the same patient..

part 2...


So after a few days off, I went back to work last wee. And that patient (read my previous post) has been staying in ICU since then.


Guess what....He is now reading the Message Bible and 'What so amazing about Grace' by Philip Yancey. That's really amazing.


I told him that I'd been praying for him, and each time he would look at me as though it was something huge...and nod his head, said 'Thank you, really!'


And every now and then he would share with me about his thoughts...and that he has misunderstood God, and now he is enjoying God's grace.


And he is really keen to visit the church that I go to.


He said,' Hey guess what, I told my wife about what you told me and she nearly fell over! She couldn't believe it and who knows, she might come with me to your church, and my son too!'


I don't dare to claim any credit for myself. All I hope and pray for is his transformation and the salvation of his whole family and his friends!


Who knows what God has planned for him?


Who knows if God will use him to bring other drug addicts to Him?


We shall see what will happen. However, even if nothing would happen, I believe the seeds were planted. Everything will happen in due time.

and HE found him...in the hospital

God works in mysterious ways that we never know, because He is God, and He often catches us off guard.







I have a story to tell.... 01:30 am, Christmas Day 2008.





I was working on a night shift in ICU. That wasn't really my shift, but out of good will I volunteered to cover my Aussie colleague who just has a young baby , obviously she would deserve to spend her Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with her family.





So I was working. The clock ticked past 12 am , and hurray, Merry Christmas!





There was a 40 year old man who was brought in the ICU for his badly damanged kidneys for investigation. This man is noted to be a long term IV drug user.





Somehow I felt very burdened for him. I felt compelled to tell him about Christ.





It so happened (I believe it was a divine appointment) that he needed short term dialysis for his stuffed kidneys, and my job was to insert a dialysis catherter into his groin.





So I was all scrubbed up, and started preparing his groin for the procedure. Then I casually started a conversation with him revolving around Christmas.





Finally I asked, 'Do you know the real meaning of Christmas?'





'Yea, about the birth of Christ into the world. '





Wow..this man seems to know a lil bit, I thought. Then I went on sharing the Gospel with him, and told him that no matter what sins he had commited in the past, God will forgive him and give him a new start, as long as he believes.





At this point, he was stunned, speechless, and his eyes turned red and teary.





A brief moment of silence.





Then he said,' I can't believe God sent me a Christian doctor....' and he repeated that twice.





I didn't know what he meant by now, being filled with the Spirit (hmm...how come I felt as though I was the apostle in the NT? ), I started telling him,





'God is not done with you, that's why you are still alive today after all the drug abuse. And He has planned a great destiny with abundant blessings for you, what happened in the past is in the past, and your life in future is not determined by the past failures. Today is your day of breakthrough and He is calling you to turn to Him, and He will renew you ...etc etc'





(I can't remember exactly what I said, all the more it proves that it was the Spirit speaking through me)





Then this patient started tearing.





He told me he used to go to church, and he still believed in God. Just that he'd been back and forth addiction to the drugs, and he felt he was not good enough to be a Christian and God would not be pleased with him. He tried and tried many times but he failed, so he gave up all together.





Even though he thought God must have forgotten about him, he still secretly hoped that God would one day reach down to him and help him....





He continued to tear and said, 'HE has not forgotten about me, HE has found me even in the hospital, by sending you to tell me this. '





He kept saying this, 'HE has found me even in the hospital...'





At the end he decided to repent and turn back to God, and learn to rely on God's strength to get rid of his drug addiction.





He said it himself, 'Salvation is by grace. '





I grabbed his address, and told him I 'd write to him and pray for him so that he's not alone. He said, 'No, I am not alone, God has found me agaín. '





I prayed for him before I left, and gave him the chuch contact details.





Hmmm





I am really touched. Really really touched. Through this I have seen it with my own eyes the power of His grace, and experienced with my own heart the love of God. There is no sin so big that God will not forgive. There is no distance so far away that God cannot reach us. No matter how far we run from Him and try to hide, He will find us. He never forgets.



He has found him, even in the hospital.

The cross

www.siewwai.zenfolio.com

I love this photo that I took as I walked past a church.

I love the fact that the cross stands tall with the thick layers of dark cloud as the backdrop. And the sharp contrast between the bright and white cross and the dark cloud. The sky was clearing up and a streak of blue began to be visible.

Even darkness is not dark because the glory of the Lord has overcome all darkness. Just lift up your chin and eyes, look past the buildings, look past the crowd, look past everything else, and the cross will always stand tall.

I have learnt this through the years of walking with God. Lift up your eyes like a conqueror, and you will see the cross, and Christ is no longer on the cross because He has ascended to His throne.

Merry Christmas:) all the world.

What does God want from me?

He wants nothing but my love. Not love with any string attached, but a childlike love from a pure heart.


Unfortunately , I am a mere mortal.


It is so easy to be entangled with the ways of the world. I have not strayed away, I have not consciously sinned against Him, I have not abandoned His commandments. But have I forgotten about the cross? Maybe.


And that's a sin.


The greatest commandment, to love my God with all my heart, my soul, my mind and my strength.


What does God want from me?


It is in here, in my chest, and that's the place He put my heart.


I will love and worship You in my place of obscurity now.


And never let me forget, what You save me from.

oil painting

I have always wanted to try oil painting but for some unknown reasons I have never had the motivation to do it.


Until today. This is my first experimental oil painting on canvas.


My mindscape is filled with many different colours and images. I feel the artist in me is slowly waking up again.