Living A Life That Doesn't Tie God's Hands
If there was one phrase that could describe the way I've learned to live through mistakes, heartaches, challenges and crises, it would be... 'surrender in obedience to God'. Give Him full control and obey Him.
There was a phrase I once heard Ps Matt Fielder say to me. It has stuck with me for almost 20 years...
“When we tie up our hands, we untie God’s hands.”
Each time, the seasons of my life have looked different, but the lesson has always remained the same. I want to live a life that doesn’t tie God’s hands. So, this is what I’ve learned when I have surrendered in obedience to God.
God knows what’s best for me
In the earlier years of my young adult life, I spent about 10 years in Melbourne. I completed university and was part of an amazing church family. I spent 5 years completing my degree and then went on to work as a physiotherapist. There were times when I was in university when it became a great struggle, but those times became defining moments when I surrendered to God and pushed through to finish what I had felt He had called me to do in the medical line.
I worked with patients as a physiotherapist and during this time, I learned to care for my patients as a whole – physically, emotionally and mentally. I also worked with various families for my patients’ recovery and healing. Little did I know, God would eventually use me in the same purpose, but in a different vocation (more below).
Back then, Singapore felt foreign and unwelcoming after my time spent in Melbourne. I wanted to continue living there rather than move back to Singapore. But in the span of 2 weeks, sometime in 2011, Andrew and I got married and we relocated to Singapore. I found myself at the beginning of a new season. I didn’t know it then, but God had already known what was coming, that Andrew and I were going to be able to pioneer Kingdomcity in Singapore. He truly knew what was best for me.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
God knows what’s best for my family
We had also wanted to have a family and Andrew and I now have four beautiful girls, our four AJs with our oldest being 8 and youngest being 1 this year (2023). One of the most common questions we get asked is, ‘How do we do all this with 4 young children?’ Our reply has always been the same – we don’t really know. It’s always been a journey of surrender.
With all our girls, once they were about a month old, we would get them ready at 6AM to go to church every Sunday. Along the journey, we learned how to surrender our fears that they wouldn’t get enough rest and we learned to surrender our anxieties that something bad might happen to them, and we learned surrender our control and our comfort for what is ideal.
Our family’s vision has always been to build God’s house. We believe that when we build His house, He will build ours. We want to see our girls grow up in the presence of God and today, we see that they love being in church! They beg us to come for midweek events even when they have an early start the next morning in school.
This is not to say that there aren’t any hard days. Life still happens; sometimes there is sickness in the family. But through all of it, surrender is the key. My children are God’s children and God knows what’s best for my family and my children. I’ve learned that it comes with relinquishing the control to have everything planned out.
What if things become difficult to handle or we would need to sacrifice our convenience even more? Those are normal questions to have but it’s part of the fight – the fight to ensure our daughters don’t have to overcome the same battles we do. We want them to stand on the ground of having rejection, fear, comparison, perfectionism, insecurity already overcome in their lives. We want them to stand on the ground that all that we do is in obedience to God.
“One generation commends your works to another; they tell of Your mighty acts. They speak of the glorious splendor of Your majesty and I will meditate on Your wonderful works. They tell of the power of Your awesome works and I will proclaim Your great deeds. They celebrate Your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of Your righteousness.”
God knows what’s best for His churcH
Sometime in 2014, we sat down with Ps Mark, and he had asked Andrew and I, “what do you think about starting Connect Groups in Singapore?” We truly did not know what we were saying yes to. It was a sense of exhilirating expectation yet with much hesitation and uncertainty about what the future would look like.
In my mind, I thought I had passed the test of surrender and obedience! Little did I know, it was only just the beginning of more times that I would find myself needing to surrender and say yes and to have faith. When we started Sunday services in Singapore, we just had our first child. Navigating this while learning to build culture and lead a church was a challenge with new intensities that we were unfamiliar with.
Current venue at Capitol Theatre, Singapore
We fought to stay faithful and continued trusting God that He would be the one to carry us through. On the hard nights, I would find myself thinking and praying for the person we had met for the first time that day, or for the person who had told us they were struggling and that we needed to find a way to help.
It’s only by God’s grace and a constant journey of surrender and being obedient that I have seen myself change from being a timid, quiet, insecure, fearful, people-pleaser to someone who is able to confront my fears and insecurities and grow in a confidence that only God has been able to provide.
It’s been 8 years since Kingdomcity started in Singapore and we are loving this journey of serving and seeing the many lives that have come through the doors saved and transformed. The stories haven’t stopped since – people are still finding family, relationships are still being reconciled, many are still finding Jesus and growing in their walk with God and God’s love is being shared even more than when we first began.
God has always known what’s best for His church. When I align myself with that fully, in trust and obedience, my life has union with Christ. There may be mistakes and days that are difficult to get through, but we have the Holy Spirt with us, guiding and assuring us that the surrendered life is the best way to live.
“I am the vine, you are the branches. If You remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing... If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you will bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.”
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Written by Juni Leong
Juni Leong is married to Andrew Leong, and they currently live in Singapore. She is mom to 4 beautiful daughters and is part of the Kingdomcity team.