Happy Father’s Day to all daddies, grandfathers and fathers-to-be! In this special story, City News gets nine City Harvest fathers to share their parenting journeys and what becoming fathers has taught them about their Heavenly Father.
JESSEL YAM: GOD TURNED MY STICK DRAWING INTO REALITY
Jessel Yam, 40, had always wanted to be a father. “I love kids, and seeing my friends have children of their own, I knew one day I would be a father too,” he said. “I also believe that it is God’s way of trusting us with the gift of life, to nurture our children to grow up to be good and God-loving people.”
But the music director of CityWorship did not expect it would take so long for fatherhood to come. “We got married in December 2011, and we only started getting serious about having children after 2013—you know, you want to enjoy your first few years as a couple before you have kids,” he described. “But once we got serious, nothing happened, and not for a lack of trying. We tried many things—we went to see a famous gynaecologist; we even went the TCM approach to conceiving—but nothing happened.”
The waiting tested their faith as well. “Many friends, pastors and prophets even prayed and prophesied stuff like ‘next year this time’, but still nothing happened,” Jessel said. “We eventually got very frustrated and kind of gave up. I even thought to myself ‘Eh, don’t pray better lah, ‘cause it’s no use.’” t
In 2017, Jessel and Jie Yi attended a zone retreat. “One day at 7am, Pastor Eileen Toh had all of us do a prophetic art session. I was half asleep, unwilling and thinking about breakfast. Plus, I am really bad at art. She said, ‘If you don’t know what to draw just draw your heart’s desire. Just draw! Just draw!’”
In his sleepy state, Jessel began drawing purely because of peer pressure—everyone was peeping at each other’s drawings. “I had nothing so I just drew stick men,” he admitted. “I drew my wife and me facing a fountain, then I felt God speak to me, ‘I thought you and your wife always wanted a daughter?’ So I drew a girl. A few minutes later, I felt God speak to me again, ‘Haven’t you always wanted a boy as well? One boy, one girl?’ So I drew a boy.”
At the end of the camp, the group was told to leave their art piece in a prominent place in their home where they would see it daily and confess what they drew until it happened. “But being in so much doubt and lacking faith, I didn’t really care much,” said Jessel honestly.
Watch Jessel’s video here:
When 2019 came around, Jessel and Jie Yi decided that if natural conception had not happened, they would try assisted pregnancy. “We decided to go for IUI (intra-uterine insemination) because it isn’t as intrusive as IVF. In July 2020, we went for the procedure, and thank God, it was an immediate success! It was a lot easier and more manageable than we expected, and throughout the entire process we thanked God that it was so smooth—from the moment we signed up for the procedure to the day Jie Yi gave birth. We really prayed all the way, felt the peace of God, and we knew that God is the One who was in charge, even as the doctors helped us—He created the doctor who would be in His plan for this conception.”
Today, Jessel and his wife Jie Yi are proud parents to a pair of four-month-old twins, a girl, Jadyn and a boy, James. “The most amazing thing was this: when the pregnancy was confirmed, the night before our first scan, my wife looked at the horrible drawing and said, ‘They like same height… what if we have twins, ah?’ I replied, ‘Siao! Scan first then talk!’” Just as he had painted them, the scan revealed that Jie Yi was pregnant with twins.
It has been just four months, but Jessel has noticed that fatherhood has mellowed him. “I think I am more attentive to my wife because she is the main caregiver of the kids, so I have to take care of her all the more. Happy wife, happy life. I find I’ve started to look out more for the interest of others as I look out for my own kids—I’ve become a bit more sensitive to things around me as well in a good way.”
It has been a decade-long journey for them, one that has taught Jessel a powerful lesson about God. “When I see my children, I think of the verse Jeremiah 29:11. I constantly think of my children and I want to give them a good future and bring hope into their lives. When I see this as a father and I think about the perspective of Father God, I know He is always there for me and my future is in His hand, and it will be good. When I am hopeless, I know He is there for me.” Although the usual sleep deprivation and busyness of raising young babies “drive you crazy, nothing beats knowing that their life is trusted to me and my wife. I am trusted to watch the grow and nurture them to be good and godly children.”
And very importantly, children who support the right football club. “One day I want to bring my kids to Anfield to experience the true Liverpool experience,” he declared.
SIMON NG: I WANT MY SON TO GROW UP KNOWING JESUS
Simon Ng, 47, became a father two and a half year ago when his little boy, Joel was born. “Since my wife Ally got pregnant, we prayed for our child every night. When he finally arrived, I was very excited to see him in the flesh,” he recalls.
