by Alicia Tan
Kit Chan shares her journey and testimony in a lovely morning of fellowship with about 70 members of the Women's Ministry.
Social distancing need not mean not being social at all. With that in mind, about 70 ladies gathered via a virtual living room on 4 July for a time of fellowship and sharing.
The online chat is part of the “From the Living Room” series organised by the CCMC Women’s Ministry. Held via the Zoom platform, the series aims to help members remain connected despite the COVID-19 situation and accompanying measures.
Said Hau Yin Siau of the Women’s Ministry, “The idea blossomed out of our Women’s Ministry Committee's meeting to re-look at how to do things differently and adapt to the changing circumstances in order to care for and encourage our ladies in this difficult times. Our women are physically home, some alone, some facing the entire family, and providing for their daily needs and meals while still working from home. At the start of the Circuit Breaker period, we committee members contacted the list of ladies on our Women's Ministry database to check on them. We thank God that most shared that they were coping well and have been attending our CCMC worship services online.”
The need and the channel to remain connected and supported then became apparent.
She added, “Since there are many wonderful online sermons available, we thought we could come up with something different, something more casual. We then thought of this conversation-style kind of interview format with women of faith, so that we could all be encouraged by their testimonies of faith, in their struggles and in victories, in solitude and in community.”
The chat on 4 July was with the talented Kit Chan, who lists singing, theatre, television drama, poetry, song-writing, entrepreneurship and creative direction in her impressive resume. In 1998, she became the first solo artiste to perform the National Day Parade theme song with “Home”, thus starting the tradition for pop artistes to do so at every national day.
More recently, Kit lent her voice to Gov.sg’s music video “Together, We Can” in a moving tribute to the unsung heroes who have been working day and night to battle the pandemic, as well as those who volunteered their time to spread kindness and compassion.
Yin Siau opened the session with a welcome and updates, followed by the hymn “Abide with Me”.
Kit Chan then began sharing her journey with God. She said, “Worshipping God in community is something new to me. My faith has always been very private. My faith in fact started in solitude and this is probably different from those who grew up in Christian families. Slowly I took baby steps into the community. And it was something I discovered in D1.”
"When you can make the connection from here (pointing to her head) to here (points to her heart), suddenly you experience God in a very holistic way."
She shared further on her breakthrough and thanked everyone who encouraged her along the way. “This whole journey about worshipping in the community started in D1 class. I remember on the first day, we were talking about faith. And I was one of a few who said I didn’t have a problem with faith. I had a problem with attending church and my knowledge about the Bible.”
On what journeying with His word means to her, she shared, “I knew Him a lot here (points to her heart) but I didn’t have the knowledge of the Word (points to head). It’s not complete. When you can make the connection from here (pointing to her head) to here (points to her heart), suddenly you experience God in a very holistic way. I’m taking baby steps and I still have a long way to go.”
A question was posed on her typical weekday and weekend.
“I have no typical workday. I may go to sleep sometime between 2 and 4 am and wake up 8 hours later. So it takes a lot for me to wake up for disciple class and church! But I realise it’s all worth waking up for.”
"At one point, I really did not ask God for anything, and was actually proud of that. I just wanted to thank Him, be a good child that does not ask for anything."
Kit also shared that she did not come from a Christian family but was sent to a Christian school by her mother. She remembers her Primary 2 teacher telling them the story of Jesus. They were moved to tears and willingly said the sinner’s prayer.
She shared, “I definitely had my foot through the door. But as I grew older, I realise it wasn’t just about saying the sinner’s prayer. There’s a long way ahead to know God. At one point, I really did not ask God for anything, and was actually proud of that. I just wanted to thank Him, be a good child that does not ask for anything. But I realised that not leaning on Him was also a problem.”
In 2015, she discovered she had polyps and needed vocal cord surgery.
“I am a singer. A lot of my identity is tied to my voice. It is my bread and butter, my career, what I love to do. The irony was it happened in the year I wasn’t singing at all. So my vocal cords should be safe. It started with acid reflux, which created phlegm for six months. I developed blisters and I took steroids and rested, thinking I would be fine. As it turned out, all the resting in the world didn’t help. I needed surgery.”
“The thing is I didn’t do anything to get this. And I couldn’t do anything that could undo that. I realised that the only thing I could do was to just pray. What gave me strength and identity, something to be proud of, could be taken from me forever. Because once you have surgery, you just don’t know what could happen to your vocal cords. The doctors said I would recover, but they just could not guarantee how my vocal cords would heal. After the surgery, I recovered, praise the Lord! That also gave me the reason to share more about the Lord.”
"That was a turning point for me. Knowing that I’m not in charge, accepting my weaknesses. And I witnessed to God as it was indeed up to Him to heal me."
Her first performance after surgery was on the “I am a Singer’’ show that is huge in China. She did not feel comfortable talking about her experience as the show had a lot of emphasis on drama and she did not want her experience to be sensationalised. She later held a two-night concert and decided to share her story.
“I asked the audience if they liked my performance, and they said it was great! I then shared my vocal cord surgery and the audience fell silent at my testimony. That was a turning point for me. Knowing that I’m not in charge, accepting my weaknesses. And I witnessed to God as it was indeed up to Him to heal me.”
The session ended with a question and answer segment during which Kit gamely fielded questions from the members.
"Even when responsibilities pile on your shoulders and the world is looking bleaker than ever, we Christians have the freedom to rejoice and have hope, because Jesus bought this freedom for us with His own blood."
Kit, who has been worshipping at CCMC for the past 8 years, has this to share with fellow sisters in Christ: 'I think women should always remember that they were once girls. And don't ever lose that sparkling girl inside you. Even when responsibilities pile on your shoulders and the world is looking bleaker than ever, we Christians have the freedom to rejoice and have hope, because Jesus bought this freedom for us with His own blood."
She added, "Quoting Matthew 6 : 34, 'Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.' Keep smiling and take delight in all the small things around you, just like you did when you were a little girl and easily pleased."