Theme of 2024… To GROW and GO

This year, the Lord has given Thrive Church the vision to “Grow and Go”. What does this mean for us as individuals and as a church community?

In the coming weeks, we will hear from various individuals what this theme means to them. To kick off this series, join us as Dr. Cheryl shares her heartfelt thoughts on the call to ‘Go and Grow’!

Isaiah 54:2-4
“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes. For you will spread to the right and to the left, your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.

The theme of the year is to GROW and GO! Looking at these verses at face value, it speaks simply of enlarging our tents – to lengthen the cords and strengthen our stakes so that our tents will have a larger capacity to hold more. This expansion does not stop with us, but our children, and our children to come.

However, if one were to read the verse before this, this message was to a barren woman (54:1). Putting these verses together, God is telling a barren woman to rejoice, because she can expect to not only have children, but to have so many, that she will need to start preparing to expand her tent so that she can hold more.

The skeptics among us might start asking, some aloud, some under their breaths, how is this possible, how can a barren woman expect to have a child, much less descendants? And perhaps, God knew this would be the thoughts of many, as the verses that follow provides reassurance that we can stand on His promises (Isaiah 54:4-6). He brings us back to the Old Testament and reminds of the covenant that He had made with Noah, that “though mountains be shaken, and the hills be removed, yet (His) unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor (His) covenant of peace be removed” (Isaiah 54:10). God continues to speak of His blessings, protection, and peace upon on His children (Isaiah 54:11-17).

In this chapter, God speaks of His promises from before and of His promises to come. God does not tell us in what manner will the barren woman start having children, nor does He tell us how He will be rebuilding our cities. However, what He leaves with us is a couple of instructions – to rejoice and to prepare.

This year, let us focus on these. With joy and gratefulness in our hearts, let us start building on ourselves, both individually and as a church. Let us start strengthening ourselves, physically, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually. And as we go through the year, surely as the tough gets going, let us not get derailed, and to hang on tight to the promises and reassurance that is in God’s words – that though “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

Let us start growing and going!

– Cheryl Lim

My Journey with God

I grew up in a non-Christian family, and despite being educated in an Anglican school, God did not feature throughout Primary and Secondary school. Perhaps in those non-conforming adolescent and teenage years, I did not reflect nor appreciate the goodness of God.

My dear wife was baptised and encouraged me and my parents to attend Sunday service. It was not till 2009, when I was in my 50’s, that I got baptised with my aged parents. I recall that day vividly, when I was filled with great joy, looking at my beaming parents.

God has taken me through a wonderful career, spanning a spectrum of different industries from hospitality to advertising, barter trading and education. I have had a good run, and all along I received messages from god to make a difference in peoples’ lives, and rewarded with immense satisfaction.

In my darkest hours, God carried me through every obstacle, and I will share these times with you. When I was a private hire driver, I was quarantined and released after one night’s stay. I recall feeling very down and read Psalm 77 numerous times, which put me to a restful slumber for the night. I was released the following morning. God delivered His promise.

Breast cancer occurs in 1% of men. When I was diagnosed, I was calm, perhaps subconsciously reassured by God’s presence in my life. Surgery and subsequent months of chemotherapy followed, and side effects were few and manageable. God’s hand was moving my progress.

In times of adversity, God’s presence enables us to overcome the challenges that arise, realising that life will be unpredictable, and placing our faith in God lightens our burdens. God will not take us to a place where God’s grace cannot protect us.

~Danny Koh

Finding Strength to Forgive

Last week, I had to come face to face with an issue that I had flung out of my mind for many years – my deep resentment towards my paternal grandmother.

Its a resentment that is not always apparent to me, because I was blessed to meet a kind and loving teacher in Primary 3 that brought me to Christ and taught me to forgive and yield to the Lord since young. Hence, I never thought to myself that I had not really forgiven my ah mah and let go of the hurt and injustice I felt that was done to me as a child.

But once in a while, when I encounter issues of injustice or interact with people who remind me of my ah mah, a deep unhappiness and anger with the person or situation will explode out of my inner being.

Such feelings would wax and wane, rearing its ugly head when circumstances triggered it. I had gone through every known memory of people who have hurt me and forgave them, but somehow the issue remained.

Through a recent interaction with an unsuspecting person, the Lord revealed that the trigger source of the all the anger and pain I felt within was from the mistreatment and injustice done to me by my ah mah. My fury could not be contained. I found myself justifying my actions and defending my case for being angry. Surely I was justified to be angry, am I not?

The Holy Spirit did not deny that.

It was only normal to feel the way I did. But I knew the Holy Spirit brought it up so that I can be set free from this past. I now began to realise, I actually couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t forgive. And I had to humbly admit I hadn’t and I couldn’t.

That day, I told the Lord: “God, for what is done to me, I really cannot forgive. But your Word says to forgive our enemies. So I choose this day to forgive, help me to forgive Holy Spirit. Help me to do what I cannot do on my own.”

I realised somehow too I had hardened and closed my heart towards her and people, so I added,” Please take this heart of stone, and replace it with a heart of flesh. Forgive me for judging her in any way because of this.”

I’ve always been taught that forgiveness is a choice. It is. But what happens when we come face to face with something that we don’t have the strength to even forgive? I realised Christ died on the cross to give us that strength. Every price has been paid on the cross, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives us the strength to do what is not humanly possible – to forgive those who have sinned against us.

Have I been completely healed and set free? My honest answer is yes and no. Yes in the sense that God gave me a new perspective that night. He made me realise the equations I held as an 8 year old are no longer valid, and I did not need to hold on to them further. I could let it go to the Lord, and it gave me a new freedom that I did not have before. I no longer bear this ‘reflected’ anger and resentment towards the person I interacted with.

But no because I believe time is needed to grieve and heal. As the Holy Spirit continues to show me the true condition of my heart, I want to be willing and humble to come before Him with it, to turn from my own ways and come into alignment with His. I trust that He who started a good work in me will bring it to the day of completion and grant me the victory in Him!

~Xiaoqing