read, the more I realized how much I still do not yet know. This spurred me on and made me want to keep going.
After a period of reading Christian-related Google Search enquiries, I’m grateful that it made me pick up the Bible to start reading once again. The thought of reading the Bible cover-to-cover still feels a bit daunting to me, but I’ve decided to break it down into small and manageable steps. Ever since I’ve received Jesus as my personal Lord and Saviour and deciding to follow Jesus, I felt that God has reshaped my outlook of life as well as the things that I desire.
I had previously been ‘deeply entrenched’ in this world and obsessed with a lot of worldly things like success and material possessions. But after surrendering my life to God, all of a sudden I had lost interest in worldliness and the material things of this world. I decided to let go of one of my biggest dreams. That dream was a self-centered ambition that I will no longer pursue, because I now know that Christ is enough for me. Everything that I need is found in Him. I wish to choose God, over the world. If God is the One who gave me life, then my life belongs to Him. And because my life belongs to God, I will need to use my earthly life to serve Him.
Today, I choose to be baptized as the first step of obedience after salvation. Scripture emphasizes the importance of baptism; Baptism signifies our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. As Romans 6:3-4 (ESV) says “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” It is our faith in Jesus that enables us to be united with Christ and to be justified by Him. Faith unites us to Christ, and baptism portrays the union with Christ.
I wish to express a heartfelt “Thank You” to my parents and to the church community who have supported me in my spiritual journey and guided me to where I am today. I am truly grateful to God for calling me and leading me back to Him. Last year, we studied the book of Philippians as a church. Apostle Paul penned this epistle during a time of severe hardship when he was incarcerated in a Roman prison.
A verse that stayed with me was from Philippians 2:12-13 (NIV) which says “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Paul encourages us as believers to remain firm in our faith and to live faithful, obedient, and pure lives modeled after Christ. We need to live obediently with deep reverence and fear of our Lord. God empowers our lives as believers, therefore both the desire and the power to do what pleases Him come from God.
Thank you Lord for opening my eyes to your Word and to your Truth.
