{"id":10729,"date":"2013-04-13T17:56:41","date_gmt":"2013-04-13T09:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/?p=10729"},"modified":"2013-04-13T17:57:14","modified_gmt":"2013-04-13T09:57:14","slug":"blightedness-blessedness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/blightedness-blessedness\/","title":{"rendered":"From Blightedness to Blessedness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t13 April 2013 by James Hoh CM –<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnthony Lim is a law student and will soon graduate to do his Certificate of Legal Practice in Malaysia. He is also the Youth Fellowship President of The Awesome Generation Church in Bukit Tinggi, Klang.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe has organized theological subjects to be taught to the youths. He loves Christian apologetics and doctrinal subjects.   <\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tA dynamic youth leader, a budding lawyer and a devoted Christian… one might have thought that he must have had an inspiring childhood.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut it was none of that. Anthony rose from the ashes of a troubled background. He lost his parents and was sent to Good Samaritan Home in Klang at the age of 12. His father died of cancer when he was just five and his mother also died of cancer when he was in his primary years.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is the testimony of how God transformed and raised him up, giving him a future and a hope. Please read on. <\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe recalled that when he was young, he attended Sunday school but because he was from a Taoist background, Jesus never appealed to him anything more than just another human being in the pages of history.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I had two aunts who kept telling me about Jesus Christ, but I often found them too annoying and even started to ignore them. All these changed when my mother passed away in 2003.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I remember I was a naughty boy then. I stole money from my sister's safe and also tried smoking cigarettes with my standard six friends. I became so bad that my relatives wouldn't want to adopt me worrying that they wouldn't be able to control me.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I was involved in some gang activities and began to bully the children in my school. For most people I was quite hopeless in a sense,” Anthony said.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\tAnthony added that even before his mother passed away, he remembered her asking him whether he would mind being sent to an orphanage.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I told myself that I would not be one of those pitiful little orphans I saw on TV. But soon, as God planned, I landed in Good Samaritan Home, Klang.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“It was so amazing how Christ found me. I kept asking myself why I was so unlucky to be sent to the orphanage. Pastor Albert and aunty YM, the home administrator, kept assuring me that God is there for me.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“That's when my interest in searching God began.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tI will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:18, NIV)<\/em><\/span><\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\t“I learnt from them that God is our Heavenly Father, and His love for us is greater than what our earthly parents can give. Pastor Albert unceasingly taught us to do our own devotion, and to spend time with God because that's how we can experience His true love.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tA father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. (Psalms 68:5, NIV)<\/em><\/span><\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\t“When I found out more about Jesus, the first thing that attracted me was not about the eternal life that I would enjoy once I am dead. Rather, it was all about how much we can be reconciled to and rebuild the relationship with this one true God through Christ.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5. NIV)<\/em><\/span><\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\t“It was such an excitement for me because I lacked this parental love since young and now, I have found this eternal everlasting love.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“God became my only personal parent. From that day on, my life changed tremendously. The feeling is like a lost child who has found his parents,” he added.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThis joy kept him from moving away from God and the more he learned about God, the more he felt loved.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“I want to know Him more, want to love by Him more. What’s fascinating is that this God also yearns for a personal relationship with us.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t“And He is the God who listens and answers prayers. I came from a Taoism background but today I am a Christian. The whole Bible is like a love story to me!<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\t\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\t“Now I can experience my God in real life, and He has always been there for me. Over the years, I can see how God has been blessing the orphanage, the people around me and also myself.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tDon’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12, NIV)<\/em><\/span><\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n\t“When I look back at my life as a teenager, and how I lost my parents and ended up in an orphanage, I now realize it was a blessing, not a curse as I thought. I can see how God plans my life step by step, from an unbeliever, to a believer on the journey to maturity in Christ,” Anthony added. <\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThis is Anthony's testimony which would inspire those who think they have no future and a hope. In Jesus, the future is never bleak but blessed.<\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\t   \n<\/p>\n

\n\t \n<\/p>\n

\n\tDear Viewers in Christ, if you find this article edifying to you, please share with your friends or loved ones by using the social media plugs (Share, Email to this article). The Lord will surely bless you as you bless others. May the Lord’s peace and love be with you. <\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

13 April 2013 by James Hoh CM –   Anthony Lim is a law student and will soon graduate to do his Certificate of Legal Practice in Malaysia. He is also the Youth Fellowship President […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[1950,293,923,204,538,1178,1949,77,891,44,1951,1952],"class_list":{"0":"post-10729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-people","8":"category-uncategorized","9":"tag-anthony-lim","10":"tag-christian","11":"tag-christian-in-malaysia","12":"tag-christianity","13":"tag-christianity-malaysia","14":"tag-church-in-malaysia","15":"tag-from-blightedness-to-blessedness","16":"tag-jesus","17":"tag-jesus-in-malaysia","18":"tag-malaysia","19":"tag-the-awesome-generation-church","20":"tag-youth-fellowship-president"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}