God Is Real by Harry Yap & Clare Wong
Though I was baptized in 2001, my personal encounter with Christ started when I saw Anna sitting at the booth near the canteen exit promoting the Life In The Spirit Seminar. It was sometime in second half of year 2002. For some unknown reason, I was interested to participate in the seminar and decided to sign up on the spot without any hesitation.
I attended the LISS seminar with my wife at Christ The King. Towards the end of the seminar, I received the Gift of Tongues during the outpouring of The Holy Spirit. It was a tremendous experience for me as I felt a bright light coming from above hitting straight into my forehead. The Holy Spirit somehow gently pushed me backward and tilted my chair off balance. I fell off my chair and laid flat on my back on the floor. I could feel the peace and serenity of GOD. Yes, that was the first time I encountered GOD!
I attended a few Charismatic prayer sessions thereafter. During one of the sessions, my wife and I received a prophetic message from brother Bonnie that we will have a baby in the year 2003. I was surprised to receive that message since I did not really pray to have a baby although my wife did. I did not think much at first about the prophetic message. Soon after that I stopped attending Charismatic prayer session. Yes, I belonged to the category of “Sunday Catholic” who has little conviction on Him. I also stopped praying in tongue completely since I was not able to pray it smoothly. I could only praise Him in “baby tongues”. Although I knew deep down in my heart that prayer in tongue gave me a power to seek Him and somehow gave me a fresh energy each time I prayed in tongue, I simply did not have enough conviction and faith to seek His greatness at that time.
 Then, it happened! My wife conceived in March 2003. We were pleasantly surprised with the news as we have been married for four years and excited with the prospect of having a baby. We thought everything was going to be fine since the arrival of this baby was prophesized by God. About 3 months into the pregnancy, our gynae told us of the possibility that our baby could have Down syndrome based on blood test results. We were shocked and distressed to hear the news. Our gynae advised us to go for further tests to ascertain the accuracy of the blood test results.
We decided to do a genetic scan test. The test results were good but our gynae advised that there could be some abnormalities that could not be seen from the scan unless we go for an amniotic fluid test which is highly accurate but carry a 1% risk of miscarriage. We decided not to proceed with the amniotic test. I was still very stressed and carried many negative thoughts about whether my wife should even carry the baby to full term. I did not want to name the baby even though my wife made several suggestions, preferring to wait for affirmation after the second genetic scan to be conducted when the fetus is 22 weeks old.
One Sunday, I met Chris in Christ the King who invited me back to attend Charismatic prayer to worship Him and ask His blessing for my baby. My wife and I started to attend the Charismatic prayer sessions on a regular basis as we felt the only thing we could do was to pray for our baby to be born a strong, normal and healthy baby. We also made every effort to worship and seek Him by praying daily up to delivery of our baby. During this time, I started to pray with the gift of tongues that I have not been using. Now, I know why I received this gift. Although we were still at times, worried and felt uncertain about the outcome, there was peace and hope that things will turn out all right. We constantly sought Him and claim His words in John 14:14.
About eight months into the pregnancy, our gynae told us that our baby has mild kidney dilation. While this is not a serious condition on its own, it could be quite fatal if combined with other complication associated with Down’s Syndrome. We continued to pray and believed that the baby will come out fine. At the same time, members of Charismatic prayer group constantly prayed for our baby, including Bonnie, Evelyn, Juliana, Raymond, Anna, Chris and Jerry and the rest of the group.
The big day finally came on 30 December 2003. The baby was delivered through cesarean section. PRAISE THE LORD! She came out healthy and strong without any complications whatsoever. In fact, our daughter, Stephanie Mary Yap had an Apgar score of 10/10! The doctor checked her kidney and did several other tests, all turned out normal. Believe in the Power of the Blood, Blood of the Lamb! We have witnessed it ourselves! With HIM, anything is possible! Thank you LORD JESUS CHRIST for your precious gift. GOD IS ALIVE among us and HIS WORDS are real. HE works wonder to those who seeks HIM with their mind and soul!
Looking back, it is truly a journey to bring us back to LORD JESUS. He loves us so much and wants us back to His side. Halleluiah! LORD JESUS IS GOOD! Amen.
Best regards,
Harry Yap & Clare Wong |
