21April Saturday evening
Be still, be still
Feel like the rebuilding of the walls of
Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah! Building the walls at the same time as
carrying weapons in preparation to ward off enemies! Had to take a week off
work to fly back to Taiwan during the busiest part of my semester at Morling
College (happened to sit at the place where the recent tragedy of the women
sucked out of the plane was sitting)... Coincidentally, reading Romans 8 for
the assignment, on the pains of #childbirth!
Need to stay focused on the kingdom that
cannot be shaken!
22April Sunday
Around 5am, the plane landed safely in Taoyuan Taiwan Airport. A passenger in the same cabin had been snoring throughout the trip, shaking violently as he snored. He was so noisy that everyone stared at him because no one could fall asleep due to this noise. Even the air host tried waking him but he only briefly opened his eyes and then snored again. I don’t know if this person has a physical problem (ie. Very obstructed airways) or psychiatric problem.
As soon as the plane landed, I went off to
a CPD activity in Taiwan (Don’t want to lose my Taiwanese Family Medicine
licence). Although the teaching lasted for a whole day which was exhausting, it is very helpful clinically.
The reason why I've made the trip is to visit my
aunt, who has terminal cancer. She was already diagnosed with end stage terminal
cancer in July 2016. Although no one “formally” spread the gospel to her, she
called upon God’s name during the treatment in 2016, and after three months the tumours
became undetectable by MRI. I took her through the prayer to accept Jesus as
her savior, but she didn’t feel like going to church afterwards. In actual
fact, her treating doctor was already very amazed that she could reach “remission”.
However, cancer that is undetectable by MRI doesn’t mean “cured cancer”. It’s
just that the cancer cells are too small to be detected. So the treating doctor
still didn’t think she’d live beyond a year after treatment. However, this was
not revealed to my aunt, as people who knew her well feared that if she lose
hope, she’d go into depression and commit suicide. On 8April, my aunt was
admitted into the hospital with a major bleed. Two days later, it was
discovered that the cancer had spread all over her liver and lungs. From these
information, I speculate that she will not last more than a few weeks if there
is no supernatural intervention, because there are so many acutely fatal conditions: nonstop haemorrhage, fatal loss of liver function or being unable to breathe are all things that can happen to her anytime. To get out of the hospital alive will be a
miracle! In this horrendous situation, I wondered what will happen to her
faith. Then I heard the news that she still replied “Christian” when the nurse
asked her what her religion is.
At night, I visited my aunt and saw that
she was extremely frail. She had just begun bleeding nonstop again and needed
another blood transfusion.
23April Monday
My aunt requires a carer 24/7, but a professional carer hasn’t been hired yet, because
we do not know which direction she is heading towards. My mom and my uncle in law both snore, and my aunt
don’t have children, so she wants someone who doesn’t snore to stay with her at
night. My 3rd aunt and I are the only suitable candidates! So this
week I had to take turns with my 3rd aunt to sleep in the hospital.
A cystoscopy was done today, and the urologist sealed the vessel that had been
bleeding profusely. However, my aunt became so weak from the bleeding that she
required help to go to the toilet, and she had to wake up every hour to go to
the toilet! So I didn’t get to sleep! Caring for a sick person in the hospital
is very exhausting.
24April Tuesday
The essay on “the relationship between
Israel and the nations in the Pentateuch” had been marked.
I’ve never thought of the Jews as any
better than the people of any other nations. I had a few Jewish classmates in
medical school, and I didn’t think they are any special. Felt like this before,
and still feel the same right now. Strangely enough, God has placed a kind of
burden in my heart for Israel, because whenever I started interceding for this
nation, I shed tears easily and have a strong desire to see the revival of that
land.
The relatives only started coming to the
hospital around noon, so I couldn’t get home until the afternoon. I simply
collapsed on the bed and slept all afternoon. Then I continued to write up my
essay assignments for Morling College. Although I’ve applied for 1 week
extension for both essays, I still hope to finish the essays on time, because
the later I finish, the more it will eat into the time I’ve got to prepare for the
final exams.
25April Wednesday
Today, I started writing up the paragraph
on “cruciform power” for my essay assignment. In the afternoon, I went to Dr
Eileen Lin for a retainer follow up. I usually don’t wear the retainers during
the day time because it impacts on my speech when I talk to patients. However,
there is a tiny gap between two teeth. Dr Lin said she can see the retainer
still has power to move the teeth, but I may need to wear the retainer both day
and night for approximately three weeks before the gap can close. This reminds
me that the Pentecost is coming up in approximately three weeks, might as well
wear it continuously until then! Then I went to the Elim book shop and joined a
revivalist prayer meeting/conference in the prayer centre next to the bookshop.
Honestly speaking, I found the people in
the prayer centre to be pretty crazy. However, sometimes things don’t have to
make sense when we are being led by the Spirit. If everything had to make
sense, then Abraham wouldn’t have been able to sacrifice Isaac: God had
promised that a great nation will come from the line of Isaac, so if Isaac is
gone, how can the great nation come about?
