A Woman of God

Aunty Bea is just starting to recover. Jenn is pretty good at relating the story as it was very close to what Aunty Bea told me over the phone last night.

It was not so much the acid but carbon dioxide that was saturating her body that even turned her grey. And it was not so much the surgery as it was a normal pinhole surgery to remove a benign cyst.

I could still hear a little breathlessness in her over the phone. She told me she had some warnings that things would not go well post surgery but she refused to succumb to fearful thoughts. She was totally fine after the surgery until she had her first meal and collapsed half an hour later.

Aunty Bea is one of those amazing women of God who thirsts for the Holy Spirit and is very much in tune with He. After a couple of weeks of being so ill and weak, she knew it was not just physiological.

Last Sunday she managed to go to church and it happened that there was a visiting prophetic pastor. During the altar call, the pastor said there are people in the congregation who have difficulty breathing and he wanted them to step out. Aunty Bea went out. He prayed for others and then came to Auntie Bea. She told him she has problems breathing and left it at that.

He prayed for healing and after a very short while, he paused and said to her "You get your attacks in the night only." Which was true. He then described the exact feeling Aunty Bea had to bear in the night- that a surge of force moves up from below and constricts her lungs. She said yes, that was what happens. The pastor then said he must pray for her, because the angel of death is hovering over her.

Aunty Bea knew. She knew it was spiritual and she even knew her life was at threat. She got Uncle Wai Wah to pray over her every night and I believe that has protected her.

I know victory is ours because Jesus died on the cross to overcome death, for us. But we need to claim it- victory in every aspect.

How can I describe Aunty Bea and our conversation? I was moved beyond measure. I called to bless her, to pray for her.

But she blessed me instead!! My prayer seemed so immature compared to her prayer for me (yes she prayed for me!!). I can pray in ways taught me, and I can pray to address what I see. But Aunty Bea prays with insight and such wisdom as only the Holy Spirit could empower.

I am so awed.

I do not know how and why I found favour in her eyes when I came back to SJGC upon return from the States. Perhaps God KNEW I would need a woman like her to be my mentor and someone I could look up to spiritually, and emulate. Like it is said in the Bible.

And God put a bond between us. I pray it would never ever falter. We are so far apart, and she commented we would be even farther apart with me in UK, but I know God is our bond.

Thank you, Father.

Please, please pray for Aunty Bea

I wanted to write about other things. But some developments paled all others in priority and shoves everything else away from thoughts.

It has come to my knowledge just moments ago that Aunty Bea underwent a surgery and has not been recovering as she should. Jenn could not tell me what was wrong because she could not recall as she heard the news as she was coming out of anaesthesia from her own surgery.

And I could not call Uncle Wai Wah because Melbourne is three hours ahead. It's extremely frustrating.

Jenn and I deliberated and decided that either of us would have just GONE THERE and take over all the household matters if we could. But we can't! Jenn is still recovering from her own surgery and I have this stupid one month notice to serve!!!! Why didn't I quit earlier??? Hang the Macbook. We are thinking - who else can we send?

Please pray for Aunty Bea. She is one of the loveliest persons on earth and I love her. I love her and Uncle Wai Wah and the three boys, whom I am sure are all quietly anxious because they love her to bits.

She is advised that all she can do is remain at resting positions and if needed to just walk to the sink.

Please pray that she would heal normally. She should have been well a month ago, Jenn said. Please pray she won't have so much acid in her that puts her at risk of stroke. Please pray she won't anymore get attacks where she could not breathe. Please pray she would recover to the pink of health once more.

Please pray that family, friends and church in Melbourne would rally around them and be Jesus to them at this time. (If they are home it would have been so much better!)

Please pray that the family will be drawn closer to Abba Father at this time; that His peace that transcends all understanding will dwell in their household and hearts; that the Chan family will very soon claim the victory that is already theirs. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.

Das Kapital Chinesisch

The Shanghai stock index fell 9% last week and it was claimed by news reports as a catalyst for the subsequent fall of Wall Street and other global indices.

