wife and mum extraordinary: Wife and MUM 6/2011

Wednesday 23 February 2011

At tea time today, at the coffee table, something prompted me to ask Irene if she knows of any religion where it is recorded in their scriptures that their followers sing to their God. Irene replied that she cannot speak for others but she knows that in the Holy Bible (Irene is a Christian), there are many passages that records spontaneous and scheduled out-pouring of praise in the forms of hymns that praise God.

For someone who had attended only 4 years of schooling in her life, this is quiet a profound statement. It means she reads her Bible. Anyone who can read and write with only four years of schooling is an illustrious person. I have witness others who had attended ten years of formal schooling and can hardly read and write.

Coming back to the subject of singing.

Why do you sing to your God? I asked.

I sing to acknowledge Him as God. I sing to praise Him.

I sing to say I depend on Him for my very existence.

She went on to tell me that she does not agree with many of her friends logic of believing in themselves. “If I do not work who is going to feed me”.

What makes Irene a Christian? Who invites her to be a Christian?

Some 15 years ago, Irene saw an advertisement in the newspaper that says that ladies are invited for a breast scan for cancer and the cost is RM 50.00. She and her niece responded to the advertisement and was directed to a private clinic where a family physician went about giving them an ultra-sound scan. Back then (15 years back) ultra sound scan for breast was not common.

The Doctor, then showed her pictures of her breast scan and told her that the photos were unclear and there is the possibility of lumps (and by implication “CANCER”). That was a big blow. She said she felt as though she was knock by a big one ton hammer. Her life crumpled and she could not sleep and felt that this world is not her world. She is not part of this world. She probably lost 20 pounds in a week, and that was very visible to her relatives, friends and colleagues. In the meantime she consulted other doctors and was told that the diagnosis is not correct as she has dense breast tissues. That was a relief but did not quiet stop her from rejecting the original diagnosis. In the two weeks when she consulted other doctors she also went to church. She has been to churches before but this is not quiet the return of the prodigal son. Irene was brought up in a Buddhist environment and going to church is certainly not the norm for her.

One day, she was totally exhausted and she had cried until she could cry no more. She knelt down and say “Jesus, if you say you are God, reveal yourself to me. Now I open my heart to you and you reveal yourself to me and tell me who you are?”

Wham! in that instance, she felt a power covering her, embracing her and a sense of total peace comes over her. Tears flows and she cannot stop those tears. When this whole phenomenon had completed, she felt she belong to Jesus and that He is her LORD, GOD and SAVIOR.
That’s her experience and she had not looked back since.

I complete today’s post with a picture of Irene, me and Benjamin (born in January 2011).