An Incredible Testimony - My Parents

The past 3 weeks has just been busy, busy, busy for me. My parents were away in Hong Kong to help my sister to find lodging as she has just moved there for work for the next 3 years. Then my colleague also left and it has just been busy at home and at work.

Now that my parents are finally back and the new girl is finally in, things are FINALLY feeling a bit more manageable. What has got me really excited are my parent's wonderful testimonies of their trip in Hong Kong. I had been so worried about my mom going there because she was still suffering from some symptoms. So now I'm going to share... about the wonderful, incredible transformation the Lord has blessed my parents with... and let it be an encouragement to you to keep believing the Lord for your own family's salvation.

When I first accepted Christ in 1990 and told my parents about it, my dad ran after me with a knife and threatened to disown me. For years, I had been praying for the salvation of my parents. I tried sharing with them but was always mocked and rebutted in return. Usually those sessions ended up with me feeling really frustrated. Still I love them and believed the Lord for their salvation. That just like Rahab - I hang the red banner out and believed that my whole family is covered in His blood, His salvation. 14 years down the road - last year, my dad received the Lord in my church. It was just unbelieveable but just such a wonderful trademark of His goodness!

But within 2-3 Sunday services, my dad started to suffer some unusual symptoms in his body - which only happens when he went church. My mom started to persuade him not to attend church anymore. Despite that, I shared with my dad on the power of the Holy Communion and prayers and amazingly, the very next day he recovered! My dad kept telling me he enjoys going to church because he always feel such peace and rest when he listens to the Word. The Lord loves him so much that He even let my dad see a vision of Him coming to our house! We wondered about the vision - not knowing that it was significant to sustain my dad in the days to come.

Things were going well until last September when my dad suddenly refused to go to church. He started sharing with us about my mom who had been suffering from spiritual oppression for a long time. He told us my mom would get very depressed, see images of chinese 'gods' talking to her and would often run to chinese mediums everyday. As days passed, I got to know even more about the seriousness of her condition. My mom gets very angry if my dad goes to church so he would stay home to just watch over her.

At that time, I didn't know how to help them and would get upset with my dad for not running after the Word to help my mom. Many times, the Lord spoke to me and told me to just rest and leave my parents in His hands. So I prayed and believed the Lord that He will keep my mom and dad and all this will turn out for good, for His glory.

In December, I was praying to the Lord that I really hope my dad would get to spend his first Christmas service in church. But whenever I speak to him about it, he would reject the idea. Then one morning, my mom came to me and told me that she had asked my dad to attend the Hokkien Caregroup Christmas Party. She said she had encouraged my dad to continue attending church and to believe God with all his heart. To me, this was one of the best Christmas present for last year.

Earlier this year, I had a strange dream about my mom receiving the Lord. That morning, my dad approached me for the first time to pray for my mom in her room for her athritis. Within that week, my mom received the Lord at home. It took her 1 hour to say the salvation prayer as oppression gripped her and refused to let her speak or open her eyes. But praise the Lord - His name prevailed against all evil in the end!

That was still not the end of the battles - that each time my mom goes to church, she will go through symptoms of oppression. However, thanks to the faithful loving sisters and brothers in church, my mom continued to pursue God. Many times, my dad and I broke down seeing her go through such pain just to listen to the Word. But the Lord continued to speak to her and gave her renewed strength and renewed heart for Him - literally.

That was how it was before she went to Hong Kong. When she came back on Sunday, I saw her refreshed and joyful. She shared about how she shared her testimonies to everyone on the street in Hong Kong, about how her legs were healed from the athritis pains, about the Lord's favor upon her and my dad everywhere she went and even listen to this - that a pastor invited her to speak to the congregation on a Sunday service and how an old elderly couple received the Lord that day. My mom also shared about how she was miraculously saved from a fatal fall while she was cleaning the windows for my sister's new apartment! Praise the Lord!

As I look at my parents, I thank the Lord for His overflowing goodness and sweet, tender mercies. Only He could have turned everything around so incredibly beautifully. So for everyone who's believing the Lord's salvation for your family - trust the Lord that He treasures those dear souls even more than you do and that He hears your cries and He will reach out and draw them to Him. And even through the toughest trials that your loved ones may go through, believe the Lord will keep them and they will emerge out of it all in His tender embrace - abundantly restored!