As a primary school kid, I enjoyed browsing toy stores.

But my mum’s response was always, “Time to go already. Daddy and mummy no money. Maybe next time we’ll buy for you, okay?”

That was during a tough period when my dad inherited a lot of debts due to a stock crash, leading to financial turmoil in our family.

Daily quarrels were routine in my family and chairs were even thrown around at home sometimes. If you visited my home, you would only find plastic chairs, because they are more durable and cost-effective.

During that period, I saw how my mum changed from a gentle soul to someone who was frustrated and anxious about finances. My once-patient dad also turned impatient and became prone to violence.

Growing up in such an environment, I inherited their negative behaviours.

However, after I came to know Jesus in Secondary 4, I understood that the worries, insecurity and anger in my family could only be resolved through Christ.

I came to realise that the key to familial reconciliation is not to change one another, but to find joy and hope in Christ alone.

Nevertheless, the journey was incredibly hard. My parents opposed my decision to become a Christian, and that led to even more tension and quarrels in my family.

I was so disappointed, I told myself they couldn’t be saved and contemplated giving up on reaching out to them.

However, my faith was renewed one day through a random conversation with my polytechnic internship supervisor in the pantry.

After asking me about what I do on Saturday, she told me that she is a Christian too. Without missing a beat, she asked if my parents were saved.

When I said no, she urged me to reach out to them and spoke about how her parents found salvation.

She then shared Joshua 25:15 with me: “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Deep down, I longed to witness my parents get saved and receive healing from the pain that they’ve carried for years.

I told her that it was hard because my parents weren’t that receptive to Jesus, but she replied with a stern “no”.

She told me that I must have the faith to believe God for their salvation, because it also took her more than 10 years to bring her parents to God.

I nodded. But I was still sceptical as I left.

Our household will serve the Lord

Interestingly, in the following months, Joshua 24:15 kept appearing in my mind whenever there was an evangelistic service or a sermon on family.

Deep down, I longed to witness my parents get saved and receive healing from the pain that they’ve carried for years.

Yet, I still found myself feeling overwhelmed by discouragement and a sense of defeat.

All I could do was to pray to God and ask Him for a sign to reignite my faith.

One day, when my mum was going on about her leg pain that had been bothering her for a few days, I sensed a nudging from the Holy Spirit.

This is your moment. Pray for her.

Without hesitation, I thought, “Alright, God. Let’s give it a shot.” And so I prayed for my mum, though I was expecting some resistance from her.

To my surprise, she didn’t resist and shared that her leg felt better after the prayer. Her response genuinely caught me off guard.

 This unexpected response renewed my faith. From then on, I invited her to evangelistic services. And to my amazement, she attended almost all of them.

I began to see a change in her. She became more open to faith and even tuned in to sermons by herself. Yet, she still didn’t take the step to accept Jesus into her life.

In the meantime, I focused on also reaching out to my dad. It was a little more tricky because he couldn’t attend weekend services due to his job schedule as a shuttle bus driver.

But one day, my father got involved in a road accident which caused him to lose his job get his license suspended.

The one bright side to this painful season was that there was now a window for him to attend the evangelistic services which took place on the weekends.

God was moving in my family, but my father’s receptiveness to Him remained lukewarm.

What a loving spiritual community looks like

Trying a different approach, I thought that exposing my father to my spiritual community might be helpful.

Hence, I found ways for him to contribute by involving him in the different youth camps and events that I organised.

I also convinced him to attend a church staff Christmas party after I joined the staff team. The goal was to help him connect with more people and help him see Jesus through the community.

As time went on, my dad began to grasp why I cherished going to church. He witnessed the genuine love of my community during our camp, especially when they celebrated my birthday.

Moreover, he saw the unwavering support from my friends and pastors when we went through a tough season. Many of them blessed us through food, drinks and also financial assistance.

In a beautiful turn of events, my dad decided to embrace Jesus during a Christmas service in 2022. He started attending the Mandarin cell group and our church service regularly.

A few months into 2023, my mum also gave her life to Jesus during one of the services as she had witnessed my dad’s sincerity in his newfound faith.

In October 2023, I had the incredible opportunity to baptise both my parents in the same tank.

Looking back on that night, everything still feels so surreal because they used to oppose my faith so strongly in the past.

But there they were, not only accepting Christ in their lives but also deciding to publicly declare their faith through baptism.

What truly amazed me was that despite my mum’s leg surgery, she displayed unwavering determination to get into the tank on the day of her baptism – she earnestly desired to be water baptised!

Jesus saves families

As I haven’t been the best example at home, I know my parents’ conversions weren’t due to my efforts. My heart is filled with gratitude knowing it was God who touched their hearts.

God’s work in my parents’ hearts is evident as my mum became more joyful and less insecure about money, while my dad has found comfort from the guilt and shame he carried from the road accident he was involved in.

Even as I am writing this, my father has taken on the role of an usher in our church service, and my mum is planning to follow suit soon.

Joshua 24:15 has really become a reality in my life: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

This journey has been ten years of praying and sowing, an exceptionally long process.

But to those who might feel discouraged because your parents seem unresponsive, or might be struggling with the guilt of not being a good example at home, remember that it is Jesus who will draw people’s hearts to Him.

We just have to do our best, and God will take care of the rest. Keep sowing seeds of faith at home and never give up!