A Prayer Herself
／Timothy Shiu
I am very grateful to be given this opportunity to express publicly the undeserved grace I feel at having had Mrs. Wan for my grandmother. There are many others who can give a much more complete picture than I, of the totality of her life, and of the blessing she has been to so many people. I can only speak of what I have seen and experienced of her, and of the lasting blessing she has bestowed upon me through her great and enduring love.
From my earliest memories of her, her every thought was permeated with her love of God, her love of her Lord Jesus Christ and her love of the words of Scripture. This was true even in the smallest, most trivial-and sometimes amusing-ways. I can remember a recurring scenario between her and me when I was a child of only three. My grandmother would often cook a large pot of oatmeal for my cousins and me; and whenever I smelled that heavenly aroma, I would rush down to the kitchen and ask excitedly what there was to eat. This is when she would beckon to me with one finger saying, "Come and see, come and see." Thus it was that I found a name for one of my favorite breakfast meals: "Cum-'n'-C!"
Only very recently has it occurred to me that, even here, she was borrowing from the Gospels-the words of the Samaritan woman at the well, who ran back to her village, saying, "Come and see a man who told me everything I have done. Might not he be the Christ"? Just as the Samaritan woman pointed the way for many to see Jesus for themselves, so also, my grandmother throughout her life, constantly pointed anyone she met in the direction of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whom she loved so dearly.
I myself am an example of one who could not escape the undeniable presence of the God who had become the sole source of strength and meaning in her life. And I know I can speak for all of the family in saying that, whatever measure of faith each of us may have, we owe it in large part to the anchoring influence of her life upon us. Just as Christ mediates God's love to the world, so my grandmother, in her own human way, has mediated Christ's love to us her family, and also to many others besides.
Even in the manner of her death she has blessed us. We might easily wonder why God would allow such suffering to fall upon one of His steadfastly faithful and beloved children. I believe that she was called upon to bear her final illness largely for the sake of us who remain behind. The extremity and severity of her condition woke us all up in time to truly make our peace with her and with the fact of her leaving us. I know that, especially for the family, her illness gave us the opportunity to fully recognize and express the extent of our true love for her, both in word and in deed. And this was at least as much for our sakes as for hers.
In the end, the inner dignity with which she met the outer indignity of her wasting physical body became an example to us all, of the reality of God's presence and grace in times of suffering. Even in the hospital, she gained comfort from reciting Bible passages and singing hymns. And to the end she continued to pray for us that we would love God more.
My grandmother was first and foremost a woman of prayer. It is true that she fully lived the words of the apostle Paul, to "Pray without ceasing" - this was her constant heart's attitude. But I believe that toward the end of her life she no longer merely prayed, but she herself became a prayer.