For Joel, Simon, who works in CHC, was willing to give up his favourite video game and air-conditioning. “Before I had Joel, I used to play PUBG almost every night. But now, Joel sleeps with us. He has trouble sleeping when I’m around because when I’m present, it’s playtime. So I have to get out of my own bedroom when Ally is putting him to bed, and sit in the living room with my laptop, sweating because there’s only the fan. My computer is in our bedroom so I can’t play my game. I can only go back into my room only when he falls asleep.”
Having a child has taught Simon many things, one of which is to appreciate his own father more. “Sometimes we may not be able to understand why our fathers behave in a certain way,” he shares. “That is the downside of being Asian—we are not very expressive, we don’t tend to say ‘I love you, son’. To this day, my father doesn’t say that, but I think through his actions, through him providing for us, I can see his love for us.”
His years of growing up as a Christian in CHC taught Simon to communicate his love for others. “I’ve learn to express my love to my wife, and I want to express it freely with Joel as well. I want him to grow up in an environment learning to express his love for others,” he says.
The years spent serving his senior pastor, Kong Hee, also gave Simon an opportunity to learn how to show love. “Pastor Kong and [his wife] Sun are always affirming each other. I witnessed how they sustained their marriage and that somehow taught me how to conduct myself in my own marriage. Watching Pastor Kong take care of Dayan, his interaction with Dayan also offered me a lot of insight as to how he lived out what he preached. That gave me more conviction as to how I should behave, how I should carry myself as a father. I’m very sure that I will make mistakes and there is so much territory that I’m not familiar with, but I’m sure that I will grow as a father along the way.”
Simon has started a time of family devotion, first by praying with his wife daily and now reading Bible stories with Joel. “Yeah, even when he’s not focusing,” Simon laughs. “I read in the book of Proverbs that we have to train our child in the ways of the Lord when he’s young. One of the things that I want to do is to cultivate in him is the awareness of God, of who Jesus is, and that the Bible must be the pillar of his life. Even before he learns his ABCs, I want him to say ‘Jesus’.”
There’s one thing Simon most wants to say to Joel: “Papa wants to live as long as possible to see you grow up to be a man, a husband, a father. I want to let you know that academics are not all-important, but I want you to grow up to be a happy person—to enjoy life, enjoy your relationship with Daddy and Mommy, and with your grandparents.”
In this season at CHC when the focus is on developing Christlikeness, Simon is inspired to exemplify Jesus to Joel and the people around him. “The legacy that I want to leave behind is that where people look at me, they see Jesus,” he says. “I want to be a role model for my children—more than just them hearing, reading about Jesus, I want to show them who Jesus is supposed to be like with my life.”
OH YAN MING: FATHERHOOD TAUGHT ME THE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE OF GOD
Oh Yan Ming is father to two girls, with a son arriving in July. Dara, 4 and Hana, 2 are his pride and joy.
“I’m like their playmate,” he says of his relationship with his daughters. “Maybe because I have more strength, I can make them ‘fly’, ‘throw’ them around, that kind of thing. I’ll also bring them for swimming classes.”
Having to juggle many different roles—a full-time job, the nine cell groups that he oversees and duties as CHC’s board member—Yan Ming finds that the hardest thing to do as a father is to achieve balance. But fatherhood takes priority.
“What I do is to make sure that I focus on the children on the weekends. My wife and I would bring them out to the Botanic Gardens, or to the beach in Sentosa,” he shares. “On the weekdays, I’ll be busy with my work and ministry. But I try to spend at least half an hour with them in the evening, playing with them or bringing them to the playground.”
Having children has given Yan Ming a deeper understanding of the heart of Father God. “Ever since I was a young Christian, I had always felt that, of the Holy Trinity, I could relate to God the Father. I came to the realisation that my priorities had changed because of my children, but technically, I don’t get anything back in return. When you love your kids, it’s not like doing a job and you expect to draw a salary—you give because you love them,” he says.
“This is how God loves us. Yes, we make Him happy if we serve Him and love Him, but even when we go against His will, or do things that displease Him, He still loves us because we are His children,” he continues.
Watch Yan Ming’s video here:
Yan Ming’s deepest wish as a father is not that his children will become “pilots or very rich”. “The most important thing is that they will have a tender heart, one that God can mould.”
