Remembering the Day I was united with Bonny 16 years ago

"O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name; for You have worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness" Isa. 25:1. A verse on my wedding bulletin 16 years ago on 16th Dec 1995. Tho my beloved has left for a better place to be with the Faithful One, the verse continues to stand true. He is faithful! I will exalt You and praise Your name!
Taking time off today at Botanic Garden to count my many blessings, looking through our wedding pictures and thanking God for every precious moments with Bonny that God has so graciously blessed me--moments of incredible love, tremendous joy, unbelievable strength and encouragement, unwavering faith and trust. God's unfailing love and faithfullness allowed us to enjoy so many moments of victories and success, and also many challenging times and struggles. Through it all, He plans all things with perfect faithfullness!

Remembering Bonny at Malacca

Updating this blog while on a short break at Malacca with the Pang Family. We were at the Red Clock Tower this morning and remembering the time Bonny came with me for the Church Chinese Camp in December 2008. My mum reminded me of a picture he took with her at the Red Clock Tower. This is the picture taken on 7 Dec. 2008. Though he may have gone before us to that happy land with our loving Father, his bright cheerful smiles and joyous character remain forever in our hearts.

A restful Bonny by the sea at Cebu, 25th April 2005

This picture was taken at Cebu when Bonny and I visited his brother, Richard, and his family. I have set it as my desktop background. Every time I use my laptop, this picture serves as a reminder to me of how restful and peaceful he was and he is right now. Looking at him grinning at me in his picture, I could almost hear him telling me not to be sad or worry about him and that he is now very happy in heaven--resting and trouble free. It is as if he is waiting with a smile for me to join him some day when my work on earth is done.

Bonny's Collection of Boats

I didn't update this blog last month as I was taking a vacation in Hong Kong. While I was there, I saw a Hong Kong junk boat that reminded me so much of this one collected by Bonny.
Bonny loved to collect stuff. My house is full of his collections from stones to boxes, from souvenir spoons to souvenir eggs, from drawings and figurines of horses to that of eagles, last but not least boats like junk boats to sailing boats. I never have a chance to ask Bonny the significance of his each collection, but he did said that the joy of this hobby of collection came in the journey of seeking and discovering and the end result of seeing the collection being cleaned and displayed. Wonder if he is still collecting any stuff in Heaven or he may be too busy worshiping and interceeding....

Bonny at Prayer Mountain Indonesia

One of the places that Bonny wished to go was the Prayer Mountain in Korean. Though he was unable to go there, an opportunity opened for him to have a prayer trip to a similar place in Indonesia. He was pretty excited about that trip and had a wonderful time of praying in small prayer room as shown in the picture.
In this season of 40-day prayer and fasting in Singapore, it is hard for me to pray without remembering those wonderful moments of praying with him.

Watch and Pray

This July marks the 15th season of LoveSingapore's 40-Day prayer, a season that Bonny loved though he had some difficulty of keeping up the fast the way he preferred in the past few years of his life. In the earlier years of LoveSingapore Movement when Bonny was the prayer coordinator of the church, small round stickers with the word “PRAY” on them were given out for believers to paste on their watches as a reminder to “watch and pray.” Bonny had a few of his watches with these stickers.
The one on the left is the watch that I gave him as a wedding gift and the other on the right is the watch that he last wore when he was admitted to the hospital a day before he was called home to be with the Lord.
I wonder, besides having much fun in heaven, if he requests Jesus to let him join Him in interceding for us.

Our engagement, Friday, 2 June 1995

Bonny proposed to me on our second date in January 1995 with a poet. I did not accept his proposal. How could I when I had just dated him twice? But we dated. After about 6 months of courtship, he proposed to me again and wanted us to be engaged for six months before we got married in December. As “wild” as he was before he met me, he was a pretty conservative man and had a set of tradition he wanted to keep. So he invited our then Senior Pastor of Community of Praise Baptist Church to conduct a brief ceremony with God as our witness and it was attended by some close friends. Even though he was not rich then, he bought me a diamond engagement ring and he was very proud of himself for being able to do that.
I still wear that engagement ring that he gave me and remember his smiling face beaming with pride and joy when he put that ring on me finger that evening, Friday, 2 June 1995.

Swimming Lessons from Bonny

Bonny and I loved to drive up to beach resorts in Malaysia, especially those in Desaru, for short breaks.
Bonny loved to swim in the pool and enjoyed seeing me struggle to float and swim. But he was kind and in those short holidays, Bonny helped me to conquer the fear of water and taught me to float on water. He did not succeed in teaching me to swim because I was a slow learner and he was not so good an instructor. Since last month, I have taken up swimming lessons and every lesson brings fond memories of our time together in the pool.

