That's How We Grow

We're currently fighting Hand-Foot-and-Mouth Disease. It started beginning of this week with Max feeling weak and had a fever. The next day he got rashes all over his hands and feet.




Thankfully, Max recovered pretty soon. Then it's Wesley' turn followed by me. The most painful part is the sore throat and mouth ulcer. It's always not fun to be sick but God is gracious. Max got a mild one and back to his regular active self within two days. Wesley took the hardest hit among the three of us. He had high fever for two days, vomiting, no appetite to eat, rashes all over his hand and feet. His rashes is not as bad as Max though because Max already has eczema so the rashes from HFMD turned it into blister. No worries, the blister are dried so now is having a lot of fun "harvesting" the dried skin. =P

Max lovely teacher e-mailed me to let me know that she and the rest of the class are praying for us. She also wrote "This must be hard for you but that's how we grow." :)

I know exactly what she meant because that's what Paul said in Romans 5:3-5 "We also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." 

My late pastor used to say this, "For a muscle to be stronger, it got to be pressed harder."

I want to close this post with this sharing. Many of you must have read the testimony of Dr. Richard Teo. If you haven't, you can read it here. He was only 40 years old when his passed away. Very successful according to the world standard, but at the end here is what he said:

 "Hardship can happen to rich people; it can be physical hardship, mental hardship, social, etc. And also over the last few months, I started to understand what this true joy is about. In the past, I substituted true joy with the pursuing of wealth. I thought true joy is about pursuing wealth. Why? Cos let me put it to you this way, in my death bed, I found no joy whatsoever in whatever objects I had – my Ferrari, thinking of the land I was going to buy to build my bungalow etc, having a successful business.

It brought me ZERO comfort, ZERO joy, nothing at all. Do you think I can hold onto this piece of metal and it’s going to give true joy? Nah, it’s not going to happen. 

True joy I discovered comes from interaction with other people. Over the last few months I was so down. Interaction with my loved ones, my friends, my brothers in Christ, my sisters in Christ, and only then was I able to be motivated, able to be uplifted. To share your sorrow, to share your happiness – that’s true joy.

And you know what makes you smile? True joy comes from helping others in hardship, and because I’ve gone through this, I know what hardship entails. In fact, there’re some cancer patients who tell me a lot of times, people come up to them and tell them, “Stay positive. Stay positive.” Yeah, right. You come in my shoes and you try to stay positive! You don’t know what you’re talking about!

But I have the licence. So I’ve been going out to meet other fellow cancer patients, to share with them, encourage them. And I know, because I’ve been through it, and it’s easier for me to talk to them.

And most importantly, I think true joy comes from knowing God. Not knowing about God – I mean, you can read the bible and know about God – but knowing God personally; getting a relationship with God. I think that’s the most important. That’s what I’ve learnt.To sum it up, I’d say that the earlier we sort out the priorities in our lives, the better it is. 

Few things I’d learnt though:
1. Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart – this is so important.

2. Is to love and serve others, not just ourselves.