Testimonies
Mary Lee
Dominica

I could read the Bible in English after being baptized in the Spirit

By Mary Lee

Before I came for the prayer meetings and took part in the Life in the Spirit Seminar 1981, I was a Hindu and knew nothing about what is means to be a Christian. My ‘aya' and ‘amma', Charles and Monica Lee were Catholics and they were the ones who took me to the prayer meetings.

When I came for my first LSS which was held in Klian Pau Convent in Taiping, I did not know how to speak or read English. The late Aunty Lobo explained things to me in Tamil. When I was prayed for the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit', I very easily received the gift of tongues. I felt very happy and peaceful. What was most wonderful was that after the baptism of the Holy Spirit, I could read the bible and speak in English which I had never learnt. My education ended in standard 5 in a Tamil school. The Lord also gave me the gift of prophecy where I received messages from God for His people and I spoke these messages in English at the prayer meetings.

The Lord also healed me of the epileptic fits I used to suffer from childhood, during the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

After the LSS, I had a deep urge to know and love the Lord. One year later, I was baptised as a Catholic by Rev Fr Benedict Neuikey at St Louis Church and later became a member of the Covenant Community. In community I received support and love from my brothers and sisters in Christ who help me to grow as a Christian.

Today as I look back to the last 27 years, I realise that the Lord through His Holy Spirit has made me a patient person. In the past I was selfish and always thinking only of myself. Today my heart is free to give generously without counting the cost and to reach out and help people in their needs .

Editors note:

Mary continues to take care of Monica and Charles Lee as well as her own siblings. She runs the family hawker business, drives her own car and serves as a Church warden.

Mary Lee is a parishioner of the Taiping Catholic Church.

Thirsting to know God

Dominica

I was born into a Catholic family and received all the sacraments. I went to church regularly on Sundays and feast days, went to confessions and prayed daily. But there was always a void in my life that I did not know how to fill. I grew up in poverty as a child as my father failed to provide for us and was absent in my life most of the time even before his premature death while I was still in primary school. It was my mother who provided and cared for us and I watched her helplessly as she struggled to make ends meet.

When I went to nursing school far away from my home in Kelantan, my senior who had finished training was just clearing the room hurriedly for me to move in. She discarded some unwanted things and among it was an unwanted Bible which I quickly took from her. It was the Revised Standard Version and I was overjoyed as I had always wanted a Bible but couldn't afford one. ‘This was how I could get to know my God more'…by reading and studying about Him. I managed to buy a book on Bible Study and read every page of the Bible from the first page of Genesis to the last page of Revelations. However the void in my life was still there and I was still thirsty to know God in a deeper way.

I continued with life feeling unhappy, burdened and stressed but I didn't know the cause. All I knew was that there was something lacking in my life. I even checked with my friend who attended Charismatic Prayer meetings whether they did Bible studies as well and she told me that teachings were included besides praise and worship. That was not sufficient for me as I thought knowing God was by studying His word and decided that the prayer meetings were not good enough.

During my search a BEC friend invited me to attend the healing sessions organised by the Catholic Charismatic Group. I decided to attend the session. This friend also shared with me that she is always wondered why I was so sad when apparently I seem to have everything……a good job, husband, children, car, house. I agreed with her but I myself did not know why. At that meeting when I went to be prayed over, the visiting speaker asked me, “What do you want God to do for You?” I was shocked and I panicked as I didn't know what I wanted God to do for me…..and I told her, “I don't know….”

Towards the end of 2007, my daughter was taking her exams, so I joined a parents intercession group (whenever I could take time from off work) that was organised to pray for those who were sitting for their SPM and STPM examinations. I was surprised that it was not just a time of prayer and petition but we were also led to pray for a HEALING of all past hurts we received as well as hurts caused by ourselves. I felt a sense of greater peace.

I also attended a seminar on ‘Setting the Family Free' and after every session I felt lighter and lighter. I prayed earnestly that I would experience God in an intimate way just as others had testified. The same visiting speaker I had met before, conducted one of the sessions and again she asked me that same question, “What do you want God to do for you?” This time I knew what I wanted and I told her, “I want to love God and have a deeper experience of God's presence in my life”. As she prayer with me I experienced a great sense of peace and joy and felt light, as if a load had been taken off my shoulders.. A week later my BEC friend saw me in church and told me that she could see a change in me and that I looked happy. This helped to affirm my experience of God to be genuine.

Today, I realise that knowing God is not just something intellectual and that I not only need to be forgiven of my sins but also to be healed of ALL hurts in my life that were actually hindering my experience of God. Life around me is much the same but I have changed, I am forgiven and HEALED and that has opened me to experience God in an intimate way.

I now feel less burdened and have a more intimate experience of God. I also realise that besides my personal prayers, I need reach out to others who are also searching and thirsting to praise and worship God as individuals and as a community. Every time there is a prayer meeting I find myself making all effort to attend them as I find so much joy and a sense of fulfillment in worshipping our Marvelous and Mighty God as a community.

Dominica is a parishioner of the Taiping Catholic Church.