Received A PhD Scholarship In America After Resting In The Lord
I have been attending New Creation Church since 2003. In 2008, I moved to Australia, where I did my honours in psychology. Upon graduation, I wanted to further my studies. I did not manage to get into a masters programme in Australia so I moved back to Singapore where I managed to get a job as a psychologist.
In 2009, I decided to apply for graduate school again. This time, I applied to PhD programmes in America. I was full of confidence when sending out my applications, putting anointing oil on each form I mailed out, speaking favour over them and getting my friends to speak favour over my applications. I was very sure that I would get a place.
However, in the beginning of 2010, I started receiving rejection after rejection. It was devastating. The first school that rejected me was the University of Texas at Austin, America, which was my first choice because it has a very strong neuroimaging programme in its clinical psychology programme. The reason cited was a lack of funding. The professor who reviewed my application was very apologetic and encouraged me to reapply next year.
I felt very bitter and was very upset, but praise God for anointed pastors in our church. I was attending GenRev, New Creation Church’s youth ministry, regularly and during one of the services, Pastor Benjamin Lim mentioned a line that I knew God wanted me to hear. Pastor Benjamin said to wait, for the miracle will come, but at the right time. I did not want to wait, but, grumbling to myself, I decided to listen and spend time in the Word. After spending time in the Word, I realised that I had not, contrary to my perception, been resting in God for my PhD programme. The fact that I was so worried and anxious, emailing schools and checking my application status assiduously showed that I still thought I was in control of my situation. I was trying to experience restful increase without resting.
After that GenRev service, I spent time in the Word, read Pastor Prince’s books Destined To Reign and Unmerited Favor again and just enjoyed His presence. I no longer cared that I did not get a place in a school. In fact, I was already looking for other places to apply for the next year and explored other options.
But the Lord had other plans for me. In April 2010, I received an email from the professor at the University of Texas at Austin, informing me that some funds were newly released. He asked if I was still interested in the programme. When I said I was, she went out of her way to arrange online interviews for me with the heads of the department, the director of clinical training, core faculty members and two of her students. She even sent me articles on neuroimaging to read and told me about the research profiles of the interviewers! Praise God for His favour!
After that, I was informed that I was offered a place in the school. There was no way I could have gotten into the school on my own. The acceptance rate for clinical psychology in America is very low. I could not even get into a masters programme in Australia. It was only favour and nothing else that got me in. The offer I received included a teaching assistantship, a fellowship and a waiver of four years of my course fees. I only have to pay US$800 per semester. In addition, I would be given an allowance every year during my course. The Lord not only blessed me with a place in school, but He also ensured that I would not have to go into debt in order to obtain my degree! The Lord really turned this situation around for me and went beyond what I had asked Him for.
Thank you, Pastor Prince and Pastor Benjamin, for your amazing messages. It is an honour to call you my pastors. I fully intend to keep in touch with the church while I am away, attend every possible service when I am in Singapore and grab hold of Pastor Prince's resources. New Creation Church will always be my home church.
The writer has requested to remain anonymous.
A 10 Per Cent Salary Increment At Her First Day At Work
I am here to proclaim the steadfast love of our Daddy God! I am a single mother with two children. I was treated unfairly by my ex-boss and due to our differences, I was told to leave the company. Since June 2009, I had been searching for a job but none came through. Soon, I used up all my savings and my siblings voluntarily contributed to my daily expenditure. I continued to believe that the Lord is good and He has everything planned out for me. To many, my situation seemed bleak as I did not have money, a house or a job. But I continued to rest in Jesus, believing that He will not leave me nor forsake me.
In mid-December 2009, I chanced upon a suitable position and applied for it. By Christmas Eve, I was offered the position after two rounds of interviews with the company. I did some calculations of my living expenses and realised that I would still have some financial difficulties as I did not have enough to both tithe and save for my new flat. I told God that I would choose the former and believed that He will surely find a way for me to save for my new flat.
In January this year, while I was listening to Pastor Prince's sermon on resting in the Lord in church, I received a text message from my new company requesting me to re-sign my employment letter as they had decided to increase my salary by 10 per cent! This is unheard of as I have not even started work yet! This was only made possible because of Daddy God!
All glory and praise to Him as we rejoice and know that 2010 is the year of restful increase for me and my family!
The writer has requested to remain anonymous.
Supernatural Increase In Career And Finances
In the second half of 2008, I was asked to be the Chief Executive Officer of one of my company’s subsidiaries. This was a failing subsidiary which had been underperforming for the last 12 years. It was a challenge that I felt led to take up. However, the enormity of the task hit me when I did a tour of the subsidiary. The physical infrastructure was run-down and the employees were unmotivated and cynical. So I set about trying to change the place.
Around the same time, I was going through a difficult time spiritually and emotionally. The recession had taken a toll on my company. Due to the retrenchments, morale among the employees was low. I was so stressed and disillusioned with my career, God and church that I gave up going to my previous church. Instead, I spent my Sunday mornings playing soccer.
In January 2009, my wife and son started attending New Creation Church (NCC). I was sceptical at first, until I saw the change in my wife and son. My wife became more joyful and less of a worrier. My son, who is in Rock Kidz, became more confident in school and less fearful of exams. He also became more polite and obedient. I realised that this church was a special one that made a difference in my family’s lives.