Yan Ming recognises that ultimately he is but a steward over these children for a season. One day, they would have to think for themselves and make their own decisions. “As long as they have that tender heart, they can live out the purpose and destiny that God has for them. And I think that if we can inculcate that in them, then we have done our job as parents. The Bible says to bring up a child in His ways so that when they grow up, they’ll not depart from it.”
Something else he wants to impart to his children is the understanding of what it means to love God, love people, and be excellent in what they do. He says, “As parents, we are to represent God to them more than anybody else. I want to be a role model for them, to teach them to be kind and to be like Jesus.”
MATTHIAS YEO: HAVING CHILDREN HELPED ME UNDERSTAND OTHER PARENTS
Matthias Yeo, 43, grew up in church, met his wife Melissa in Bible school and now serves as a cell group leader and a board member in CHC. “I’m a Christian and that’s why I am where I am today,” he says. “We have a family because God brought us all together. If there is a legacy I want to leave behind, it is that my children will serve the Lord just like their father and mother did.”
Matthias has two young boys, Lucas, 9 and Zachary, 5. He and Melissa decided to have their children four years apart so that they could enjoy each child fully. “I think the common mindset is to have your children close in age so that they grow up together and you endure the stress at one go. But we thought that we wouldn’t get to enjoy them this way. Imagine two crying babies—we’d go crazy,” he says with a laugh.
Having children gave Matthias understanding and made him a better counsel to his members. “When I was a younger cell group leader, I would always encourage others to go for cell group meetings,” he recalls. “One member told me, ‘Wait till you have a kid, then see if you can still attend church regularly.’”
As a cell group leader, he was used to being responsible for his members, but being a father is a different ball game: “You are the spiritual brother of the cell group, but another cell group leader can take over your group. But there will never be another father for your kids.”
No doubt, having children was a test of his commitment to God, but Matthias is thankful that he could continue serving God after the children came. “The good thing is, I began to appreciate and understand others more, and so my counsel become more complete. If I didn’t have kids myself, it would be difficult for me to understand how the fathers in the group feel,” he explains.
Each of his sons went through a difficult delivery—both times, the baby had the umbilical cord around his neck. “Our first son was delivered through natural birth. Every time my wife started pushing, his blood pressure would drop—we went through this for eight hours. We had read that when this happens, the baby might not grow up very smart due to the lack of oxygen going to his brain. But thank God, he turned out fine,” Matthias recalls.
“In the case of our second kid, the umbilical cord had wound twice around his neck. But Melissa had a C-section so he came out safe and sound,” Matthias recounts. “I always tell myself that it’s such a blessing that both times, it turned out fine. I could not ask for more. Now that they are older, as long as the both of them give me some time with my wife, I’m very contented.”
Now that he is a father, Matthias reflects, “My kids are my own—they listen to me, they’ll grow up to be like me. They have my DNA, and they are a part of me that nobody else in the world will ever be. That’s the biggest privilege.”
FRANKIE LEE: MY DAUGHTER ENCOURAGED ME TO GO TO CHURCH
Frankie (second from left) with his family
Frankie Lee, 48, had his first child, Felicia, when he was just 19. “My wife Lilian and I were totally unprepared,” he recalls. “I was still doing my National Service (NS) and we didn’t know what to do. Thankfully both our parents were very supportive and helped us a lot.”
The next year, their second daughter, Eugenia was born. Six years later, they had their third daughter Gladys; Joy, their last child, was born three years after that.
Becoming a father in his teenage years came with many sacrifices. After completing NS, he went straight to work in his first job with the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA). “I had to work very hard to support my young family. I was on 24-hour and 36-hour shifts—some days I worked up to 48 hours at a stretch. Back then, we were not Christians so all we knew was to work hard, hoping that we could save enough to buy our own HDB flat.”
Having to work so hard took a toll on Frankie both physically and emotionally. “I was very stressed out and I got angry easily. I didn’t know how to take care of children—most of it was done by my wife,” he says.
“I think the hardest part was communicating with them. I didn’t know where to start or how to talk to them or understand them. As a father, I only knew what my father used to do with me: a fierce father equals good children. They would feel that their father was very fierce and they didn’t really want to talk to me.”
At the age of 25, Frankie and Lilian finally saved enough to buy their own three-room flat. That was also when their third child was born. Lilian had started to attend a church in Toa Payoh at that time and encouraged him to join her. But with a growing family, Frankie knew he had to buy a bigger home soon. “So I continued to work very hard and I had no time to go for church services,” he recalls.
