My father's illness
I got married in February, 2010 thanks to God’s wonderful grace. About half a year before that, my father got an excruciating pain with jaundice. He was taken to the hospital; diagnosed of gallstone, he had a procedure of gallstone removal. On top of that he needed to get his gallbladder removed as well. H was transferred to another hospital for the surgery.
Stress-related Dementia
At that time, my father was 80 years old and hadn’t had any surgeries until then. Even when he became a little sick, he was worried enough to tell us that he might die. Learning he had to have a surgery, he got so stressful that he suffered a symptom like acute dementia in the hospital room.
He was a trouble maker in the hospital. He sneaked out of the room and walked around; tried to tear off the tubes attached to his body; he tried to go home, changing his clothes.
The nurse couldn’t deal with him and asked his family member to stay over with him for a while. When we went to check it out, he was transferred from a shared room to a private one since he was causing trouble to other in-patients.
On the day of our visit, my father didn’t know he was in the hospital. He thought he was staying in a hotel during the trip somewhere. Looking around the hospital room, he said why we chose such a cheap hotel; looking at the white wall, he said he could see a train running. When we tried to bring him to senses, telling him he was in the hospital, he started to get angry with us.
On that night, my uncle stayed overnight with my father and on the next day, I was going to stay. On the way back home, I was so shocked to have found he lost his mind with a sense of despair.
Praise and prayer in the hospital room
The following morning I went to the hospital with a Japanese gospel songbook. While my father was sleeping, I kept on singing praises, giving thanks and saying prayer to God. Then, he opened his eyes; surprisingly, he came back to his senses. I gave thanks to God for that.
After I stayed with him in the hospital room for two nights, the hospital staff told us that his state of mind became stable and that there was no need to have his family member stay over with him. The Lord really rescued him from his crises!
While I kept visiting him in the hospital, I got spiritual support and strengh. Almost every time I went to the hospital, one of my female pastors prayed with me for my father’s salvation and sent me there. And then, on the day before his procedure, I was able to tell him about Jesus! However, he avoided his response to it and said to me, “Tell your mon about that.”
A Surprising development about the procedure
The procedure was successful. When he woke up, he was amazed to find that he felt painless even after the anesthesia wore off.
After the two days, I visited him, he said to me, “Is there such a painless surgery like this? I still have no pain!” So I told him I prayed that he wouldn’t have a pain and that God who was alive answered the prayer. I said to him again, “Jesus is God. Why don’t you believe in Him?” Then he said he would believe!
When I told him to pray after me, he got up and sat on the bed, telling me I would be a dishonor (to God) if I prayed, lying down.”
I was so stunned that I couldn’t believe what was being unfolded before my eyes. After he finished saying the prayer, I raised my voice for joy, saying, “Hallelujah! My dad got saved!”
He said to me, “Is that all?” I said, “Yes! That’s it!”
God's wondeful plan
At that time, half a year later, I had had no way of knowing that God would lead and guide me to get married and move to U.S.
Looking back, all of it was part of God’s loving plan: my father’s removal surgery, and his temporary dementia which caused me to spend time with my father alone, giving a chance to reach out to him with the gospel.
I am truly grateful for everything God has done for my father and me.
Naoko Asano