On a November night in on 2004 in Singapore, I suddenly felt my body going numb and uncomfortable.
I had no idea it was a sign of a stroke.
I tried to shout for my wife but my words were becoming slurred. She could hear me bumping against the bedroom door and when she rushed to check on me, I had lost sensation on my right side and needed help just to sit up.
I was rushed to Mount Elizabeth Hospital emergency room in Singapore. The doctor there gave me an injection to calm my convulsing body while waiting several hours for the neurologist to arrive. The scan revealed a brain hemorrhage needing immediate surgery to relieve the pressure in my brain.
After the surgery, the neurosurgeon delivered heart-breaking news.
I would be permanently paralysed and would never speak again because the thalamus, the part of the brain responsible for speech, had suffered irreversible damage.
“Unless there’s a miracle,” the doctor added.
Psalm 91, a daily recitation
My wife and children were devastated, knowing how frustrated I would be not being able to communicate.
Despite the prognosis that I would never speak again, the possibility of a miracle kept resonating in my wife’s head and she faithfully prayed for that to happen.
My family wrote some Bible verses for me to practise reading aloud every day. My wife read to me Psalm 91 daily without fail. In just 3 weeks, my speech miraculously returned.
During my follow-up visit to the hospital, even the neurosurgeon acknowledged saying, “This is a true miracle!” This was indeed a miracle that marked the beginning of my relationship with Jesus.
From staunch Buddhist to fervent Christian
To provide some context, I once had a deep connection to Buddhism.
Back in the 1980s, I was entrusted by a renowned Buddhist Abbot to establish contact with a Chinese Minister for China to open its doors to Singapore. This diplomatic mission was a great success and imprinted my name in the records of history, recognised by researchers and scholars as the ‘disciple’ who contributed to this achievement.
As a devout Buddhist, I used to carry protective amulets with me but after the stroke, a pastor advised the removal of all amulets and religious statues from my home. My family and I found peace in this decision. It was a significant choice that eventually led me to be baptised.
Looking back, despite the adversity of my stroke, I’m grateful that God had used this trial to bring salvation into my life.
Truly what the enemy meant for evil, God turned it to good!
From Tek & Goldie: Recently we got to know the Liu family in Perth. Lis the daughter who runs a school with her husband in Thailand and is taking a course in Perth went to buy food in a restaurant and was told by the owner that there was a Christian group that meets there on Saturdays. Lis was interested and brought her elderly parents, her sister and brother to visit. Thereafter, coming regularly to our fellowship, as we got to know them, we discovered more and more their awesome journey of faith in Jesus Christ. Here are the stories of the parents Mr & Mrs Lisna and Chuangmin Liu. They speak Chinese so their daughters wrote their testimonies.
