Here are the Top 5 Salt&Light stories you loved this 2025.
In 2025, Salt&Light shared countless stories of God’s presence, provision, and hope in the lives of everyday people in Singapore and beyond.
If one of our stories has encouraged, inspired or blessed you, we are deeply grateful.
As the year draws to a close, here are the Top 5 Salt&Light stories that you enjoyed this 2025.
#5 Growing up in a children’s home, they found love and built a family of their own (Total views: 95,000)
After meeting at a children’s home, Paul Yap and Tinagarani Alagi exchanged vows on December 22, 2018, exactly 10 years after becoming a couple. Photo courtesy of Paul Yap and Tinagarani Alagi.
He came from a family so impoverished they could not care for him.
She grew up without a father and lost her mother to cancer at a young age.
Both were placed in a Christian children’s home in Malaysia. It was here that they met, and where their wounds of abandonment and grief began to heal as they encountered a God who loved them deeply.
Over time, their friendship grew into love, and then into a shared resolve to build the family they never had.
Today, Paul Yap and Tinagarani Alagi are married with children of their own. “We hope that our story will encourage you (to know that) whether you’re in a family or not, each of us has a place in God’s family.”
#4 “I will open doors for you; don’t pursue any more paper qualifications,” God told an ‘A’ level graduate who based her self-worth on academic results (Total views: 164,000)
God proved faithful in opening all the necessary doors for Claire even though her highest qualification was a mediocre ‘A’ Levels certificate. Photo courtesy of Claire.
Growing up feeling inferior, Claire (not her real name) tied her identity and self-worth to things that she excelled in: Getting good results and being a dancer.
When she suddenly realised that her ‘A’ Level results were not going to be good, she panicked and considered retaking the exams again.
But God told her: ““I will open doors for you. Don’t retake your ‘A’ Levels. Let your results be.”
When she went to dance school, an unforeseen injury caused her much pain and left her wondering if her dance career was over.
But God reassured her again: “I will take you out of dance school. Don’t pursue any more paper qualifications.”
How would her future pan out?
#3 I was a GEP student and athlete in an elite school – it took a bad failure to teach me what I do is not who I am (Total views: 257,000)
The author, now 49, was used to winning medals and excelling academically in the Gifted Education Programme. But, crushed by her first ever failure in Secondary 4, she became a “zombie who couldn’t study”. How would the high-achiever ever bounce back? Photo courtesy of Wong Yuan Sy.
When she was in Secondary Four, Wong Yuan Sy was expected to win gold at the national schools track and field competition.
The high-performing GEP (Gifted Education Programme) student was used to excelling both academically and on the sports field.
But she injured her ankle, and completely crashed out during the finals.
“Until this point, I had never failed at anything I had put so much effort into. It crushed me. I felt worthless and condemned,” Yuan Sy, now 49, writes.
Devastated, Yuan Sy was unable to focus on studying for her prelims. “I was exhausted, I wanted to give up, but I was terrified of doing badly for my exams. It was all I had left. What if I failed to do well? What would be left of me?” she recalled.
That night, she desperately – and somewhat defiantly – told God that if He was real, He should take over her life and do a better job of it.
He did – and in the process showed her that her worth was never rooted in her achievements.
#2 He obeyed God’s call to leave the Air Force and run a café — only to lose S$70,000 of his savings (Total views: 1.2 million)
When Andy Lim obeyed God’s call to quit his stable career in the Air Force to run a café, he didn’t expect to go through “a valley of dry bones”. But looking back, he sees how God used that season for good. Photo courtesy of Andy Lim.
When Andy Lim heard God’s call to leave his stable career in the Republic of Singapore Air Force to run a café, he had faith that God would take care of him.
But what came next was entirely unexpected: financial losses of S$70,000, an empty bank account, sleepless nights, and doubts about whether he had heard God rightly.
Yet in that “valley of dry bones”, Andy found something far deeper than success.
“I began to find my worth in being a son, not a servant,” he wrote.
“He taught me how to rely on his daily provision of manna, instead of on myself. He taught me to find security in His love, instead of in results or my bank account. He taught me to focus on my relationship with Him, instead of on others’ voices and opinions.
“Most of all, I learnt that God is more interested in who I am becoming than what I am building.”
#1 “I don’t think I will ever stop missing him”: She lost her husband when their son was just two months old (Total views: 1.7 million)
“At first, I didn’t dare to even dream of a future. I could not see tomorrow. But today, I hold on to the truth that His plans are good,” said Vivien Chew, whose husband passed away unexpectedly when their son was two months old. Photo courtesy of Vivien Chew.
When Vivien Chew received the phone call that her husband, Chee Yong, had collapsed during a church basketball practice and passed away, her world fell apart. Their son Lucas was just two months old.
“I was in a daze and felt so lost, like everything had been stripped off me,” said the Malaysian. “At first, I didn’t dare to even dream of a future. I could not see tomorrow.”
But two years on, Vivien has found reason to hope again – even though the grief still lingers and she has no answers.
“I hold on to the truth that His plans are good, that time is in His hands, and I don’t have to worry because He will take care of everything.”
A God for all seasons
These five stories offer a snapshot of the questions many are asking today: What does faith look like when prayers seem unanswered, when plans unravel, or when loss changes everything?
We hope that through these stories, and all the other stories we’ve published this year, you were reminded that we have a God who can be trusted in all seasons of life.
We can’t wait to bring you more inspirational stories of God at work in the year to come. Don’t miss out by following us on our social media platforms:
From the team at Salt&Light, we wish you a Blessed New Year!
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