Mr. Gary Chua Ah Kim

Staff

I used to live in sin and was enslaved by drugs for many years. With each stage of my life and with every footprint, there are many stories to be told. 

For a long time I lived to satisfy my lusts and sought intoxicating fun and enjoyment. All this caused my life to degenerate. I wallowed in drugs and could not go home as I was wanted by the police; I had to be on the run all the time. 

I was a follower of the “cult of 5 poisons” – smoking, alcohol, women, gambling and drugs. I started dabbling in them from the age of 10 till 40, and I was thrown into rehabilitation centres and prisons 10 times. Altogether I spent 20 of my prime years behind bars. 

Each time I was jailed I told myself that I would turn over a new leaf, but invariably I would find myself back in prison. It was in 2011 when I was jailed for the 10^th time that I suffered the most severe and painful lesson of my life. My father fell ill and died; my wife gave up on me and filed for divorce. I lost all that I had and valued in life – my family, wife, child, and father. Only my mother was left who, despite her pain and hurt, was willing to wait for me to turn back. 

I kept asking myself while I was in jail what I had achieved in life. Why was I such a pauper still? What direction should my heart take? There were simply too many painful questions . 

I was a walking dead in this world for nothing could change me - the tears of parents, rehabilitation in jails, harsh laws. Long imprisonment sentences could not discipline my spirit. 

God’s work begins when man comes to end of the road! God’s grace found me when I had fallen deep in the abyss. One day while I was in jail the words of a female counselor helped me see light. She said, “If you are so miserable, why don't you try changing tracks? Dawn may be just around the corner even in this darkness. Believe in Jesus Christ. You’ve seen how many drug addicts had their lives transformed once they believed in Jesus. You will find joy in life once you have the Lord.”     

It was this simple sentence that answered the many questions that had perplexed me all those years. I finally found myself and was no longer lost and bewildered! I began reading God’s word and prayed for Him to create in me a clean heart and make me a new creation, and forgive all my sins! Tears gushed forth instantly when I finished praying and I felt an indescribable sense of release in my heart! 

I have seen and lived through much and lost everything but I am not discouraged, because my life was saved by the Lord and He did not forsake me. I am now a follower of Jesus Christ and my life is no longer one of misery and pain. Even the birds in the skies are chirping for me. I no longer commit sins of the past, and I am not a fugitive nor a member of the cult of 5 poisons. I will never serve a 11^th jail sentence. Let my life be used by the Lord! Amen!