The topic of the prayer meeting is on “the
anointing of Elijah: the power to call down fire”. The speaker from New York, Donald Lee, kept yelling
“fire fire fire” and told us God does not like “lukewarm”. He said people may think he's nuts, but he didn't came to Taiwan to make friends. He came to do what God wanted him to do. He then talked about
two revivals recorded in the bible. Acts 2: At the Pentecost, flames of fire
came upon the disciples. Fear was burned up. 3000 souls saved! For revival, God
wants people of fire! Elijah, 1Kings 18: Elijah was praying furious focused
prayer for 3.5 years. God gave him the power to call down fire! The God who
answers by fire is the true God! Are you asking for the fire?
He also talked about: 2King 1:10 the fire burnt the enemies of Elijah up! The fire of God can overcome your enemies! Jesus in Revelation was a man of fire! He also tells us how important it is for us to have “fire in our bones”! 2King 13:21 Elisha died a year already and they threw a dead man info Elisha’s tomb and the dead man came alive by the power of the “fire in the bones”!
We prayed continuously for about two hours,
which was very exhausting for me. During the meeting there was a song called
“the sun above the cloud”, which I felt very touched by.
At night, I went to sleep in the hospital.
My aunt became stronger and I didn’t have to help her as much during the night.
26April Thursday
I continued to do my assignment, and started
writing up the paragraph on “cruciform hope”. This reminded me that the prayer
evening for this evening will be on “the valley of dry bones”. However, I was
too exhausted and didn’t go. Furthermore, I had already felt compelled to pray in Hebrew on 15April using Ezekiel 37 and done it that day.
My aunt’s treating doctor carried the
medicine ipilimumab with him during his ward round. This medicine is supposed
to be given into the vein, but the doctor (who’s an authority in gynaecological
cancers) bluntly told us that all his patients who were given this medicine
died a day after treatment. "Either the cancer dies, or you die." Then he said he had a relative who had it intramuscularly and
lived for approximately six months. He asked my aunt whether she wants IV or
IM, and my aunt replied “IM of course”! He jabbed her with that medicine
straight after her reply!
Asked some people from church to intercede
for my aunt, and she went through the day uneventfully. Out of curiosity I
start looked at the Hebrew calendar (I didn't take much notice of the Hebrew calendar before but lately there happened to be several coincidences which caught my eyes). If you look at the Jewish historical
events, the month of Iyar's got the longest list out of all the Hebrew calendar
months. The Proclamation of the State of Israel, conquering of Jerusalem during
the Six Day War both happened on the month of Iyar.
I saw that it was 7 Iyar during sundown of
21April, the evening I went on the plane and kept thinking about the walls of
Jerusalem and Nehemiah. Coincidentally, 7 Iyar (498 BCE) was when Jerusalem's
rebuilt walls are dedicated, nearly 88 years after their destruction by
Nebuchadnezzar. I also saw that it was 11 Iyar on the fiery and powerful sundown
of 25April. Coincidentally, on 11 Iyar (1948) - Battle at Degania - It was the
first Israeli victory of War of Independence! After observing the Hebrew
calendar carefully this year, I found that there had been many timings on the
land of Taiwan which aligned with the timings of Israel’s history. In the
evening, an intercessor told me that one needs to pray more than one hour
before strong powers can arise out of the prayer.
27April Friday
Went a long way today, to visit my dad and
my paternal grandma’s graves. Then went for a haircut and spa in Beitou.
Strangely enough, the pipes in our spa exploded, and we had to get the
apartment manager to fix it quickly or else it will flood. Also received the good news that my aunt has been
discharged from the hospital!! However, caution is needed. The hospital
discharges people who don’t need drips or transfusions, and have stable vital
signs. This doesn’t mean that everything is fine after leaving the hospital.
Praying that she can have gratitude towards God and not take everything for granted.
28April Saturday
Finally, I can breathe and have rest today.
Prayed for more than one hour in the morning. Usually when I am in Australia, I
knew in my head and heart that I need to pray fierce focused prayers, but my
body could not do it. It is not unlike Jesus’ disciples in Gethsemane. However, this time the situation changed as soon as I stepped into my home land, which is in a
fierce spiritual warfare. I had to move my flesh, because there is no other
choice but to fight this spiritual warfare.
I was listening to some worship songs from
Israel as I was praying. I felt the spiritual warfare on the land of Taiwan is
as fierce and critical as the Six Day War. When the national anthem “Hatikva”
(hope) started playing, tears started falling down my cheeks again. When the
playlist started playing the advertisement clip on the “Pentecost conference in
Jerusalem”, I felt this fierce warfare will continue until the Pentecost. This
is not to say that we don’t need to pray fiercely usually of course, but there
is just something quite unusual about this month especially. And I will need to
keep praying that my aunt’s heart will be softened enough that she may visit
the church or accept church visitors, and maybe even get baptized. Hope to see
her again in July.
Tonight coincides with the “second
Passover” on the 14Iyar. This is a fast-moving week where I felt like I was
blown into Taiwan by a fierce tornado and blown out of Taiwan again. Didn’t
spend enough quality time with God during the “first Passover”. Hope the fire
will not be vanquished as soon as I get back to Australia.
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