Christy

Christmas 2007

It’s so difficult to sit down to pen the happenings of the year especially when life is such a rush each day.

The other day, I sent my blog address to Donna, an ex-colleague and friend in Hong Kong. She told me that I should consider writing. This is not the 1st time she had told me. Her encouragement this time had inspired me to challenge myself to at least write a yearly letter starting from this Christmas. I know this is only a small step but it will also help me to connect to my relatives and friends especially those whom we seldom meet or have not met for ages.

Donna, thank you so much for your encouragement. Without it, I may not have penned this.

This year again, passes so quickly. Christy has finally returned to a half yearly check up after another exhausting year of many visits to the eye specialist at Singapore National Eye Centre.

Last Christmas (i.e. 2006) instead of having a good holiday rest at home which I had planned for, it turned up to be another blow. Christy hurt her left eye cornea last Christmas Eve during a Christmas celebration at her 2nd God Ma, Aunty May Ling’s home. She hurt her eye accidentally while playing. That night, she came home with her left eye a little red. By next evening, she was not able to see and I had to rush her to Emergency on Christmas Night.

End 2005 was already quite a disaster when Christy had hurt her left eye during our flight to Sydney. Please refer to my blog on “Grace Baptist Church Watchnight Service” on 31 Dec 2005 for details of my sharing.

While Christy was in the midst of nursing her eye, mum fell and broke her knee cap while walking home. Again, I had to go to Emergency, the 2nd time during last Christmas. A few days later, I broke my right wrist from a fall when I got out of the car park to buy food from market. I ended up last Christmas busy spending so many days and nights in the hospital for both mum and Christy, and also visiting both the doctor and a Chinese physician for treatment of my right wrist. To top all these, my helper, Daisy was home in Philippines for her holidays. During the two weeks, I am surprised that I was able to muster the strength to carry the wheel chair into and out of the car despite the pain in my wrist, to fetch mum to and from hospital. Mum had to be on wheel chair as she could not walk with a broken knee cap. Dad was not able to help me because he was suffering from a frozen shoulder.

By the time Daisy returned to Singapore, I was so happy that I gave her such a big hug at the arrival hall as I came to realize from these incidents that without her help all those past 4-1/2 years, life will be not be so comfortable for us at home. I was so worn-out during last Christmas that I kept hoping that the New Year 2007 will arrive soon!

Now 2007 is coming to a close and another New Year 2008 is opening. My right wrist has yet to heal completely after a year. Last weekend, Christy asked me to play badminton with her. This was about less than ten times of her 10 years that I had ever played badminton with her. When I hit the shuttlecock with the racquet, I still felt pain on my wrist that I had to resort using my left hand to play. Fortunately, typing does not use wrist otherwise I will not be able to work, let alone typing this letter.

In September, we had moved to another apartment within the same block of our old apartment. We now have a bigger space as previously, we did not expect dad and mum to stay with us so we felt congested in the old apartment. We are now much happier with our new home as we have more privacy in our own rooms. Time really passed and my parents had already stayed with us for 6 years since Christy was four.

Christy is already 10 years old and going to Primary 5 next year. On 2nd December, she had finally taken her step of obedience to be baptized. When Christy called on my mobile and requested me to meet her upstairs on the 1st floor just outside the church office, I was wondering what had happened as she had not done that before in her life. Usually, she would be busy playing with her friends after Sunday school. When we met, she broke the news that she is going to be baptized. The reason she did that was according to her own words, she wanted to see my smiling face as she knew that her baptism will give me joy. Instead, she was disappointed over my initial reaction as the news had caught me by surprise. Later, I managed to find my words and asked if any of her Sunday school mates will be baptizing too. She told me there will be two of them. I was not sure if she was doing it because of peer pressure.

Finally, after a good talk with her, I realized that she truly wanted to be baptized because she wants Jesus in her life forever to protect and guide her. I was so elated then that my little girl had finally made a decision of her own. Below are a few photos of her being interviewed by Elder Yap Kim Meng before her baptism and her baptism in water at Grace Baptist Church.

The Christmas tree is up again, shining brightly at the corner of the living room. Though it’s the same Christmas tree for the past seven years, the glow of the lights is so bright that when I sat on the sofa looking at it, I could not help thanking God for being so wonderful to sacrifice His One and Only Son for us so that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life(1).

Next week will be Christmas. My eldest brother will return from his sailing job on Christmas Day. We are planning to have a Christmas lunch at my home and I look forward to it as it will be the first time when most of my family members gather together except my two sisters, brother in-law and a niece who are overseas. In my family, only Christy and I, and one of my nieces, Sze Hwei believe in Christ but in Singapore, almost everyone celebrates Christmas.

With all the celebrations planned, we received news on 18 Dec that mum is at her advanced stage of liver cancer and surgery is no longer an option. The oncologist had told my sister who accompanied her that chemotherapy is also a slim chance for her at this stage. Mum is not feeling any pain and we were certainly surprised over the result.

