One of the highlights of our visit to Singapore from 26th to 30th November, 2008, was the healing of my mother. She was complaining about pain in one of her ankles. As usual, Grace and I offered to heal her in the name of Jesus. Mother was a little hesitant but we insisted. As we laid hands on the affected ankle and commanded firmly, the pain went off immediately. We then asked her to test her healed ankle. Mother walked around the living room and turned her ankle this way and that way. She smiled and said that she had no more pain. She then told us of her upcoming operation on one of her eyes. Apparently, something was wrong with her retinas or maculas. Both eyes were affected and only one could be surgically repaired. The nature of her vision problem was such that the objects seemed distorted. Straight lines appeared to be wavy or bent. It was something known as Metamorphopsia.
Once again, Grace and I offered, by the authority of Jesus Christ, to heal the eyes too. My mother was a little sceptical and wanted us to understand how complicating the problem was. This was not just a simple pain in the joint. It had to do with a long-termed damage of the eyes. However, we told her that if she would have faith, she would be healed. She relented and we tested her frail eye condition. I asked her to look at me and she confirmed that my image was wavy. She covered one eye and then the other. Both eye had the same problem – distorted vision. I had to stand very near, like about one foot from her face, for her to have a clear image. We wanted mother to remember clearly her condition before we took command for healing.
The reason we had to be so drastic was because mother had been delinquent. There were a number of occasions when the Lord had healed her but her faith was shaken by doubts. My unbelieving elder sister became the catalyst of such doubts. Richard, my younger brother revealed a more tragic offence that my mother had committed. She had followed my sister to a Chinese temple in Muar, Malaysia. There, she was encouraged to burn incense sticks to the idols. After my mother did that, some of her physical pains returned. In her heart, she knew that she had done wrong and felt very uneasy. However, she did not know how to repent and struggled with the guilt.
Grace and I did not confront mother about her sin but told her to trust Jesus as we laid hands on her eyes. We took turns to command the eyes to be healed. That was exactly what happened – instantly, my mother’s eyes could see objects without distortion. This time, we asked her to tell us whether the vision was still producing wavy images. She stared at me and then covered one eye. Then she did the same to the other. She said the wavy image had disappeared. To confirm the healing, I moved further to the end of the living room and asked her to look at me. Her vision held - my image was not wavy like that before the command of healing. Praise the Lord. In fact, during the four days that we were in Singapore, we continued to check on her vision. It had remained healed and she did not see any wavy images.
After she was thoroughly convinced that she had just experienced a miracle, we addressed the problem of her visit to the temple. She was repentant and showed great remorse. Fifteen minutes into the explanation why it was important to remain faithful to the Living God and for her to worship only one God, we asked her if she wanted to confess her sin. She was most willing and instead of leading her in prayer, we asked her to talk to God in her own way. Using our dialect which is Hainanese, my mother sought forgiveness from the Lord. She used the humblest expression in Hainanese when addressing herself before God. She called herself, “kia thun” which literally means “child and grandchild” and that implies “descendent”. In the past, she only used this term when she prayed to our deceased ancestors. As she closed her eyes and bowed her head, she told the Lord that “your descendent had done wrong because of her foolishness and ignorance”. She humbly begged ‘Tu Jay Tol’ (Lord Jesus) to forgive her for the transgression and promised that she would never do that again. She then asked the Lord to protect her from evil and also to bless her and all in our family. After that, Grace and I laid hands and prayed for her. We also gave her the assurance of God’s forgiveness from God’s Word: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
It was a good visit – two miracles and one repentance. We thank God for making our trip to Singapore a fruitful and blessed one. Please keep my mother in prayer as she lives out her faith in Christ.
Reported by
Rev Albert Kang
Coordinator
Elijah Challenge Asia