Bonny and the President S R Nathan

The recent meeting with the President on Mar 26th 2011 at the Official Opening of DaySpring Residential Treatment Centre where I am working now reminded me of this picture of Bonny taken on 27 Nov 2007 with President S R Nathan. That handshake and the certificate he received then was a demonstration of God’s grace in his life during a difficult time of transition for him. I remembered his kept his beard as a sign of his struggle then. Besides that ceremony where he received the certificate of affirmation, the word of God had also brought much courage and comfort to him. Isa. 49:9 “to say to the captives, `Come out,' and to those in darkness, `Be free!' "was a word from the Lord for him while he was spending time with Him and he shared with me that it would be the mission verse for him during that season of his life—one that would keep him going. I adopted this verse in my present mission, living it out to let those the Lord has sent me to come out of captivity and be free from the darkness that they are in.

Remembering Bonny as His Earthly Birthday Approaches

Though I remember my beloeved Bonny daily as if he is around somewhere near, the 5th of every month is a day I set aside to specially remember him by writing on this blog. As his earthly birthday approaches, I tried to remember how I celebrated his first birthday as my husband on 19th March 1996. No matter how hard I tried to remember, I just could not remember. Then I found the first birthday card I gave him on that day.
Yes, indeed I have fully shared my "yesterdays, todays and tomorrows" with him while he was on earth with me. I take joy to know that he had enjoyed those "yesterdays, todays and tomorrows". Though my journey with him on this earth has ended, the eternal journey we shall share one day is timeless:-). He had been such a wonderful gift from God to me that even though we have parted, every remembrance of him has and will continue to bring love, joy, peace, faith, hope and strength to me. I don't get to buy a present for him and celebrate his earthly birthday from now on, but I believe everyday in heaven is like a birthday celebration, surely it must be much more exciting and happy over there than here. "Sure;y goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the hosue of the Lord forever." Psalm 23:6

A Year Has Gone By Since Bonny Left..., But The Colours, Music & Fragrance He Brought into My Life Remain…

A year has gone by so quickly since Bonny left his earthly home for his glorious eternal home, but the colours, music and fragrance he has brought into my life remain so very real and vivid, filling my every moment with sweetness, adding strength to my every step. The many expressions of my beloved Bonny are still very much alive and near in my heart...
Bonny has indeed added so much colours in my life--his cheerful smiles, his funny faces, his adorable cute actions, gestures and dances; so much music to my ears--his timely encouragements and advices, his funny authentic jokes, his spontaneous songs with his guitar, his self-invent Cantonese that made no sense and his random drum beats as he had jam session in church; so much fragrance in my heart--his love, compassion, kindness, generosity, simplicy, joy and hope.
He is a man with a simple and pure heart, a man filled with love and kindness, a man full of fun and humor, a man with a mighty warring intercessory spirit!
His legacy of love, fun, simplicity and intercession lives on in my and many others' lives. My heart is filled with thanksgiving to God for blessing me with Bonny eventhough it was a short 15 years. I praise God for the many blessings I have experienced just by knowing and living with him while he was here.
My beloved is and will always be fondly remembered as a man of child-like faith, joyful hope, and compassionate love, whose story of personal transformation and quiet confidence in the Lord Jesus is an inspiration to us all!
Someday I hope to meet him, someday I know not when, to see him, to hear him, to smell him and to clasp his hand in that better land, never to part again!
Indeed, "Death hold no bitterness for the soul that loves.... There is no sadness in the thought of death when it opens the door to all joy. Nor can it be painful and oppressive when it is the end of all unhappiness and sorrow and the beginning of all good"-John of the Cross-

Our so-called First "Date"

Bonny first expressed his desire to date me after Christmas in 1994 when we were travalling in a coach to the Baptist Golden Beach Campsite at Port Dickson for CPBC Church Camp.
One evening in the camp after dinner, he invited me to go for a walk by the beach. But not wanting to make it so obvious that he was inviting me to walk with him alone looking like a dating couple or perhaps he was afraid that I would reject him, he asked if I would come along with him as he brought Shanon Findley and Hannah De Laure for a walk along the beach. I agreed to that and we had our first so-called "date" with two lovely girls walking along Port Dickson beach as the sun set. Someone came along after the walk and took a picture of us four.
Bonny loved this picture and he had a couple of them, one placed in his wallet and the other in a small special old photo frame placed by his study desk.
I often imagine that there is a golden beach in heaven and one day I will walk with him again along a golden beach but there the Sun never set.
As I enter into a new year, 2011, with new challenges, new expereinces and discoveries without Bonny, I am blessed to have with me these sweet memories of the past with him.