Welcome to my first blog entry and the launch of WOW31.

My desire is that I can inspire women from my personal experiences of challenges and breakthroughs and to share about what the Lord has done in my life. I believe through sharing, I can help other women experience breakthroughs in the life as well. We all have a story and here is mine.

I was born out of wedlock and my mother raised me up single-handedly. She suffered from major rejection and struggled with her identity and this had a major impact on my self-esteem, which affected my relationships with others and eventually my marriage

I grew up struggling with a strong sense of abandonment as my father was physically absent in my life and my mother was emotionally unavailable for me. I grew up thinking that the odds were always against me and that propelled me to strive even harder in life to prove myself and to gain acceptance from people around. I studied hard and did well in school.

I was eligible for the Special Assisted School Program which consisted of the top 8% of all elementary students in Singapore. I subsequently went to a prominent junior college and ended up at the National University of Singapore.

When I graduated, I was eager to climb the corporate ladder and be someone great. I wanted to be successful, I wanted to be respected, and I wanted to be rich. Yes, I wanted all that and most importantly I wanted to prove to my father that he made a big mistake giving me up and to show my mom that she can be proud of me. I was also looking for love and acceptance with the wrong faces at the wrong places. Yet, with all of my achievements, I was never satisfied and never felt good accepted. In 1995, the world that I built came tumbling down. I hit a tremendous setback in my career, lost my relationship with my boyfriend of five years and was loaded with credit card debts. I saw with horror in my eyes the very thing that I was trying so hard to avoid – defeat, failure and rejection.

It was at this juncture of my life that I came back to God through City Harvest Church in Singapore. I was sick and tired of trying to run my own life and I knew that Jesus was the answer. Only in Christ was there the security and acceptance I was seeking in my life. God began a deep work of healing and restoration. In the process of time as I grew in the Word of God and relationship with others, I began to know who I am and see myself through His eyes and started to really love what I see in me and accept who I am.

It was during this time that the Lord spoke to me to go and prepare myself by enrolling in bible school, School of Theology, formerly known as City Harvest Bible Training Centre. I did not understand what I was preparing for as I always presumed that theology training was only for those who desire to serve in full time ministry. Nonetheless, I obeyed and enrolled into the course. I dedicated a year of my life to study the Word and learn to draw near to the Holy Spirit.

That was the year 1998. I began to experience God in a very manner real in my life. I never knew that I could fall in love with someone that I could not see but I did. It was at this point of my life that God began to call me into ministry. After I graduated from Bible School, in the same year in 1999, the Lord spoke concerning my career and relationship through Proverbs 31:10-31. The prophesy came to past the same year and I started my relationship with Derek and we subsequently got married in 2001 and had Ethan in 2003, Erin in 2005 and Erika in 2006.

Since then, I have been serving in ministry alongside Derek for the past 13 years. I have counseled many women, single, married and even divorced. I am thankful that I was able to help yet I have also encountered countless ones who struggled alone and only sought help too late while others spent too many years wondering in the wilderness and not receiving their breakthrough.

My heart goes out to all of them. I know that God loves every woman and He has a great hope and a great future for all of us. I thank God that by His grace that I was able to maneuver through the different seasons of my life successfully.

I wish to share my experiences and to encourage the Christian women today to practically apply the Word of God into their situations and be victorious over each challenge. I believe that the Word of God contains all the wisdom that we need to be successful regardless of the stage of life we are at, be it as a single woman, a wife, a mother or as a career women.

Throughout this process of time, I began to realize that what the Lord spoke to me in 1999 was not just for that year but it was God’s vision for me in my life. And I am fully persuaded that it is His vision for your life too.

With this blog, I wish to invite you to journey with me as we discover how we can transform into the Proverbs 31 woman:

Proverbs 31: 10-31 (The Virtuous Wife)

10 Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain. 12 She does him good and not evil All the days of her life. 13 She seeks wool and flax, And willingly works with her hands. 14 She is like the merchant ships, She brings her food from afar. 15 She also rises while it is yet night, And provides food for her household, And a portion for her maidservants. 16 She considers a field and buys it; From her profits she plants a vineyard. 17 She girds herself with strength, And strengthens her arms. 18 She perceives that her merchandise is good, And her lamp does not go out by night. 19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff, And her hand holds the spindle. 20 She extends her hand to the poor, Yes, she reaches out her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, For all her household is clothed with scarlet. 22 She makes tapestry for herself; Her clothing is fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them, And supplies sashes for the merchants. 25 Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come. 26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, And on her tongue is the law of kindness. 27 She watches over the ways of her household, And does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “ Many daughters have done well, But you excel them all.” 30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, And let her own works praise her in the gates.

My prayer is that you may find encouragement through this blog as we journey as women of wisdom to become the Proverbs 31 woman God has called us to be!

Love,
Susan Dunn