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Building A House by Faith…
A testimony by ZJ
We have been married for almost 2 months now and looking back in our journey, we are overwhelmed at the faithfulness and goodness of our Lord and how our heavenly Father has provided for us everything that we need as we embarked on the journey towards being husband and wife. This testimony is quite overdue but it is still needful for us to pen this down as a reminder to ourselves and an encouragement to others that God is indeed faithful in every step and every season of our lives.
As with typical Singaporeans, our journey of marital union began with the hunting of our new home. When the holy spirit worked within our hearts to confirm our desires to tie the knot and enter the covenant of marriage, he has already gone ahead of us to prepare a dwelling place for Himself as a sanctuary of worship for our new family unit. A couple of weeks after we have decided on getting married, the Lord provided the opportunity for a walk-in selection of housing units in the Yishun/Sembawang/Woodlands area. Through the years before as we talked about where we would like to reside when we got married, staying in Yishun has always been the desires of our hearts. But we were uncertain how that would be possible, as there were no new units coming up, and we foresee that we would not have the capability to buy from the open-market. There were previous walk-in selections before and there was always talk that it would be the “last” walk in selection for Yishun area. But in those earlier times, the Holy Spirit had not led us to join the frenzy of application. Still, the Lord knew what was in our hearts and in his divine time, he led our hearts to confirm our commitment to marriage and opened the door to apply for a house at Yishun!!
So we went forward to send our application. With the vast number of applicants, our balloted queue number was in the range of 300 (out of over 2000 applicants). We waited patiently for our turn to select the unit of our choice, and in the mean time have made a list of the top 50 units we would like to consider. On the day of selection, it was quite an interesting experience as we head down to HDB hub and sat at the waiting area, our eyes fixed on the TV screen, watching closely which units were still available. The first choice on our list was quickly taken. Our second and third choice remained available as we waited – one was in Yishun, and the other was in Sembawang. Based on our limited research from the floor plans given online, we were quite drawn to both. We asked the Lord to guide our decision and make the choice clear and simple for us. We decided that we would choose the Yishun one if it was available at the time of selection. We prayed that if the Lord so willing, to keep this unit for us, if not, to make it clear to us by letting someone select it before we go in. We give God praise and thanks for providing us with this Yishun unit and making it clear to give up considering the Sembawang one. (It was selected by someone else just moment before our turn!)
Now, being a walk-in selection, we only have the generic floor plan to look at. As this Yishun unit was a re-possessed unit (2nd hand unit that was taken back by the government and then released for sale), we did not know the condition of the place at all. After selecting the unit and paying the deposit, we arranged for a viewing with the HDB branch office. To our pleasant surprise, the house was wonderfully tiled with marble flooring and kitchen cabinet! This meant that we would not need to do major re-works! How the Lord knew what we needed and provided so graciously for them! There were also the many bonus factors like it being a corner unit, having nice and friendly neighbors, being a lift landing floor due to the lift upgrading that was completely just as we began renovation works, and having an open view in the living room – all the little nitty grittiness that we did not really know to look into. In our inexperience, the Lord covered us.
We praise God also for the smooth transactions and finalization of the paper works involved. There were tiny bumps here and there due to our inexperience in working with HDB, but the Lord graciously guided us through each process. We were eager to collect our house keys, but the Lord has divinely spoken to our hearts that the keys will come in December! True enough, we finally collected our keys on 1 Dec 2007, having completed our marriage preparation classes. Despite our anxieties on timings and finances, the Lord assured us and provided for us at every step of the way. In our weakness and knowing that we are not savvy when it comes to housing, renovations and stuff like these, the Lord sent His aid through friends and His divine grace covered us at every moment and through every decision that had to be made. We give God praise and thanks for the resources He provided through our parents, friends, and his divine acts.
Truly as we reflect upon this journey of building a new home, we can’t help but give Him thanks and all the glory for He is the true builder of our house and our home. There were just so many factors that could have come into play and not within our control that we know it is God who was never changing and holds all things in His hands. Our trust and most confident reliance had to be upon Him alone. We pray that just as He has graciously provided this dwelling place to be our home, that we will remain faithful stewards of this grace and build unto him a household of faith and a sanctuary for His glory.
