This week was a very momentous week for me. I would be commissioned as an extraordinary communication minister at the new Novena church. It is truly a humbling yet magnanimous task which I have learnt to appreciate over the years having served as a EMOHC in my previous parish in Malaysia. However, as my mom used to say – “when you draw closer to God, somebody else isn’t happy”
And that’s exactly what happened this week. Satan likes to attack those who draw close to God, and it can come in all shape, form and dimensions. I started the week with a severe backache on my lower right back to the point that I couldn’t go to work on Monday. This was a result of an improper sleeping position I had given to over the weekend.
With a backache, I still managed to pull through and get work done but it was not to last for long. I believe the stresses of last week (where I had a major client sharing session that didn’t turn out too well) had overspilled to this week and left my immune system weak. This caused me to contract the flu while recovering from my backache. On top of that, I found myself being wallowed in anxiety about work and about the future of my investments which kept me up late one night as I struggled to cope with the demands of work and keep up with everything. Thank god wifey has been supportive and strong throughout this period. Sometimes I really don’t know what I will do without her and I think as the weeks go by, as I see how our little one is growing, I am beginning to appreciate my wife more (which reminds me I do need to buy her cake at least once a week to show my appreciation)
On top of that, I have been facing temptations of the flesh. Need I say more? This is Satan at his full mode. I found some respite going with the family for mass on Monday and made a resolution to go for confession before my commissioning (which I did) but it was still hard for me to push on at times.
In any case, today (Thursday) was the last blow when I still failed to recover from my flu despite sleeping in a different bed for the last few nights. I felt the weight of it all as we scrambled to go to church. Yes, I was late but more deep down I knew this was another spiritual attack in operation. Satan always tried to break your spirit, throw crap at your path and sometimes on your face and see how you respond. I am glad the commissioning is over, and that by God’s grace I managed to scrape through. Somehow everything worked out and all is well.
