[Jem] Good Afternoon everyone, I am Jeremy, people usually call me ‘Jem’ and this lovely lady here is my wife, Sharmaine! We are honored to be able to stand here today after journeying with the church close to the founding since the church was 0.5 years old. Through the thick and thin, I have personally felt the support and growth with the church in all the aspects of the church vision Hospital, Home and Hope.​

 

[Shar] Through these 7 years, I have seen the church growing in numbers and in spirit. From having to rent a place from another church to having a place we can now call home. Being small then, meant that we didnt have the manpower we needed to fulfill the big dreams we had as a church. But as we were faithful in supporting the church in the areas God called us to go, God has blessed Kingdom’s heart church immensely to be able to do what we are doing now which is supporting the community. I have always longed to have a family of my own. But my husband wasn’t keen on having children in the past. So since I wasn’t able to convince him, I prayed for God to convict him.​

 

[Jem] I was someone who grew up in a broken family and my mum and dad divorced back in 2008 when I was still in primary school. As a child then, I was lost and broken hearted, not knowing how to make decisions but was forced to choose between following either my mom or dad. To keep the story short, my mom was the one who fought for me and took care of me until today. In the time of being in KHC, I thank God for the church to introduce the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality course that talked about our Genealogy, to understanding and find out how the environment we grew up in and how it shaped us unknowingly. That was when I found out that I was heavily influenced by the experience my parents had and I developed the avoidance to having children of my own. Not forgetting along the way, her “advise” to me that came from her negative experience in their marriage.​

 

[Shar] But I had never expected that God would show up to prepare us for our future family through part-time caregiving. This was a platform where I felt exponential growth in me, where God is preparing us for our family through helping the 3 girls - Jodynn, Janelle & Jerallyn. It started from just bringing them out on weekends to now, supporting their parents in guiding them to become a mature individual. During these few months of part time caregiving. It wasnt easy, there were tears - tears of joy and tears of frustration. 1 moment my heart would be melting, the next moment it can be boiling. This platform for part-time caregiving really helps me to see beyond just us as a couple, its a journey for us to learn to love and guide these 3 children, and in future our own.​

 

[Jem] Our involvement in supporting them and journeying through life with them has really broken down the barriers and walls that I had and if I may, worked too well that it helped us prepare for our own children in terms of managing our time together as husband and wife, discussing on how to work together to nurture our own children while learning to nurture the 3 girls. Without this platform and support from the church, I could not imagine the types of discussions or potential disagreements that could arise. I am deeply thankful to God and to the church for the opportunities and the support given to allow us to learn and grow together. I am sure that the rest would also agree, we are not able to find such a place we can call home with a loving and accepting environment.​

 

[Shar] I’m really grateful to God and the church for giving us this learning experience that really, no amount of money can buy. Thank you​.