“These tokens of God’s grace serve as precious reminders that God is ever dependable. What He has done for us, He will do it again.”
Founded on the Solid Rock
At the start of Woodlands Centre’s construction, the contractor found out during the soil survey that the site was seated on a bed of granite instead of normal soil. Hence no piling is required to build the foundation. Rather it was blasted with explosives to set the foundation and basement of the building. Literally, our church is built upon a solid bed of granite.
This was significant to us as it was a sure sign from the Lord, an assured reminder that Covenant EFC is built upon nothing less than Christ, our Solid Rock. Truly, on this firm foundation we stand.
“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.” – Matthew 7:25
Held Together by His Hand
As work proceeded, the contractor over-blasted the rock and dislodged the strutting system. However, miraculously, the earth did not collapse else it would have affected the HDB block next to us which would have been disastrous.
We were so amazed and grateful for His supernatural hand which held the earth together!
The Church Board then decided to retain a piece of rock as a remembrance of God’s grace and sovereignty. It is our desire that the generations after will remember and acknowledge His goodness and grace.
Heart Was Moved as We Prayed
While the contractor had mobilised equipment and personnel on site at Woodlands, they were pending the permit from Building and Construction Authority (BCA) before work could commence. Despite numerous and frequent follow-ups with BCA, the permit status pended for two months. Each day accounted for cost.
The Church Board brought this up to the Lord in prayer. During one of the Dawn Prayer, the Board gathered for the first time at the container site office and brought our pleas to the Lord.
Amazingly, the following day, the BCA officer who was in charge of our case heard during the Sunday sermon from her pastor on their church building project. He exhorted the congregation, “Those who are able, please contribute, and those who are in power please do not stop the project.” These words disturbed her greatly.
As she returned to work on Monday, she took our file from the bottom of her pile and issued the permit to enable us to commence work.
Once again, He intervened and answered our prayers! All praise to God!
Divine Provision in His Time
I bring you now back to our Bukit Panjang journey.
As it was our first building journey, we moved cautiously. While we raised funds, the Church Board also secured a bank loan to ensure we had sufficient funds to cover the construction costs as well.
Yet, as you have heard, our God provided all that we needed and we didn’t have to draw on this loan!
While we had to pay a small penalty to the bank, I had never been happier signing this cheque on behalf of the church!
Indeed, our God is a God of so-much-more! We just have to have faith!
As I pen these stories, my heart is overflowing with thanksgiving and praise. Our God never fails. He is ever for us and with us through it all.
These tokens of God’s grace serve as precious reminders that God is ever dependable. What He has done for us, He will do it again.
Today, as we persevere on in our Seed Fund Faith Journey, I encourage us to lean in onto Him and wait expectantly in faith. He will come forth once again because He is faithful and sovereign.
May we respond and follow as He leads.
