On 12 July, my father who had just returned from an overseas trip to Taipei , complained of chest pains. We had initially thought that this was due to gastric flu. However, I sensed something was not right and pressed my Dad to go to the A & E department. He was subsequently admitted to the A & E department in SGH and was found to have symptomatic abdominal aortic aneurysm. That same evening, my family had also contacted my sister June Chuah and she agreed to fly back from Uruguay to Singapore. Before June's arrival, emergency surgery was done to repair the aneurysm in SGH but he developed severe complications following the surgery. His heart stopped beating and CPR was needed postoperatively. At that time when my Dad's heart stopped beating, my family and I were distraught when the phone call came informing us of the same. I immediately called Pastor William who prayed for him immediately. A short while later, we received news that the doctors managed to revive his heart. Whilst my dad recovered from that episode,he developed renal failure requiring dialysis and another serious complication - his left colon developed ischemia and perforated as a complication from the initial surgery. This in turn required another surgery by the colorectal team on 25th July. During this time, my father was in a coma. However, many people from the church and New Life Community Church , my relatives from Trinity Methodist Church and my sister's friends from other churches came down daily to minister to my dad and pray for his recovery and salvation. My dad gradually recovered and regained mental consciousness and lucidity. For a while, he was making steady progress in recovery.
However, around 345 am on Monday morning 12 August, we were again summoned by the hospital staff at the ICU to come down to see my dad quickly as they had discovered internal bleeding in him and my dad was critically ill. We were told to brace ourselves for the worst. Again, God's gracious hand intervened and my dad's life was preserved. My sister and I sensed the burden to travail more intensively for my dad and in the weeks which ensued, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ also joined in standing in the gap for my father. It was during this period that my father finally gave his life to Christ.I had shared the gospel in Mandarin with my dad and he acknowledged and confirmed that he had embraced Christ as his Savior. On 4 September, just three days prior to his death, my sister had again sought confirmation from him whilst he was lucid that he had accepted Christ and he nodded his head in agreement.
On reflection, we could clearly discern God's sovereign hand and grace on my Dad's life. He could have been taken away the first day on 13 July when his heart stopped but he was not saved. Again, purely by his grace, mercy and compassion, God preserved his life after the internal bleeding started on 12 August and gave us the opportunity to minister and impart the Word to him.
During this period, the Lord gave me a word of encouragement and hope from Lamentations 3:21-23. I heard this one night as I was driving back from the hospital on Hope107 FM where a lady was sharing about a similar incident in her life involving her husband.
Lamentations 3 :21 - 23
"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Truly, our God is a faithful God. He had preserved my Dad's life for 58 days so that we could minister and share the gospel with him. We are comforted and heartened by the fact that he has now gone to a better place with the Lord where there is no more suffering and pain. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
