D3 – Following Jesus is never easy

*Notice :May contain matters sensitive to other faiths. You have been warned. This is based on my own experiences and not meant to challenge other faiths.*

Following Jesus is one of the hardest thing. If you think that one becomes the protected child of God once they proclaim Jesus as Lord, then, you are wrong.

For example, Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand on the plow and looks back is fit for service in the Kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:62) There is no turning back.

Do you know that when your heart is turning to Christ, there are lots of things to pull you back? Things that test your faith? For example, when I was just beginning to know Christ, I met with the challenge that truly test my faith.

I gave my deceased son a Taoist funeral rites because things happened too quickly and there isn’t time to think. I wasn’t in Christ yet and I have no friends who are Christians. (I dislike Christians because they are too preachy!) However, at his funeral, I did ask his doctor who has become a trusted friend to pray for him. He is a Catholic. I even asked him to read Psalm 23.

Few days after the funeral, the undertaker phoned me and told me that my son’s spirit was disturbing the Taoist nun who transported the coffin to the crematorium and even after they had done some prayers, they couldn’t appease his spirit. So, they phoned us to get his Chinese birth date and time to make a bigger prayer by a Buddist monk. In my heart, I know it could be a con job, i.e. asking us to pay for some expenses. But as a mother, I dare not take that risk of rebutting them as all my family members are Taoists.

So, I seek the doctor’s advice as I was very lost on what to believe. Is it the resurrection as an angel like Christ promise? Or is it a little ghost that goes around terrorizing folks because he needs food? I was at that crossroad. I knew if I turn back to my Taoist belief, I will never be able to be at peace with myself because it will means a long journey of ‘feeding’ my son with all the festivals and etc. But ignoring those requests will mean some guilt as well as I had practiced them for 38 years.

Doc told me to let my family do whatever they wanted with the Taoist belief and he assured me of the Christian promise of life ever after. I turned to the Bible and did nothing but seek some comforting words there. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”

I did find my answer one day when I dreamt of my son in a better place, like a park, on a chequered red and white mat, having a picnic.

So, following Christ is never easy. Once you set your heart on it, you must expect a lot of challenges. Things will pull you back and we will be left to question our own decision. Even on the day before my baptism, I still questioned myself if I want to be a Christian. I found the answer in the Gospel of John that goes something like “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.”

Therefore, my dear friends who are seeking God, do not let those trials and tribulations stop you in your track from knowing Christ. Have faith in Jesus and He will help you through. God bless!