I would like to share a testimony about my mother. Just three weeks ago she miraculously got saved. This is a very long journey but I will try to summarize it so that you guys can rejoice with me. It will be a testimony of how good and powerful He is. He makes the impossible possible to me during this season.
First of all, let me tell you a little bit about my mother’s background. Daddy and she got divorced when I was seven and she became a single mom who single-handedly took care of her two kids: my younger brother and I. She is a strong and hard-headed working woman who carried a lot of anger, revenge, insecurity, fear and a victim spirit because of her past experiences. Anyway, she loves my brother and me although she doesn’t know how to really express it. My mother HATED Christians. She had a really bad experience with her Christian boss who had hurt her by cheating from her a large sum of money. Her other Christian friends took advantage of their relationship. She didn’t trust Christian at all. She was a devout Buddhist and paid regular respects to some Chinese goddess her whole life. These hurt my mother had accumulated over the years makes it seem impossible for me to believe that one day she will come to Christ.
For quite sometime Ark and I have been praying for my mom. I intentionally invited and included her in meetings and spending time with the Christian community whom I called family in Christ. Meeting with these wonderful people, she has opened up her heart a little bit and admitted that they are good people because they are so different from the ‘christians’ she had come across previously.
Last July, Pastor Lindsay was in Chiang Mai to speak at a conference I attended. She gave Words of Knowledge during one session and she called up my mother’s name and my birthday. It was the weirdest feeling when she spelled my mother’s THAI NAME exactly right. I was not fully convinced and later ran up to her asking if I can see the spelling written on her phone” And we all know Lindsay, right? I had got my own breakthrough from that day onwards and little did I know that those prophetic words had brought a breakthrough to my mom even when she had not believed in God yet. Pastor Lindsay told me that she felt that God was doing something with my mother. In my mind, these words did not register at all because it seems to be too impossible for me that my mom can actually become a Christian. I should have known better that nothing is impossible with God.
The big change was coming to my mom after Ark and I got married and moved to Redding for BSSM. (She later confided to me saying that she already felt that there is something different). Because we were so far away, the chance of her coming to Christ during our absence even felt far reaching.. I was worried for her but God told me specifically to, “Leave it to me.”. About a month after we had begun to settle in BSSM life, God has brought two Christians whom I have never met before into my mother’s life. The first one is a woman who is a new believer and my mother’s co-worker. The same incident that happened to her years back repeated itself, but this time with a different person That Christian cheated her money again and my mother was devastated. She had just begun to trust Christians and yet this fraud happened. But God is in control. About that same period, my mother met a Christian couple who came to buy something at her shop. Initially, she did not know they were Christian but as they chatted she noticed that he was blind and was so surprised at his capability in spite of his handicap. The joy that radiated from this couple drew my mother’s attention. She became curious and felt drawn to continue talking with this blind customer and his wife. Very soon he began to share his faith in Jesus to her and she felt such peace. When mom related these unexpected incidents to me I was concerned for her because naturally, I do not want her to the get hurt again and turn her back to God. At that moment I had two choices there. To interrupt the plan of God or giving God all control! I chose to trust in God and His faithfulness. I waited in silence in prayer for my mom.
Meanwhile, I also experience my own breakthrough at BSSM. The process that Ruby, a first-year intern, led me into was to forgive my mother from the pain she had caused me in the past, freeing her from my resentment. The key to reconciliation and restoring someone to God is through forgiveness. In addition, during the week that our small group discussed the goodness of God, there was this question, “Which area in your life that you do not feel the Goodness of God?” The first thing that came to my mind was my mother. I shared it with my small group and we started to pray for her. It was so amazing that it took only two weeks after I forgave her and was vulnerable with my people when good things began to happen. I gave all the keys to God and allow Him to open the door for my family.
One night out of the blue, on November 5 to be exact, God woke me up at 4 am in the morning and I could not go back to sleep. I started to pray according to my prayer list but it didn’t work. I stayed awake until almost 6 am in the morning. My mom texted me that she was hurt by that Christian woman but she believed in Jesus because of another Christian man. She went to the church he attended and felt such joy that she could not explain. She went on to tell me that she has just decided to surrender her life to receive Jesus as her savior because she needed Him to help her. Peace came over her. She didn’t feel anger toward that woman anymore. She was so surprised because of all of her life even though she did a lot of good merits, meditation and practice the dharma, she had never felt the tremendous PEACE she was experiencing now. She went to church and she felt something that she couldn’t find from Buddhist temple. She was so excited and talked to Ark’s mom. Thank you, Pastor Kai, (aka Ark’s mom) for being there for her and support her as family. The week right after that Sunday, my mom, Ark’ mom and her team who traveled from Chiangmai to Bangkok were at the Danny Silk’s conference together. He talked about being a powerful & powerless person. My mom was so excited to learn about these new things right at the beginning of her walk with the Lord. She started reading the Bible from Genesis and was fascinated how God created the world. Although she has many questions to ask me about the Bible, she can remember most of the biblical character names. Thank you, Ark, for being with me while I talked with my mom. God gives me this big birthday surprise and this is one of the most thankful things that happened in my life this year.
God has won. He is the God of hope and nothing is impossible for Him. He is near us more than we ever know. My mother’s life is the living testimony of His goodness. I didn’t do anything, but obeyed him and came here. And, BOOM, God surprised me with His miraculous act. He has got my mom in His love and His goodness while I am away from her! And this is the testimony of my family. I released this testimony to you guys because I think this is just only the beginning of us and our family. There are more to come! AMEN!
were singing, I started to see the heart appeared on the stage after their back. (What I saw was the REAL HEART not this one ♥). The heart with the blood vessels was beating altogether with the drum rhythm. The blood vessels connect with the back of the stage, a wall, and a central aisle. While it is beating, I saw the most beautiful and valuable crown appears above that beating heart. There is a golden ray behind them also.
But God doesn’t stop his work just that. He confirmed me this morning with my own post last year, which I myself couldn’t even remember this. If somebody says God plays Facebook, I am pretty sure that He is the most clever stalker and MVP! Last year I posted the picture with the bible quote, and yes, as you have seen in the picture, the crown in this picture is the same crown as I saw yesterday. God is faithful and He never misses His promise in my life.
loukyie 