Greatest Gift of the Year!

Sharing at Grace Baptist Church Congregation Prayer on 25th January 2008
Greatest Gift of the Year 2008!

Good evening,

On 18th December, Mum was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer. The next oncologist’s appointment was 18th January but she did not go as she did not want any treatment.

Her rationale was she is already 70 and it’s fortunate she is able to live up to this age. Why should she be going through the chemotherapy when she knows that she will eventually not able to escape death? Finally she requested us not to force her instead to let her make her own decision to let life takes its own course.

On Christmas Eve, 24th December, I sent a prayer request to Wing Cheong, the administrator of Grace Baptist Church (GBC) to be posted on Watchman for prayer coverage of mum’s illness.

On Boxing Day, 26th December, I was told that I need to buy fire insurance for my apartment to be effective 1st January. It’s only 5 days left and it’s a period when most people were having their holiday breaks. Somehow, Khoon Guan, my neighbour came to my mind to seek for his advice on insurance.

I knew Khoon Guan a little better recently since I became member of our estate’s management council last year. He is also a member so we met during meetings. It was during one of our conversations that I found out he is a Christian and that he also knew a number of members of GBC. He has an insurance broking company so I sent him an email on Boxing Day requesting for his advice on fire insurance.

He came over to our home on the same night to discuss the fire insurance coverage. As my parents were at home and it was the first time he met them, he asked about their well being so I told him about them being non believers and mum’s illness.

Before he left that night, he asked if he could have his Chinese Service Pastor Peter Lin of Calvary Baptist Church to visit us and pray for mum. Surprisingly, Pastor Peter Lin had preached a year at GBC Chinese Worship Service. As I attended only English Worship Service, I did not see him much except occasionally along the stairway to and from the sanctuary, whereby we exchanged greetings.

While serving at GBC, Pastor Peter Lin had called me twice before to arrange an appointment to visit my parents. He had my mobile number from Mr. Teo, a Chinese Service member who was learning to play a Chinese musical instrument called “Er Hu” with dad every Saturday for about two months at GBC however Dad did not attend worship service at GBC. The dates suggested by Pastor Peter Lin were not convenient so the visit did not happen. Since then, Pastor Peter Lin had left GBC for more than a year.

On 27th December, Khoon Guan spoke to Pastor Peter Lin about mum and passed Pastor Peter Lin’s telephone number to me. I contacted him on the same day to arrange a visit to our home.

On New Year’s Eve, 31st Dec, Mr Teo called and asked if he could visit us with Pastor Peter Lin on New Year’s Day. I was surprised to receive a call from Mr. Teo as I had not seen him and his wife for almost a year at GBC. Mr Teo then told me he had been attending Calvary Baptist Church for the past year. Coincidentally, Dad knew Mr Teo through the “Er Hu” lessons at GBC.

Both dad and mum are very reserved in nature and do not socialize much. They had heard about the gospel several times but did not accept Christ as their savior. Mum did accept Christ as her personal savior about 5 years ago however Dad refused to accept Christ on that very day even though he knew mum accepted. Somehow a year later, she returned to praying to the “Goddess of Mercy” at the Waterloo Street temple twice a month, on the 1st and 15th of the Lunar Calendar month and every day at home. Dad is usually the adamant one. He believes every religion’s teachings meant well and as long as he does no harm to people, he should be fine.

However since we knew mum’s illness on 18th December, I have been going to my parents’ room each night to pray for mum at bedtime. For a few nights, I was late in praying and Dad reminded me to pray for her. I was actually surprised over his anxiousness since.

On New Year’s Day, Pastor Peter Lin and Mr Teo came with their spouses. Pastor Peter Lin shared the gospel with them. I was so filled with joy as I had not ever thought that my parents will accept Christ on that day especially dad.

Khoon Guan was indeed God-send. It was through him that we were reconnected to Pastor Peter Lin and Mr. Teo. It was God’s plan and timing that within a short span of a week, all events just took place so perfectly leading to my parents’ salvation.

I was asking myself, “Why did God choose to answer my prayer at this time?”

