Amy Ang was spending time with God when He gave her a vision.

“I saw a huge tree, and part of the tree flowed into a river. On either side of the river, the ground was bare. But soon, young plants started to grow.”

She did not understand what she saw.

“I asked God for the interpretation. He impressed upon me that the tree was the Tree of Life (Genesis 2:9). And the river was the river of life (Revelation 22:1) from which all are to drink. Husband and wife must drink from the same river of life.

“The plants on the left and right of the river were young plants. They are the next generation. Many generations will flow out of the oneness of the couple who abide and drink from the river.

“The key thing is when fathers and mothers drink from the river of life, blessings will overflow to the next generation and the next generation.”

Neither Amy, 54, nor her husband David Ang, 55, knew at the time what they were to do with the revelation. But they had always had a heart for families and marriages.

The Tree of Life by the river of life with young plants on either side of the river bank. The Angs had this painting done to remind them of how their new ministry with couples began with this vision.

David is the Chairman of the Board of Family Life in the Chinese Annual Conference of The Methodist Church in Singapore. Amy is involved with Fatherheart Ministries.

It would take six months before the seed planted by the vision blossomed into a couples’ seminar Back to the Garden: Journey to Oneness that the Angs now run.

But first, they had to encounter God the Father. And Amy had to weep in repentance.

The love of God the Father

The year 2015 was a difficult time for David. Some years back, he had given up a successful corporate career to join the family business so he could spend more time with Amy and their three children. Now the business was “not doing well”.

“I felt stuck career-wise and financially,” said David.

Then he chanced upon a week-long seminar in Malaysia organised by Fatherheart Ministries. He signed up, wanting to “get away”.

Instead of the escape he sought, he found refuge in the love of God the Father.

“I was deeply ministered to. I received the love of the Father as a substantial and real thing in my life.”

The healing touch of the Father’s love was transformational.

Said Amy: “After he came back, I saw a change in him. Something in his heart was restored.”

So four years later when the seminar was held in Singapore, Amy and David signed up for it.

David and Amy each had a personal encounter with the love of God the Father which was life-changing.

“For the first time, I experienced the love of the Father personally,” said Amy.

She had grown up with a father who did not express love readily. So the heart connection and emotional vulnerability she longed to have with him simply never happened.

At the seminar, the outpouring of love from God as Father brought deep comfort, healing and restoration that Amy described as impactful. They did not know it then but that was the first piece of God’s plan for a new ministry for them.

The love between man and wife

Having experienced an intimacy with God the Father that changed their lives, their faith and their relationships, the Angs wanted others to have a similar encounter.

They met with some of their friends from Elijah7000, a ground-up movement to “turn the hearts of fathers to their children”. About 20 or so of them gathered to pray and seek God. Coincidentally, they convened in a room at a place called The Garden of Remembrance.

There, God extended their vision beyond the love of the Father. He spoke to them about “going back to the Garden of Eden to receive love in a real way”, not merely as individuals but also as husbands and wives.

“In the Garden, the relationship between Father and child had no doing, no striving. Love flowed from the Father to Adam and between Adam and his wife,” said Amy.

As they prayed, Amy remembered the vision she had some months ago of the Tree of Life in the river.

“I shared this vision. I felt so convicted at that point, I stood up and repented on behalf of all the wives. I felt that some of us had rebelliously stepped out of the covering of our husbands.

“That stepping out is stepping out of what God had ordained. God put husbands above us to cover us not to control us.

“I was so convicted that I prayed and repented and wept. I was really weeping. A few wives also wept and there was confession and repentance. On behalf of wives, we broke the curse.”

The men were similarly touched.

Said David: “The Holy Spirit was moving. We were all kneeling and in tears. Some of the men shared that the Holy Spirit was doing something in their hearts as well.

“God was rebuilding some of these blockages especially for couples.”

Putting the two together

Now they knew their mission – to help couples return to the kind of Father love and married love unencumbered by sin as in the days of the Garden of Eden.

Said David: “After God created the world, He created husband and wife before He created family, church and society. If you get the husband and wife relationship right, subsequent streams that follow will be right.

“What Jesus did as the Tree of Life was that He brought us back to the possibility of leading that Garden life. Complete redemption and restoration, complete peace and oneness with the Father.”

David and Amy did not, however, know how to put the mission into action. But God did.

He brought to them a couple they had once been quite close to when the couple was younger.

“The wife came to me and told me that their marriage was in trouble. They were going to lawyers and all. We met and intervened. It was very God-led,” said David.

The Angs shared with them lessons they had learnt from mistakes they had made in their own marriage and things God had spoken to them as a result. The couple eventually reconciled.

Their marriage restored, the couple became “so deep and faithful in the Lord”.

The husband went on to serve actively in church and “bless so many people”.

“God was able to use our lives to touch theirs and they were able to touch their children’s lives. It was a ripple effect.”

That gave David and Amy the idea to craft a seminar based on lessons they had learnt in their 28 years of marriage.

“We’re not marriage experts. But we learnt a lot through our mistakes,” said David.

“We don’t want to compete with marriage counsellors. We come from the angle of having reconciliation in our relationship with God and one another.”

Making meaning of mistakes

That is how Back to the Garden: Journey to Oneness came about. The seminar looks at three key areas.

Back to the Garden monthly meetings that provides a safe place for all to come and hear sharing from invited guests.

The first encourages couples to look within themselves to identify their own struggles, identity issues, childhood traumas and unforgiveness that make them relate to each other the way they do.

“A lot of times once the major issues are sorted out, when we come back as a couple, the things that used to be very glaring are not issues anymore,” said Amy.

Next, couples are encouraged to look towards each other to sort out the things that have been allowed to affect their marriage. Finally, they look forward to the next generation.

David and Amy (right, second and third) with their two sons and daughter (in red) and their eldest son’s fiancee. The Angs firmly believe that a strong marriage anchored in God will result in blessings flowing to the next generation.

Explained Amy: “When the marriage is secure, the children will feel secure. When they feel secure, they will grow up secure and happy young adults, and they will go on to form their families with the same values they received from their parents.

“Once the parents’ marriage is restored and founded in God, it will flow into generational blessings.”

The teaching session is but part of a holistic system. The other portions are a monthly meeting of past and new participants, as well as the couples mentoring that David and Amy do with those who request for it.

Amy teaching in Cambodia.

Said Amy: “We have no timeline. It depends on the individuals. When we look inward, some may not have a lot of personal issues. Some may have layers of issues and may take more time.”

So far, the Angs are walking with seven couples. Recently, a woman approached them to help her parents in their difficult marriage. Her parents are in their 70s.

David and Amy have even taken the seminar overseas. When they met Salt&Light for the interview, they had just returned from conducting a seminar in Cambodia.

“We are seeing a semblance of what God was showing us at the Garden of Remembrance.”

You can reach out to the Angs at [email protected] & [email protected] to find out more about Back to the Garden: Journey to Oneness.

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