[Testimony] My Promos Experience

[A testimony from Cheong Yue Seng, Rhema]

Hi Impactors,

Well, I just want to share with my Promos experience. Not to scare you about JC but to testify that God is a sovereign God..

Hm.. I dont really know how to start but the here is some background on my situation..
I had screwed up my CTs badly, but thankfully it was not all Us. My results for CTs were around the E and S grade. Note: S does not mean Superb, instead, it means Subpass which in layman terms leads to a FAIL! So in order to promote, everything would be relied entirely on my Promos!! Note: CTs only tested about 5 chaps per subject, in Promos, I would be tested about 13 chapters per subject!!

So maybe you can hear the sarcastic celebration in my heart.. Well.. Promoting seemed like it was going to be as hard as climbing Mount Everest.. And like every other slacker without motivation, I slacked again...

Then only 2 weeks before Promos did I wake up from my slumber!! Oh My!! So many chapters to mug in 14 days!! And of course, as you can see.. I am dead seriously!! But though I seemed to have dig myself another grave, and well God was going to be the only way out!

Lets back track to the time when computers were non-existent and dinosaurs ruled the world. Ok, fast forward slightly from there to my CTs.. Hm.. How do I say it. I was like how I am now in my preparation in Promos.. Having dug a cosy grave to lie in.. And instead of seriously just trustly God for my CTs, I look at mount Kinabalu (its a mountain that is smaller than Everest?) and said, "Oh gosh! I am totally screwed!".. And how I regret having done that, because it showed that I made God look like a dog.. Couldn't He move mountains, why was I so faithless.. So please fast forward to the time when Greece are in debt. And here I am in a similiar position as my CTs.. But instead of being faithless like last time, this felt like a second chance for me.. It was like Jesus giving Peter a second chance (in John 21:15-18) and so He was doing the same to me.. Giving me a chance to "redeem" myself.

During this peroid, I wasn't panicking despite having 14 days left. Instead, my heart was at peace like everything was alright! I was not afraid, I was in the grip of His grace.. I just studied properly, not rushing through everything but trying to understand the concepts fully. And God granted me his wisdom, as I could finish uderstanding the chapter in 3-4 hours!! (For a person who sees the notes for the first time, 4 hours is pretty good!) and I did not study at every possible moment.

Hm.. I wont explain the feeling I had these 14 days in vivid detail but I will say I was stressed, yet everytime I was stressed out. God reminded that this was not my battle to fight alone. And it helped me tell myself that I was just going to give my best, and let God do the rest. I believe this was what he wanted me to learn and do. And just the day before the battle that decided if I was going to waste one year started, I had a "revelation" when praying and singing songs. Well, I somehow had found faith to say "My Promos Results will show how Great my God is, and not how smart I am" even before anything was written!

I did not managed to completely cover everything but just what seemed barely sufficient to pass. So time passed as fast as Sebestian Vettel won the Singapore F1, and I was sitting in the exam hall waiting for, what people would call a "death sentence", with a very calm mind heart. Well, I am going to trust God this time round and not fail this trial a second time!



So day one was GP and Biology! Wow!! I did not understand the GP passage nor know what to write for the essay! Then when I took my Biology paper, I had a really bad headache!! My mind was blank, all info lost and I had to nap for 20 mins during my MCQ! So lets stop here and agree that it really does look like I am gonna retain! Ok, thy shall not dwell on the past.

Lets move on, day 2 was Chemistry. I really God to thank God for
Chong Hui whom has helped me abundently in my Chemistry and sometimes maths too... Back to the commentary, I was breezing through the first 3 question!! Completing them in slightly more than an hour. Then here comes the problem! My brain when blanked! It was all white!! And of course, I panicked! Not joking! I really did, and that meant I lost 20 marks! So as I went out of the examination hall, for the second day running, I was not feeling confident on promoting or passing..

Hm.. For my economics, I just got to thank God for helping me be able to complete studying all the syllabus that would have been tested.. So for once in my Promos, something seemed to have gone well! Haha!

But then came the day during the Promos, when it was the biggest test of faith for me arrived. Its like all the games where you battle the boss monster at the end. So at the end of this journey, I had to battle 2 papers that I expected to flunk!! Like U grade for CHINESE & MATH! And I won't lie how I thought I was a goner!! Well, I got to admit I nearly when back to looking at how big my problem was and returning to that faithless self that I so hated myself for. Well, lets me explain how stressed and freaked I was. The day before, I was mugging math like crazy! Seriously! I attempted 2 papers however, I could not do any questions correctly!! Imagine the panicked I was experienced!! No more time to practice, no more time to do anything!! The only thing to do was trust, and just enter the exam hall with nothing but God. Ok, maybe your pencilcase and calculator too.

So monday arrived and well, I just whacked Chinese without uderstanding a single thing it was talking about!! Ok, I understood the Facebook and Twitter in the question paper cause they were written in English. Haha!! But other than that I just whacked MCQ and copy the passage blindly. And of course, pray for the best!

Then it was Math up next! I dont have to explain how it when, do I? I lost about 47 marks... Yes, 47!! If you were in my shoes, I believe you would be thinking, "looks like next year, I am going to be a J1.5" too! But after every bad, the good things will come. So here is the miracle.



My Result solely for Promos!!

Chemistry (H2) - B
Economics (H2) - B
Math (H2)- C
Biology (H1) - D
Chinese - S
GP - Unknown

Yes, I am PROMOTING!! Well, I know it also does not make sense! It does not have a logical explanation, and I also question if the results are really mine because its feels like a dream.


Hm.. So I just want to encourage you guys, to have faith. Well, God has taught me a lesson. To have faith because he is faithful. To believe in Him, and He showed me how great he can be.



Well, I always have a song to share everytime I share something. So here are 3 songs that really stood out of the 439 songs I listen during the whole month, each representing one of the 3 phase of life I had talked about in this sharing. Do listen to them, they really touched my heart.

1.I Lift My Hands – Chris Tomlin (You can find it on Presence Eternal Fan page on Facebook too)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GIeVIWwujI

2. Greater - New Live Worship
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrdc75t18Ik

3. You are Faithful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM82BnKl4Fo


So I shall end of here. BELIEVE!! If God could pull out such trick to save me, why would he not do it for you? And for those studying for you’re A’levels or those who are studying for Uni exams, jiayou!! :D

P.S I might not have place emphasis on how much I prayed, but I did pray a lot! There were times when I was really stressed and afraid and I could just sit there and sing songs to God, and pray for intervention! Sometimes, I would just breakdown and cry as I did them..