My amateur observation #1: China stock’s exchange has enough clout to affect other global markets.

My amateur observation #2: The global economy is dependent on China’s growth to a large extent. I hope China’s growth will not be interrupted abruptly and would be more equitable. For the sake of global markets and ye citizens of Capitalism.

My amateur observation #3: There is a shift in the balance of power (over era). From brute force to economic force. From West to East. Note “shift in balance of power” not “shift in power”. Fear not. Not yet.

My amateur observation #4: Is China’s market capitalism led by a communist state tenable? The rural areas are still facing extreme poverty and disenchantment is brewing as growth has yet to benefit those populations. The communist distribution channels for purported equity for the masses are being tested.

My amateur observation #5: The intellects have always known that the dragon will rise (again). It was only a matter of time. The same for India. I’ve never read Indian history, but my incomplete study of Chinese history has revealed that China’s rise to power was never sustained. Theories abound on why. My favourite is that the country was basically self sufficient for rice, its population’s staple. I am not sure this theory still holds/ would continue to hold because of the Three Gorges Dam. Basically self-sufficiency did not incentivise the Chinese to be a conqueror outside its own borders.

My amateur observation #6: World powers have always wanted a part of China. And China had always tried to ward off “foreign devils”. Maybe the dwindling of rice supply will force China to look and move outwards this time.

My amateur observation #7: I don't have one. I just want to end on #7.

Matching clothes pegs

I’ve developed an obsessive compulsive behaviour.

I discovered this in the past year, and it manifests while drying my clothes. I thought it was just being fanciful to have my black and white clothes matched with white pegs, and coloured clothes with coloured pegs.

It progressed into matching warm coloured clothes with pink pegs and cool coloured clothes with blue and green pegs.

It then intensified into an irritation whenever I could not find pegs that conform to the rules.

Same goes with hangers but that’s no so bad because you only need one hanger per piece of clothing, not two as with pegs. Oh ya, I must use two pegs for each piece of clothing.

My obsessive compulsion dictates that clothes pegs must be used in pairs that also match.

Help me.

Is this Freudian?

A little boy and a little lamb, a little girl and a little lamb

I had a dream.

I dreamt of a little boy and a little girl. I am not sure if they were twins but they should be about two or three years old.

They were inseparable. They did everything together. And they were happy children.

They also each had a little lamb. The little boy had a chubby little lamb. The little girl had a smaller little lamb because she was also smaller in size.

The little lambs were as white as snow and they had curly wool. They were very nimble little lambs that followed their wards (not sure who is whose ward, actually) where ever they went, whatever they did.

In one scene, the little boy and little girl were sleeping on the floor and their little lambs each slept beside them. They all had a smile on their faces (yes, even the little lambs).

They were inseparable (the little boy and the little girl, and each with their little lamb).

They were happy children and happy lambs.

In another scene I was carrying the little girl and her little lamb. The little boy was sitting at the dining table with his little lamb on another chair. Someone was scolding the little boy and I was very saddened by that. I wanted to carry him too.

Then I woke up and couldn’t tell if I was happy or sad.

Later, just thinking of them makes me glad.

2007

This is the Year of the Lord’s Favour,
the Year of Multiplication,
the Year of Increase,
and the Year of Harvesting Prayers.

Awesome, huh?

Chasing time

I always feel like I am chasing time.

A friend once said it could be I am a bad time manager. Another friend said that time management only makes sense if there is time to be managed. Rhetoric gets one nowhere.

I want to attend a childhood friends’ wedding in Singapore, which she just informed me will be in mid-April. The suddenness is a shocker. I don’t usually want to go for weddings but this I do. The bride and I were part of a very close foursome throughout our high school days and we still share that bond with each other. I already missed one other wedding of the same foursome :(

However, staying in Singapore until mid-April means I will have less than one week in KL before I leave for UK.

That isn’t enough time for me to settle the things I need to settle before I leave. Which sucks.

Sometimes/ oftentimes we just got to make decisions and live with second best arrangements. Can’t have everything, right?

Sucks.