Translation:
"There is a present, have you received it? It cannot be seen, the heart only knows.
This little present waits by you heart's door; it's been prepared for you, no one else incurs.
Chorus-Our life is short, time passes unnoticed. If you don't treasure it, chance comes to naught.
Although the gift is good, if you reject it still, how can you attain it--the gift of grace and life?
My dear brethren, have you considered? The babe in the manger is here for you.
My dear brethren, have you understood? The best gift on earth: Jesus the Son of Man!
(repeat chorus)
She had been trying to share about Christ with them for a long while, constantly asking God for a chance to tell her ailing father the Good News. Her older bro had been adamant and disallowed her to do any of this (he may have had bad experiences with other Christians before) and is strict about it. If she does anything she has to get her bro's permission. Protective?... nah. The older sister too hadn't yet believed either. But she wasn't so against it. Hopefully the mum can come to see Christ and be steadfast in her faith.
We actually sang the above song "A Gift" in Chinese and I think we sounded like angels. It resounded through the hospital wards and we musta disturbed a bunch of people, but I'd rather think of it as ministering to them (my bible leader told me it was the foreigner's ward so they wouldn't understand what we sang). Tresa kept on crying and crying and I could barely contain it myself. Tresa's mum, who couldn't read or write but only speak Chinese and Indonesian Malay, was trying to memorise the lyrics by repeating it word for word and her dad, though weak and very skinny, tried as best to sing along. Her dad could see the words and teared a bit but i was worrying how to give them the song so they can still listen to it.
I recorded the song as we sang a third time and put it into an email with the song above for Tresa. She had asked me for the song and wanted to let her dad sing; he was fond of that. Luckily they only way we could help was to sing, 'cos otherwise, to have to comfort them in this trying time and assure them of their faith is hard for the sisters themselves.
Tresa's dad moved to the high dependency ward this morning and there is some leakage in his intestines. Doctors have been trying to make a stomach out of a portion of the intestine but it's not adapting. God help them. It's great they have received Christ, but I only feel with a tragedy at hand, the family's faith may not grow stronger (as they are quite young in faith) but may shatter them altogether. So please show mercy. Tresa has a real burden for her parents and she may not understand the purpose of this entire crisis.