Watch Frankie’s video here:
After their fourth daughter was born, Frankie could finally afford a five-room flat. “Lilian started telling me that she was praying that we could get a five-room flat in the next block,” he recounts. That was the first time Frankie witnessed the power of prayer. They eventually found a property agent who diligently knocked on the doors of all the units at their desired block. He eventually found them a five-room flat on a high floor.
Now that the family had settled into their dream home, Frankie’s wife felt that it was time for him to slow down. Lilian, who had followed her two elder daughters to CHC by now, taught Frankie that he had to trust in God. “She always said I couldn’t just depend on myself, I had to pray. But I didn’t believe in that, I only believed in working hard,” he remembers.
God came through for Frankie even in his disbelief. By sheer coincidence, a friend introduced him to a job in a gym. After much thinking, Frankie accepted the job and started training to become a fitness instructor—a decision he was glad he made.
“That’s how my life started to change,” Frankie says. When he found it hard to adapt to the new work environment, he learned to pray and rely on God. Slowly, not only did warm up to his new job, he also started to believe in God.
“Slowly, I grew closer to God. My wife and my eldest daughter kept asking me to go to church, so I started attending. I’ve been doing so for eight years.”
Frankie and his family all attend CHC together now—his four daughters, plus Eugenia’s husband and daughter Hannah.
When Frankie became a fitness instructor, he found more time to spend with his children. “I hadn’t spent much time with my two older daughters when they are young, so when they grew up, I found it a bit difficult to talk to them because I didn’t know what to say.” But Frankie intentionally engaged them in conversation during weekly outings, and his first two children began to warm up to their father slowly.
“I think it’s important for fathers to spend more time with their children,” says Frankie. “Talk to them about things in their world—how they feel about things, what they want to do in the future, f they are happy in school. Just try to find a common topic to talk about.”
What Frankie hasn’t had to chance to do is “to say sorry to my two older daughters. Time flew by when I was busy working and I didn’t really have a chance to take care of them. I was working very hard but I was not a very good father to them. I want to apologise and I hope that they understand, which I think they do now.”
“I love them, I love all my four daughters,” he declares. “I want to tell them that I will take care of them even when they are married, or when they are already mothers; I will still take care of them and be concerned about them. I’m their father—I’ll always think of them as my little kids. I love them very, very much in my heart, which I’ve never told them before, but it’s inside my heart.”
ARTHUR KOH: THE CHALLENGE OF RAISING TEENAGERS
“The father’s job is one of the toughest I have encountered,” says Arthur Koh, 48. “The hardest part is that you have to keep on learning and understanding their world, and understanding them and their perspective of the world.”
Arthur is a hands-on parent who has taken upon himself the role of supervising the children’s homework (traditionally “Mummy’s duty”) and making sure that they do things right. “I attend all their school events—whether it’s the first day of school, school competitions, or parent-teacher meetings. Our relationship was very good when they were young.”
The marketing manager has three children: Leroy, 17, Regan, 16, and Tanya, 10. As his boys matured, Arthur found himself having to consciously grow together with them.
“When the boys became teenagers, they wanted more freedom, more independence and more space,” he relates. “I think my role as a father also evolved from being mainly a solutions provider to a supporter as they started to make their own decisions.”
The transition was a tough one for Arthur. “I had a lot of self-doubts and I think I made a lot of mistakes. But eventually I started to question how I should manage them as teenagers—that was when I suddenly realised that they have grown up. They have their own views and, and in many cases, they should really be making their own decisions, whether the consequences are good or not so good. If they’re trained to make decisions for themselves now, they’ll know how to make good ones when they grow up,” he shares.
But one thing trumps everything else for this father. “I realise that the most important thing is to impart the faith of God in them,” says Arthur. “At the end of the day, we are not able to be there all the time. In future, a lot of the decisions they make will be between them and God. If they have a relationship with God, then I know that they will be in good hands.”
Over the years, Arthur has learned to loosen his rein on his sons. “Instead of giving them instructions, I have learned to give advice and become more of a listener,” he says.
Though transitions are hard, Arthur has found that watching his children grow up is his greatest privilege as a father. In fact, his commitment to his children is so absolute that he once rejected a promotion that would require him to travel overseas regularly. “I think the biggest privilege is to see them take their first steps and then see them walk into adulthood, making their own decisions and loving God,” he says.
One thing Arthur would like to tell his children is that no matter what they do and what choices they make, he will always be proud of them. “If I’m able to impart to them faith in God, and they continue to walk in the fear of God throughout their life, then I think I’ve succeeded as a father.”
