A Great Great-Grandma

She was "Cheong Ah Hoe" and she married a certain "Leong Kit", hence my carrying on the surname. It's liberating and such an eye-opening experience to come to know of your lineage apart from the many chapters that document and trace the ancestry of important kings and the King in the Bible. And this new realisation of my great grandma's name, and that she was a Godly Christina woman was such comfort to my heart.

I had casually proposed how useful a family tree would be at the hospital last Sunday. I was at the death bed of my grand uncle Philip (my dad's late father's young brother) and while we waited for the next-of-kin to arrive (my grand aunt), I struck up a conversation with a stranger who had also rushed down to the ward upon being notified grand uncle Philip had drawn his last breath and had gone to be with the Lord. He had been well on the road to making a promising recovery right after a spinal surgery the day before. On Sunday, relatives had even visited him and all indications proved he was doing well post-surgery. Things took a turn for the worst, negating family expectations and the doctor's about mid afternoon when he succumbed to a massive heartache. Efforts by the medical staff to revive him and keep a check on his blood pressure failed. He had gone to a far better land than ours.

We remain and so the family tree took root after I struck up a conversation with my cousin-in-law Dave, whom I'd met for the first time. He married my cousin Doreen (whom I also met for the first time by the death bed). Two days later, the two surviving grand aunts together with their children and grand children and those of their late siblings' two surviving generations came together after grand uncle Philip's cremation to contribute names and relations that would finally make up a family tree. From 14 'known' cousins, I was greeted with the astounding fact that my cousins numbered 40!

More important was the fact that the faith of my great grandmother, Cheong Ah Hoe, had endured the generations. I am told she prayed daily for an hour for her family. Looking back, my God has honoured her faith, preserving the generations between her and mine. Dave researched and recorded that some members of the family had drifted away from the faith in the interim but have since returned to Christ.

Dave, in his email to all his 'known' and newly-encountered relatives recorded God's faithfulness. He quoted God's promises as given in Exodus 20:6, "But showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love Me and keep My commandments".

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised for a great grandmother who's faith was steadfast and whom I only just came to know.