Despite losing my dear Philip, I praise the Lord for helping me decide to walk on in His ways, and for His joy, peace and assurance of salvation through the Holy Spirit.

Bilingual version (Chinese and English) of Ros’ story available here.

In June 2012, my husband Philip heard the gospel message to repent, be baptised and receive the Holy Spirit. Without discussing it with me he decided to get baptised. He knew that God was his last chance at beating his terminal cancer.

I was pulled into the church as his support person through his cancer journey. Thankfully God, who knows everything, gave both of us the gift of the Holy Spirit within a week of coming along, with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

But still, two months later Philip passed away. God in His wisdom had decided not to grant him a physical healing. He had, however, graciously granted Philip’s wish to beat death. It was just not in the way we had expected. By receiving the Holy Spirit, Philip had his admission ticket into heaven. I was greatly comforted by that.

But while I appreciated the love and support shown to me by the members of the fellowship, I felt that the strict moral codes could be confronting down the track. For example, prior to getting married we had lived together. I came to a cross-roads early in my walk with the Lord, and needed to decide whether to stay in the fellowship or return to my old ways – where I made the rules.

So I started to read the Bible and was convicted by the words in Ecclesiastes 7:4: ‘The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning’.

I decided to use this time of mourning to get wisdom from the Bible about the important issues of life. The Lord had also shown me, through my powerful experience of the Holy Spirit, that He was real. I had already been empowered by the Holy Spirit to change one aspect of my proud, pre-Christian nature – which was an inability to apologise.

As I threw myself into listening to recorded talks, attending meetings and fellowship events, I found myself living out what I was reading. As I came to know the immensity of God’s love and the obedience of Christ in dying to redeem my soul, my mind was gradually transformed. I was being changed from glory to glory within, as His love flowed through me.

The strict moral codes of the Bible are no longer an issue. His ways are higher than our ways and for our good. His love for us in going to the cross demands no less than my wholehearted obedience.

I praise the Lord for helping me decide to walk on in His ways. I am thankful for His joy, peace and assurance of salvation through the Holy Spirit. I thank Him for giving me strength to endure, faith to believe in His promises, and wisdom to keep following Him towards eternity.

Ros Chow

Download the bilingual version (Chinese and English) of Ros’ story here.