STANLEY YEW: MY JOB IS TO BE A ROLE MODEL FOR MY DAUGHTERS
To business owner Stanley Yew, 49, parenthood is a journey to be savoured. “My wife Jaques and I have enjoyed every part of growing up with our girls,” he says with satisfaction.
One of Stanley’s favourite memories is sending his daughters Sarah, now 24, and Zoe, 20, to school when they were little. “Even now that they are grown up—Zoe just graduated from Polytechnic and I used to send her to school every day. Each morning for many years, I would get to spend time with them in the car. Sometimes we would talk, and other times they would be sleeping, but the car is kind of like ‘our father-daughter space’. Not many kids want their parents to keep sending them to school, so for me to have done it for so many years is a privilege.”
Stanley is a father who believes in open communication. “We have ground rules at home and the girls understand. I’ve told them that our relationship is based on trust: we trust them, so they cannot betray our trust. If that happens, we would have to take back our control as parents and they cannot blame us. They have understood that from the beginning.”
He recalls a time when Zoe was in secondary school, she was told by friends that she did not have to tell her parents about certain things because they would never find out.
“But my daughter told them, ‘No, I have to be honest’,” says Stanley proudly. “Sarah and Zoe know that if they tell us the truth about where they are going, for example, we would not stop them from going. So, this is the trust that we have built in each other since they were young.”
Stanley believes in creating a good environment for his daughters by showing them how to live life. “Jaques and I want to be good models to them. That’s why as parents, I think we have to grow in the spirit. We learned once, during a marriage seminar conducted by Pastor Kong (Hee, senior pastor of City Harvest Church) that a person only need to looks at the child to see how the parents really behave. That statement left a deep impact on us, and from then on, we learned to control our temper and not to be rash because children follow what their parents do,” he shares.
“That was also when I begin discussing with my wife about ways to help our daughters in their transition from primary school to secondary school, and how to continue building trust as they begin to mature—shouting at them was not going to serve any purpose. As we began to try new ways to connect with our children, we also felt that matured as parents and adults.”
Now that his daughters are grown up, his biggest hope for them to have a heart of serving people and bring the presence of God to others. “I want to show them that doing missions should be their way of life—to make a difference for the glory of God,” he says.
JOHNNY HO: HAVING KIDS HAS TAUGHT ME TO ENJOY GOD WITH NO AGENDA
“One of the highest callings from God to be able to love, encourage and provide for someone who is such a deep part of my wife Winnie and I,” says Johnny Ho, 45, an IT analyst in the healthcare sector. Johnny had always wanted to be a father—he was so eager that early on in Winnie’s first pregnancy he had already bought a pair of pink socks, sensing that the baby would be a girl. His wife rolled her eyes, but Johnny’s prediction proved accurate.
Growing up in a family where physical touch was not practiced much, Johnny envisaged cuddling with his future children, hugging them, carrying them in his arms and smelling them. Even now that his daughter Victoria is 10 and his son Lucas is 8, “one of my favourite activities with them is family movie time—we would cuddle in bed and watch a movie together,” he shares. “Once when Winnie was out, we even had our meals in bed!”
To be a strong, fatherly influence in his children’s lives is, to Johnny, the greatest privilege. “It’s important for me that I am their go-to person when they are hurt or frightened, or even when they need something to be repaired,” he says.
Johnny’s work keeps him busy but he is intentional about making memories with his wife and children. He cooks for the family on weekends—“on Friday my kids will start placing their orders with Winnie!”. Their weekends are also spent worshiping together as a family, and going out on hikes. “On our weekly hikes, we would prepare picnic food and eat while bird-watching at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve,” he describes.
Watch Johnny’s video here:
Johnny’s relationship with each child is unique, and he esteems them both. Victoria is his pride and joy, a natural leader in spite of her demure nature. “She enjoys leading the family alongside me, and would walk in front with me during our hikes,” he relates. “I still feel that ‘Daddy high’ when she slides her hand into mine as we walk.’ With Lucas, Johnny shares his National Service experiences. “He looks up to me as his leader, and we sing old army songs when we hike. To me, he emanates innocence and is the light of the family. While Victoria is about winning, Lucas is more relenting and is able to diffuse tense situation with his boyish charms.”
