Blessings of 2006

I spent the first few hours of this new year in contemplation of how good God is to those who love him. I blogged 2 days ago about how I had recently been to Penang. One of the reasons was actually to visit an ailing grandmother who had recently been shifted to a nursing home as the maid who had been taking care of her had become unavailable. During our visit, we were able to talk to her, pray with her and see how she was adapting to her new home. I didn't really expect to be able to communicate effectively with her as she had already been in the throes of senile dementia even from my last visit 3 years ago. She looked frail this time; her cataracts prevented her from seeing us and her hearing was poor, but she was able to speak coherently, praising God and understanding the prayers we had for her. Last night, my aunt called to say that she had passed on, a little abruptly, but peacefully, and we were probably the last of her family to see her before she passed on. This was a great blessing for me as my children at least had a chance to meet her, albeit a shadow of her former self, and have some memories of her, and I hope that our brief visit also brought her comfort in her last few days.

This week too, I got news of 2 dear friends, both of whom had fertility problems, being blessed with pregnancies! One had been told 3 weeks ago that she had polycystic ovarian disease and was not likely to be able to have a second child, and the second had been on the verge of IVF.

This was my guiding bible passage for the new year, and it has been fulfilled in the first few hours of 2006:

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Ephesians 3:14-19.