One primary reason I know for certain is the “Power of Prayer”. I knew many of you had prayed for mum through my prayer request distributed on Watchman Prayer and the Care groups’ mailing lists. God had heard our prayers and He answered it!

Mum told me after her acceptance of Christ as her Savior on New Year’s Day that she will go with me only once to the church. I told her to try going to the church first. Praise God that mum and dad have already attended the Hokkien service at Calvary Baptist Church for 3 consecutive Sundays. They can grasp about 30% to 50% of the worship message because Hokkien is a bit similar to Teochew despite their illiteracy in Mandarin.

The pastor’s wife, Su Chen has been following up with mum and dad every Thursday morning since New Year’s Day.

On the night of Thursday, 17th January’s follow up by the pastor’s wife, Mum told me about Su Chen’s suggestion of them getting baptized on Easter Sunday, 23rd March. Mum felt it’s too early to be baptized. So I asked dad about his opinion but dad says he will baptize same day as mum.

On 19th January, mum and dad had been invited to the Pastor’s house for Macpherson Senior Citizens fellowship. I went along with them. It’s so good to see my parents socializing as they have always been so reserved. It’s so wonderful that God provided Mr and Mrs Teo who have been a great help in making them feel at home whenever they meet.

Last Sunday, 20th January, I told them that I cannot go to church with them as I have to accompany Christy for her class. I thought they would not go to church since I will not be with them but surprisingly, they let me drop them off at church.

On that evening, Dad told me that mum stood up during the Hokkien Fellowship service when the fellowship leader asked for any prayer request. Mum had requested for prayer for healing of her advanced liver cancer. Mum had not accepted the illness since the diagnosis so dad was surprised that she stood up and declared that the doctor told her about her illness and asked the members to pray for her. I am so grateful to God for mum’s courage and her trust for prayers for Christ healing. Dad also said that mum told him that her “Goddess of Mercy” has allowed her to be baptized on 23rd March. While I was elated over the news that she is willing to be baptized but at the same time I prayed that mum will not confuse the Almighty God, Jesus Christ with her “Goddess of Mercy”.

Mum has not complained of any pain so far except on Tuesday night, 22nd January during the bedtime prayer with her, she requested for Christ’s healing for relief of her occasional back pain. I have not heard about the back pain before. The next morning, 23rd January, my colleague told me her grandma passed away from liver cancer and she was on morphine for 4 months due to acute back pain. The word “back pain” makes me nervous as I heard it just the night before from mum. Is mum slowly fading? But I tell myself that the Lord had already given the greatest gift of salvation to her so why am I having cold feet and not willing to face the fact?

Yesterday morning, 24th January, Dr. Chuah of Tan Tock Seng Hospital called and spoke to me about mum’s situation as mum missed her appointment on 18th January. He told me that her cancer has entered the blood vessel and she may only last 3 months to a year if left untreated. He advised that if treated, it may extend her life for a year or more.

Last evening at dinner, I told mum that Dr. Chuah called. Instantly, she asked me to ignore him and refused to listen further. I was afraid that mum could also be thinking about the cost of treatment which may have affected her decision not to seek treatment as her mahjong friends told her that they heard about such treatment being costly and had placed burden on the family. I knew mum cares for us but I was also worried that because of the cost, she refuses to seek treatment so I need to reassure her again that the costs will be covered by the medical insurance. Still she refused to hear further.

When I went to do my bedtime prayer for her last night, surprisingly she asked me what Dr. Chuah told about her. Yet after listening, she still does not want to seek treatment. The good news is she said she will continue to pray to Jesus to heal her and she will also pray that her children will also accept Jesus as their Savior.

Dad and my siblings have agreed to respect mum’s wish of not seeking treatment. As for me, I am still confused but I cannot force her to seek treatment as I heard of cases of treatment which actually aggravated the illness but if she does not seek treatment, she is not going to last long. I am totally lost as to what should I do?

I can only pray for the Lord’s mercy that He will heal mum and remove any suffering from her. I thank you all for your prayers for mum and may I request for your continued prayer support for her. Meanwhile, I am continuing to claim on the Lord’s promise in His Word:

Matthew 18:19-20"Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

Thank you.

In Jesus Love,
Regine