Raising their children together has given Johnny a new perspective of his wife. “Seeing her in action as a Mummy makes me appreciate her so much more,” he shares. “The breastfeeding, late night diaper changes and early morning burping—she conquered it all like a boss. I think when we become parents, our ‘portfolio’ grows. Yes, we are lovers and we are best friends, but with the kids, a mountain of chores, ministry and work, we need to work as a team. I love how Winnie trusts me with the decisions I make and how we adjust and emerge victoriously as a team through the different seasons God put us through.”
Most of all, being a father has taught Johnny to rethink how he relates to his heavenly Father. “Through fatherhood I’ve learned that being a Christian is so much more than attending church, serving, worshiping, praying and fasting,” he shares. “The most enjoyable time of the day is when they come into my room and just lie down beside me. No agenda, no requests—they come just to be comforted by my presence. This shapes the way I enter into my quiet time now. What used to be a ‘prayer request session’ or ‘offloading session’ with Him has become more of a ‘soaking session’ now. Prayers are still important but what I yearn for more than anything is for His presence.”
MICHAEL CHAN: BLESSED BY MY EARTHLY FATHER AND MY HEAVENLY FATHER
Michael Chan, 51, a photojournalist and head of CHC’s Photography Ministry, has had the best of both worlds: an earthly father who taught him precious lessons in life, and a Heavenly Father who is a promise-keeper.
“My father was my hero,” says Michael, a father of two. “He was very hard working, he provided for the family the best he knew how. He was very strict with us and yet gave us room to develop. He taught us how to cook. I remember when my mum found out that I was heading overseas for my first disaster relief mission. She was very worried and kept dissuading me from going. My dad said to her, ‘Let him go. He’s got to do what is right. We cannot always live for ourselves.’”
Friends of Michael will tell you that he is very much like his father. He pours himself into his craft—photography—in the same way his father gave his all at work. “The most important lesson my father taught me was to be passionate in my craft,” says Michael. “He was a blacksmith, an engineer and a very, very good cook. I used to work with him in his workshop, and I saw the dedication he put in his work. From engaging customers to supervising workers, he was very focused. After work, we would prepare dinner together.”
Though his father passed away in 2015, he lives on in Michael’s own relationship with his two children, Ansel, 16 and Athena, 5. Ansel is a whiz in the kitchen just like his father and grandfather. “I see children as a living gift from God,” says Michael. “He must have faith in us to entrust such precious being into our care. That, to me, is a tremendous privilege.”
Michael was 35 when Ansel was born. Becoming a father for the first time was a huge learning curve—from carrying his newborn to putting on cloth diapers, Michael had lots to learn.
Though Michael and his wife Janice had always wanted another child for Ansel to grow up with, conception eluded them for a long time. “After Ansel, Janice conceived but it was an ectopic pregnancy. The conception happened in the fallopian tube instead of the womb. It was life-threatening and we had to remove the foetus. After that, we tried for a baby for seven years.”
By the beginning of 2016, the couple made up their minds that if it didn’t happen that year, they were going to stop trying for a baby. “That March, Janice, Ansel and I each went on a different overseas trip: Janice went for a holiday in Malaysia with her sister. Ansel went to China on a school exchange programme. I was on a humanitarian trip in Nepal. During that trip my team mates and I were chatting and the topic of child-bearing came along. I jokingly commented: ‘If I have one more child at my current age, I’ll change my name to Abraham!” I was 46 then. That night I woke up from my sleep in the middle of the night as it was very cold. I went out of the house and saw s star-filled sky. It was an Abraham moment for me (Gen 15:5). The verse I received that moment was Romans 4:21—’and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform’.”
Upon his return from Nepal, Janice told Michael she suspected she was pregnant. A test kit quickly proved she was. But the journey at the beginning was stressful for them both. Due to Janice’s age, she was considered at higher risk of pregnancy complications and the baby was at higher risk of Down’s Syndrome. The doctors were not really encouraging, and there were a few tests that Janice needed to go through.
“We were so stressed out that we couldn’t eat and sleep well. During one of the tests at the hospital, we met an associate professor who noticed that Janice was stressed out. He looked at the blood tests report and taught us, instead of focusing on the small chance that our baby is abnormal, to look at the high percentage reading that our baby will be born healthy and normal. That totally changed our perspective—we were no longer fearful or stressed.”
Becoming a father to Ansel and Athena has given Michael a deeper understanding of the heart of God. “God is our provider. Abraham understood the heart of God when he took Isaac to the altar. He told Isaac the truth in faith when Isaac asked where the sacrifice was. I have learnt not to hold back anything from the Giver of the gift.”
