I wanted to be a practicing psychologist since I was fourteen. However, I did badly in junior college (high school) and had to repeat an academic year. My parents were devastated.

It was very shameful having to repeat a grade. I felt unworthy to have meals with my family at the dinner table. Relatives and neighbors would mock me and friends did not know how to help me feel better.

While in school, I was picked on by my form teacher who believed I would never amount to anything. When I graduated, my grades were just enough for me to do the course that I wanted. I continued feeling ashamed of myself through university. I couldn’t explain why I was a year older than my peers.

In the year that I repeated a grade (1999), Pastor Prince preached a message on God’s restoration. I remember standing with the congregation, claiming a double portion for my shame as in Isaiah 61:7. I’ve stood in faith on this verse all these years.

When I turned twenty-one, I tried to “help” God restore the year that I’d lost in junior college. I thought of completing my master’s degree overseas as this would enable me to skip the final (honors) year. Mainstream universities in Singapore also did not have clinical training at that time and they were still in their nascent stage.

During that time, I wept in church because I was so vexed about whether to go overseas or not. My dad said he would support me financially, but I knew this would be a tremendous financial burden on him. I eventually let go of this decision and decided to just trust the Lord for His restoration. I just didn’t know when or how it would happen.

I went on to graduate with a good class of honors degree. Upon graduation, I applied for a scholarship to complete my masters in research for an area that no academic in the department was familiar with. By the favor of God, the head of department took me in and I completed my masters, fully funded with a monthly stipend. Even before I finished my masters, I received an email seeking applicants with my qualifications. So I went for the interview and landed the job.

God blessed me at this job. He gave me favor and set me up with lovely people who cared about my progress. I had so many opportunities to learn and perform, and I had pay increments that others did not have.

Four years into the job, my boss asked me to consider going overseas for further education and proposed a course that would help my career progression. When I proposed a course in psychology, my boss endorsed my application and supported me.

The course I wanted was highly competitive and much coveted, with an acceptance rate of approximately one in eight. It usually required prior-related experience and an impeccable academic record. I had neither. I was never a straight-A student. By the favor of God, I was accepted in the first round of selection at my school of choice. This school had a good global ranking that was even better than my local university.

The Lord gave me a scholarship that paid for the school fees, a monthly stipend, and my workplace continued to pay my salary with increments (as if I was still working) for two years. The salary helped fund the third year of my doctorate. I am now in the last few months of the course.

The favor of the Lord over these years has been astounding. There is so much more the Lord did for me that keeps me in immense gratitude and awe. I am living a dream, Pastor Prince. In the natural, people from working-class families like mine do not receive two scholarships and opportunities to complete their doctorates.

My parents, relatives, neighbors, and friends have been surprised. When my relatives tell their children to follow my footsteps, my dad would promptly remind them that I was once a school retainee. There is now no more shame from my past. Praise God! I rejoice at what He has done in my life. The double portion that the Lord has given me in place of my shame has manifested slowly but surely over a span of seventeen years. He makes all things beautiful in His time.

Thank you, Pastor Prince, for your boldness in declaring the message of grace. You have cultivated in me a thirst for the Word and seeing Jesus in the Bible. You have helped to nurture such a deep relationship between God and me. I believe there are many others whose lives have been transformed radically like mine.