When I heard the news, I felt so ashamed how I treated mum sometimes because of her unhygienic habits. But mum had been sick since we were young. Yet, how can I demand so much of her? Lord, only you can now save her. I know mum’s days are numbered. I know I can only plead with you Lord, for your mercy on her. Lord, would you please save mum?

Christmas is supposed to bring joy to the world. I wish I could feel the joy within me but somehow, I just could not and I don’t feel I deserve it. Lord, I felt I am now at a crossroad not knowing which way to turn? Would you please show me the way, Lord?

To you who is now reading my blog, may I wish you have found the way, the truth, and the life(2).

May I also take this opportunity to wish you and your family:

“A Wonderful Christmas & A Blessed New Year”!

In Jesus Love,
Regine

(1) John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

(2) John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Grace Baptist Church Watchnight Service Sharing

Good evening,

Firstly, I would like to thank the elders for your generosity and hospitality in hosting the dinner for us.

8 years ago, I had accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour for He had shown me the Truth. Since then, I have been praying for Him to show me the Way. Sometime this year, I started to plan for migration to Australia by end of next year. From many incidents, I thought that this is the direction of the Lord.

Recently, Christy and I were supposed to have a holiday in Sydney and Adelaide. However, Christy had an eye injury on arrival in Sydney. She was then hospitalized on the 4th day of our arrival in Sydney and was then transferred to Mt Alvernia hospital in Singapore on the 6th morning. We had actually spent our holidays in hospitals and visiting the Singapore National Eye Centre for treatment.

While I’m on this, I would like to thank my Caregroup and all of you who have been praying for His Lord’s healing of Christy’s eye and also to specifically thank the following persons:

1. May Ling and Audrey for booking Mt Alvernia Hospital and waiting for us at Changi Airport to transfer us to the hospital in the early hours of the morning. Also, thank you for the comfort and care.

2. Wing Cheong for calling me about Christy’s condition. He had received an email from Ai Hwee who was at that time in Sydney and heard about it. He asked if he could distribute prayer support for Christy’s eye injury on the Watchman Prayer list. It was through Ai Hwee and his help that Christy and I have been covered by all your prayers.

3. Elder Teoh Swee Hin who called me at the hospital and told me that I should seek 2nd opinion after learning that Christy’s eye injury is not recovering well. Christy had already seen 6 specialists, 5 in Sydney and 1 in Singapore. Elder Teoh connected and made the appointment with his friend, Dr. Tan, the professor at Singapore National Eye Centre. Dr Tan discovered that both Christy’s corneas were not as sensitive as normal eyes which the other specialists were not able to detect thus they do not understand why she does not feel any pain during the whole crisis. Dr. Tan therefore was able to use a more appropriate treatment, i.e. to insert a bandaged contact lens onto her left eye. True enough, she does not feel any discomfort or pain in her eye. She had to keep it on throughout for about a week and since then, the ulcer has healed except for the scar. The Lord is indeed gracious and her vision has recovered except for slight astigmatism.

The injury was right on Christy’s left cornea and was affecting her vision. At one stage, she was only seeing colour and not form. It was only through this incident that I realize that Christy was born with anomaly in both eyes.

Sometimes I wonder if this anomaly is good or bad for her? Yes, she did not feel the pain but if she is hurt in her eye, she may not be able to know until she cannot see or when she or someone sees the change in the colour of her eye which was what had happened. Dr. Tan thinks that this incident could be recurrent cornea erosion which may occur in future so Christy has to be careful. Meantime, she is not allowed to swim for a while and should wear sunglasses if she goes out in the hot sun.

This experience was certainly taxing for me but I’ve learned a lot from it and in fact I felt that without His strength and His provision, and all your prayers and assistance, I would not be able to sustain. Throughout this incident, I was claiming on His Promise in 2nd Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” It was also through this experience that I felt the warmth and affection of the church members. Many of you (some whom I don’t even know) have called, sms, and some who were not able to contact me personally, had passed messages through members that you are praying for Christy. It was indeed comforting to know that the Lord has placed you all to cover us in your prayers.

I believe the Lord had allowed this incident to happen for a purpose and He has a reason for it. I am now not sure if migration to Australia is His direction. Earlier this year, I have decided to forego my job and what I think is a more comfortable life here to follow what I think was His Way (which was why I took a month’s holiday to go to Australia to try to find a school for Christy, if we should live in Sydney or Adelaide, and also to discover for myself how I should cope there as the last time I lived there was 14 years ago.) However, through this incident, many friends and also my siblings who have previously supported my decision are now asking me to re-consider my decision of migrating to Australia. I can only continue to pray for His Grace and Healing of Christy’s eye and also His Way on our future plan.

Thank you all of you again, for praying for us.

May all of you have “A Blessed and Wonderful New Year!”

In Christ,
Regine

31 Dec 2005