Lord’s Day, Vol. 6 No. 11
Prayer Support
Victor Ng received a tract from our church at his home in Toh Yi district, near the Beauty World MRT station in January 2016. He called to request for prayer support. His elder sister Ng Ah Pee suffered a haemorrhage stroke in May 2014 and fell into a coma. Ah Pee is Victor’s only nearest next-of-kin. She was responsible to take care of Victor when he was young. There is a close bond between this pair of brother and sister. Both are baptised believers.
Ah Pee was in a coma for four months. Victor testified that he prayed incessantly for her recovery during those four months, not bearing to be separated from his dear sister. Victor has been spending time speaking to her day and night. Miraculously, she awoke. Although she is unable to speak, bedridden and on tube-feeding, she responds to Victor by the moving of her eyes. Her facial expression shows that she was consciously aware of the world around her. Victor spends 12 hours a day, 7 days a week in the nursing home taking care of Ah Pee. A cyst was discovered in her abdomen and also a rectum mass. She suffers periodically from locked jaw.
Each time she has to be sent by emergency ambulance to the hospital. She suffered a fracture on her right hand and abrasions in her skin. She is given daily dosage of morphine. When she stays in the hospital, Victor will be 24 hours by her side. I have not seen such dedication and love to the care of a loved one as Victor is doing. This is the power of God’s love.
SMS messages from Victor are received sometimes several times a day requesting for prayer providing specific details of her ailment and needs. My reply is that prayer be made for Victor and Ah Pee.
Tracing the record of SMS with Victor, it dates back to 13 January 2017:
“CRITICAL! PLS CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR DIVINE INTERVENTION + MIRACLE NOW! MY SIS STOMACH VERY BLOATED. PASS MOTION BLEED AGAIN! GOD REMOVE ALL OBSTRUCTIONS ALONG HER URINE/STOOL PATHS. HELP HER PASS MOTION AND URINATE EASILY, REGULARLY AND COMPLETELY NOW! PRAY GOD SAVE AND SHIELD HER FROM ALL ILLNESSES, DISEASES INFECTIONS, HARM, INJURIES, SORES, RASHES, PAIN DISCOMFORT AND ALL EVIL, GOD ENSURE HER SAFETY, SECURITY, SPEEDY RECOVERY. GOD DESTROY ALL OBSTACLES IN OUR WAY, CLEAR ALL OBSTRUCTIONS ALONG HER URINE AND STOOL PATHS, STRENGHTEN ALL MUSCLES IN HER BODY AND INTERNAL ORGANS. GOD HEAL FULLY HER FRACTURED RIGHT ARM, ELIMINATE ALL HER CYSTS, GROWTHS, RECTUM/ABDOMEN MASSES, PILES AND ENSURE THEY ARE NON CANCEROUS. GOD PLS ELIMINATE ALL CAUSES OF HER MEDICAL PROBLEMS AND STOP ALL INTERNAL BLEEDING, PAIN/DISCOMFORT COMPREHENSIVELY. GOD REPLACE HER BLOOD AND ENERGY LOST. NOW WEAK AND DROWSY.”
We would also speak periodically on the phone as he updates his sister’s condition especially those times when he needs to make a decision to call for the emergency ambulance. This year, during the Chinese New Year reunion dinner night, he called. He was there in the nursing home with his sister. Members of the church would periodically prepare a gift, a card, some items to comfort and strengthen Victor. I recall purchasing an air cooler and delivering it to him at the nursing home because the weather was particularly and unbearably warm.
There were many times when Victor requested help. Each time, the realization is that unless God will help, we are truly helpless. We learned to cling on to God’s promise of help in His Word as we pray and plead before the throne of grace.
Psalm 121:1-8 (KJV) 1 A Song of Degrees I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 8 The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
The psalmist affirms in his heart and confesses in his mouth in penning this psalm that his help comes from God. The lifting of the eyes is a gesture of worship as the pilgrim approach God. It is an act of acknowledging God, a most wonderful prayer posture of a trusting heart without hassle. The lifting up of the eyes is a renewal of trust in God and in Him alone. Safety and confidence are in the living God. It is a picture the sovereign guardian care of the LORD over His people. Faith and confidence in God’s ability to keep us must be kept alive in our hearts. The phrase “cometh from” (v2) consists of two prepositions “from and “with” or beside”. Help comes from our Lord who is with us! Amen.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee