Hi everyone! We are slowly settling back at home, and if all things continue to go smoothly, my guess is I might be able to join some of the church/youth/zone activities in a few weeks time :)

Tomorrow, 30 Jul, we'll be going back to SGH for an operation. Starting at 4pm, the operation will last an hour. Pls continue to pray that the op will be a success. The fistula (connecting the artery to the vein) will take about 6 wks or more to grow. We were able to touch one of nurse/patient's fistula, after she offered, and the feeling is hmm quite interesting?! like a super accelerated powerful pulse. Shufen's veins are pretty small, and some of it are bruised due to frequent drawing of blood, so we hope that the wrist fistula would be successful. Else the second choice would be to do on the arms. (i know it sounds strange, but we have to know how to protect our veins during drawing of blood. Once veins are bruised, they will never recover)

Thanks and Agape! o:-)

Thank you for remembering us. Shufen is back home since Sat, after spending 116 days in SGH. All in all, God is good and in control. Though paying B2 room rates, we spend about 80-90% of the time in single & great wards! :) Even in those short spans of time with other patients, we were able to bless others (advising 1 to go ahead with kidney biopsy) and allowing others to bless us (when shufen had a fall, our neighbours were the first to help before the nurses).

Being at home, is so much more comfortable than in the hospital . We were able to spend more time with our young kids, and slowly settling down on the medications and other support previously provided by the angelic SGH nurses. Lots of things yet to pick up, like trying to stop the hand from shivering during injections, preparation work before bathing to avoid infection etc. We have also started the long term treatment on another centre at Kovan. Right behind upcoming condo, beautiful Kovan Residences, which we were hoping to purchase previously. Well, God has better plans :) So far all has been smooth & we are truly enjoying ourselves at home after being about 4 months away.

Last Sun, the Lord showed me something new. I had always thought that Jesus would heal Shufen miraculously and we would somehow be on stage, giving our testimony on His great healing power. Though we are still praying for God's healing to come, a new perspective of still not yet healed, but standing on stage & giving thanks to the Lord, would probably bring Him greater glory.

Flashing back 15 yrs ago, when I was still a young Christian, I had always wondered what is the true purpose of living. Upon asking & searching, the conclusion points towards - Christian living is about bringing glory to Jesus. Chinese sums it quite nicely. Ren2 huo2 zhe4 de4 yi4 yi4, shi4 wei4 le4 rong2 yao4 shen2. Amen!

May the Lord always keep us and you close to His bosom. May we intimately know Him and spread His love to those around us, especially our loved ones.

Agape, Jason & Shufen

God Delays
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2 by Os Hillman
Monday, July 20 2009

"Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days" (John 11:6).

"Why doesn't God heal me? I have prayed and prayed and I am still sick. Do I not have enough faith? I am so tired of this," said my wife who had gone more than three years battling her illness.

Mary and Martha were very close to Jesus. The Bible says Jesus loved Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Mary was the woman who came and poured expensive perfume on Jesus and the disciples rebuked her. Lazarus, Mary and Martha's brother, had become terminally ill. Jesus was two miles away in Jerusalem during the time of Lazarus' illness.

After Jesus heard the news that Lazarus was ill, instead of running to the aid of Mary and Martha, Jesus waited several days. Lazarus died and was placed in a tomb. His response to the news was: "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it" (John 11:4). Jesus had to look beyond Mary and Martha's current grief in order to fulfill God's purpose for this sickness.

"When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home" (John 11:20-22). Mary was in deep mourning over the death of her brother. When she finally went to see Jesus, she immediately cried out to Him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." But there was a pre-ordained plan for the purpose of Lazarus' death. But only Jesus knew this. Jesus healed Lazarus that day.

When we experience sickness and do not see a breakthrough, we can only seek Jesus for our healing and leave the outcome to Him. We must trust that He knows the answer to our need and the timing for its solution. There are times when we experience supernatural healing and other times that we simply do not know why Jesus chooses not to heal. In either case, our devotion to Jesus must not change. God-delays are always pre-ordained for a greater purpose. If you find yourself in this place, bring your concerns to Jesus and leave them there. A day will come when Jesus will reveal His purposes in your situation.

Persevere,
e.

Shalom, the scans turn out to be well, and shufen will be able to be discharged tomorrow noon :)

After almost 4 months in SGH, this is nevertherless a good milestone! We will continue with our journey of faith ironically in an unfamiliar environment of our home. There will be lots of adjusting to do, stocking up on medical supplies, settling on regular treatment timings, diet & medication, monitoring of blood pressure & injections etc. Without the 24 hrs nursing support, we can only count on the family instead.

Do keep us in prayer, as the risk of infection is still high. We are taking a candle light step at a time, taking heart that Jesus is right beside us, carrying our burdens.

Hallelujah, Jason & Shufen 0:-)

Shalom, shufen was supposed to be discharged last week, but the doctors found a blood clot somewhere near the right shoulder. There were some suspicions initially that it could be due to part of the blood plug that broke inside the blood vessel, moving closer & closer to the heart. This caused quite a commotion among the nurses as they tried to find out who was the last person that removed the blood plug. The removal of the plug happened exactly on the day that shufen had a slight fall in the bathroom (and on that particular day, many nurses and doctors were there to ask about the fall). A few days later after another thorough scan, the clot could not be found. Praise God! The nurses were relieved too :)