Charles Harvey - How Good is the God We Adore: A Contemporary Story of Gods Faithfulness to a Missionary Couple. . .

How Good Is the God We Adore

Published by Grace Ministries Foundation Thailand

www.gmfthailand.org

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

ISBN: 978-0-692-22950-7

Copyright 2014 by Charles Harvey

All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

Printed in the United States of America

2014First edition

Dedication

Dedicated to Yoke Fong, my wonderful wife and partner in grace, and to Jonathan, Hannah, and David, our three precious children.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Yao, Witoon & Ewe, Noot, and David for responding to the vision and for carrying it into the next generation.

Special thanks to Becky Gaslin for her invaluable help in editing the manuscript and shepherding it through the printing process.

Thanks to Eva Gibson for sharing her experience, time, and editing skills.

Many thanks to Ann Staatz, a true professional, who skillfully designed the book and cover.

And, finally, my heart-felt gratitude to our many faithful partners in the ministry, without whom we would have achieved very little indeed.

How good is the God we adore,

Our Faithful, unchangeable Friend!

His love is as great as His power,

And knows neither measure nor end!

Tis Jesus, the First and Last,

Whose Spirit shall Guide us safe home.

Well praise Him for all that is past,

And trust Him for all thats to come.

Joseph Hart

Preface

Yoke Fong and I were married in Ireland in 1994, and I spent much of our free time during the first year asking her questions and eagerly absorbing her personal and family history. I was fascinated by the God who sovereignly guided her parents to Malaysia a short time before World War II broke out. Intrigued by her parents journey and her own upbringing, I thought that Yoke Fongs unusual and inspiring story should be told.

Having begun to write about my wifes history, I also wrote about my own early life, different in many ways from Yoke Fongs but equally foundational in receiving our call to serve the poor and underprivileged in Thailand. God, the Great Economist, never wastes our lifes experiences; rather, He delights in molding us and teaching us through them. It seems clear to me now that He had lovingly and expertly laid each of us on the potters wheel of life to prepare us for His calling on our lives.

From our youth, both Yoke Fong and I were motivated by a God-given desire to provide a safe haven for the underprivileged. We are drawn to the poor, the needy, the overlooked, and the vulnerable, much like Jesus of Nazareth was, and we are inspired by His love and compassion for them. Our work in Thailand has never been an effort or a burden because we have been led by an unseen hand. Both the ability to cheerfully serve and an understanding of Gods extraordinary grace toward all of His children came with the Fathers call to accompany Him where He Himself had been laboring for so long.

We have come to recognize our own wounds and inadequacies in the dysfunctional and broken lives of those whom we love and serve; through them we have been confronted with our own limitations and with our limitless God in life-changing ways. We have been a Dad and a Mum to the sometimes badly behaved and apparently ungrateful until we have come to recognize that such behavior is the vocabulary of the deeply wounded and those who do not have the resources to cope with the burdens and impoverishments that weigh so heavily upon them.

If there is a challenge or invitation in these pages, it is that God is infinitely full of love and compassion, and although He is holy and pure in nature, His plan is to include His flawed servants in His crusade of pouring out love and healing on the wounded and broken. In doing so, He purifies His followers by degrees until He creates more of His own character and nature in us. My prayer is that in reading this account of Gods work in and through our lives, you will be inspired to give yourself more wholly to Him and to the wondrous task of sharing His compassion with those who are needy and vulnerable in your own life.

The Japanese troops are outside in the street looking for young girls. I cant hide you from them any longer. You must get married as quickly as possible!

Twelve-year-old Sow Ying Ng had traveled all alone from her tiny village in China to the British colony of Malaya (Malaysia). Her father, the headman of his village, had promised to send his favorite child to his sister as payment for a debt of honor. They had a verbal agreement that Sow Ying would return home after a number of years serving her auntie in that far-away land.

The grey sky over the frigid harbor perfectly mirrored Sow Yings feelings as the heartbroken girl tearfully parted from her father. Neither of them could have known they would never see each other again; nor would she ever return to her homeland. As the just-about-seaworthy junk cast away from the shore, she gazed for one last time on all she held dear. Her life had changed forever.

Sow Ying was clever and gifted, and she excelled as a seamstress under her Aunties strict but kind training. She was eagerly sought after by her aunties growing clientele. But everything changed in 1944 when World War II arrived in Malaya, carrying horror and destruction with it. The occupying Japanese troops, using rape and sexual intimidation as a weapon, were searching homes for unmarried girls to serve as comfort womenprostitutesfor their troops.

The soldiers had learned that Sow Ying, 18 years old at the time, was living in her aunties home. Although they searched it several times, Auntie had encouraged her younger children to cry loudly and kick up a rumpus during each search, providing warning and a distraction as their cousin hid in the tiny attic. Clearly it was only a matter of time before they captured her. Something must be done.

So, knowing her business would be adversely affected, Auntie reluctantly performed the duty of matchmaker with an acquaintance, a hard-working young man of good character who had emigrated from a remote part of China. It was a hastily arranged marriage that she would not have allowed in less traumatic times.

Yoon Chong Lye was extremely poor, but he was a gifted, self-taught mechanic, eking out a living with odd auto repair jobs. He had immigrated to Malaya from China with his father some years before. When his father was killed in the Japanese bombing of Penang Island, Yoon Chong and a friend wrapped the body in a sheet, carried him to the top of a remote hill at twilight, and laid him to rest on a piece of dusty waste land.