So I started to attend NCC in March 2009, and I began to embrace the truths that I am greatly blessed, highly favoured, and deeply and unconditionally loved by God. I started reading Pastor Prince’s daily devotional, listening to his sermon CDs while driving and declaring God’s blessings over my life.
And, God’s blessings began to manifest from the second quarter of 2009. The subsidiary’s business began to grow significantly. We had favour with our business partners and saw an increased number of customers. The growth was so good that even our boss was pleasantly surprised. By the end of the financial year, our earnings were 11 times more than the previous year’s. This was our best set of financial results since 2000.
I have also been greatly blessed. I was given a 33 per cent pay increment and my boss quietly gave me a one-off bonus. I have also been blessed in my stock investments, making four- to five-figure sums, and my wife and I sold our property for a profit of 42 per cent. I’ve become more peaceful and joyful, and my previous depressive bouts have disappeared.
I believe that this year (2010), God is going to give me greater blessings in my career, finances and family. To Jesus be all the glory!
The writer has requested to remain anonymous.
Received A Scholarship Through God’s Unmerited Favour
In December last year, my university informed us of a scholarship and invited us to apply for it before the deadline on 5 January 2010. I did not act on it immediately, but hesitated for a long time. During that time, I did an internship with a law firm and was working in the office when I realised that it was 5 January — the last day for the scholarship application. I had to submit the application form with supporting documents in hardcopy to the school by 5pm that day.
However, as I was in the office, I did not have all the supporting documents in hardcopy with me and was not able to submit the documents in person. I decided to do the next best option and emailed whatever softcopy documents that I had, praying that they would consider my application.
Praise God, the scholarship committee did call me for an interview. During the interview, they asked me why I didn’t do well for the Intellectual Property modules I took last semester. (The scholarship required applicants to have taken a requisite number of Intellectual Property modules.) I was glad that God put the right words in my mouth to answer them. By God’s grace, the scholarship was awarded to me. I thank my Abba Father for answering my prayers. I believe that this is my harvest from the miracle seed I’d sowed into one-north in 2008. The amount of the scholarship award is almost 30 times of what I’d sowed. Praise God!
Terence Ang
Blessed With A University Bursary
I am currently studying at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). In August, I heard from two of my friends that they had applied for the Ministry Of Education bursary the previous month. I remembered telling myself, “Oh man, I missed the deadline. I wasted the chance to get a bursary.”
What made me feel worse was when I heard that my two friends had received bursaries of $800 and $1.2K respectively. I blamed myself even more because I had missed the chance to lessen my dad’s financial burden.
However, I heard in one of Pastor Prince’s sermons that our God is a God who freely gives, so I prayed and submitted my application form.
Praise the Lord! My application was accepted! But that is not all. We could apply for bursaries of any amount between $800 to $1.2K, so I applied for the $1.2K grant and prayed to receive it. But God’s ways are higher than ours and true enough, when I received the mail regarding my bursary, guess how much I got?
$3K! It was more than double the amount that I had applied for! Our God is truly an amazing God, a God who always
over-answers our prayers.
All praise to Jesus! I am highly favoured and deeply loved!
The writer has requested to be known as Danny.
Financial Provision In New Job
I am a fresh graduate with a diploma in early childhood education, and have started working as a preschool teacher. My pay was less than my colleagues as the company said that I only had a diploma and less teaching experience than the others. My boss pointed out that the salary offered by the company was already the highest among the preschool centres.
In addition, my contract also stated that I would receive an increment only after one year of service. But I continued to believe in
Daddy God is truly awesome. When I trust in His way, I am always blessed.
Ruth Melissa K Haridass
Flat Sold At A Record High Price
My wife and I had wanted to sell our HDB executive apartment (EA) and upgrade to a private property since early 2008, but were unable to do so. Towards the end of 2008, the resale prices for HDB flats reached a record high.
However, in the first quarter of 2009, the resale prices for HDB flats started to dip because of the financial crisis. There were a lot of negative reports in the newspapers about the falling demand for flats (especially the bigger units), and many flat owners had had to sell their homes below valuation. When my wife and I finally decided to sell our flat, it was already April 2009 and resale prices had gone down further.
But we remembered that Pastor Prince had told the church that 2009 is the acceptable year of the Lord where His free favours will profusely abound in our lives. We chose to believe in the favour of God rather than in the circumstances because we are in this world, but not of the world. Then, I requested for a HDB valuation of our flat.
On the day of the valuation, I applied the anointing oil on the four corners of our home before the valuator came. We received a relatively high property valuation compared with others in our area. Praise the Lord!
While looking for a new home, we got to know a property agent. He was a fresh graduate with no experience, but we engaged him to sell our flat and decided to put our trust in God’s grace and favour.
I applied the anointing oil and partook of the Holy Communion whenever we had a viewing. Our flat was sold within a week, after just one newspaper ad placement and three viewings by interested parties. The buyers loved our flat so much that they were willing to pay $15,000 above the valuation price — our flat was sold at a record price for an EA in our area!
I remember buying the flat during the economic downturn in 2003. At that time, it was one of the lowest priced EAs available! We bought the flat at a low price and sold it at a high price. Praise the Lord!
Gaston Chia
