Su Yeo Lin

先母 林淑瑤姊妹 生平事略 林淑瑤姊妹生於ㄧ九二零年 八月十一日中國福建省福州市。九歲喪父,由任職校長的祖母林馬宜貞女士,獨力扶養長大(一子五女, 先母排行第三)。祖母原是「衛理公會」信徒,真道傳入福建後,蒙主揀選領受寶貴聖靈,遂帶全家受洗歸入真教會。其後因愛神、愛人、熱心善工,被教會按立為林猶利亞執事,曾代表參加1926年真耶穌教會全體信徒大會,及首屆神學會,也為子女打下正確的信仰基礎。年軽時的母親是個活潑幹練的時代青年,在中學是傑出的排球校隊隊長,抗日戰爭期間曽擔任該校學生疏散遷移隊伍總指揮,畢業後受過護士訓練。祖母參與孤兒院工作時,見到轄區警所年軽局長:先父林熙乾先生,遂引其歸主。ㄧ九四六年 母親與先父,在主内結為連理。次年先父隨政府舉家遷居台灣後,蒙神賞賜,育有二男二女。先母秉承中國傳統,是位典型的賢妻良母,勤儉持家,相夫教子。一九五六年,遷居基隆,母親感於當地無教會,乃極力主張讓先父以所持公司股份,換購住屋,以配合早期家庭聚會之需。甫自六零年代,聖靈在基隆動工建立教會時,讓母親在ー次禱告中,看見ー艘白色的閃亮遊艇駛入基隆港,此後更步步帶領母親參與聖工,其間數次從死亡邊緣蒙神拯救,一再親身體會主的大能大愛,都記錄在蒙恩見證錄音帶中。母親非常重視子女們的宗教教育,常用聖經故事,指導我們日常的生活行為。每當見到母親獨自跪在廰裏大聲流淚禱告時,就知道又有那個孩子犯錯不受教,或是她遇到無力解決的難題,或是為聖工的發展,正在呼求神的幫助。一九八三年,先父母移民至舊金山定居,間雲野鶴之際,對神的熱心從未減弱。最常聽到母親說的一句話就是:「感謝主! 」。 一九九ㄧ年起,母親独カ照顧患病的先父,達八年之久,任勞任怨,從未抱怨。 二零ㄧ二年,母親老邁,交談發生困難,情緒焦慮,健康漸走下坡,無法自理生活,靠着主的憐憫,雖曾多次在家中意外跌倒,幸均未造成骨折,真是主特別的恩待。二零ㄧ九年三月中旬,母親體力漸衰,遂由主治醫師申請入住療養院。原本以為要等上個把月,且可能在市區之外,但蒙主安排,三天內就得允,進住在居家附近的一間小型私人療養院。是年四月廿一日、母親到太平洋教會參加靈恩會,聖餐禮畢,母親情況變壞,即刻送返療養院,院中護士見情況危急,呼叫911轉送「加州太平洋醫療中心」。診斷結果是身體嚴重脫水,引發腎臟衰竭,及多處器官發炎,急救後,情況趨穩定。醫生告知,年邁病人不願吃喝,表示其生命已進入最後階段,要家屬做決定是否要繼續接受醫藥,勉強延續生命,或讓病人在舒適的照顧下,寧靜自然地,走完人生。我們子女對親愛年邁的母親,雖有太多的眷愛與不捨,但不忍令她再多受醫藥手術之苦。唯有勉強同意,讓母親照主旨意,走完人生最後一程。醫院因病床有限,欲將母親送回療養院,接受安寧照顧。我們子女固然不願母親在如此虛弱的情況下,再受顛簸之苦。經一再請求,及天父格外的垂憐,感動院方,再三延長母親住院的時間,最後終於決定在24日中午,要派車送母親回療養院。是日八時三十許,母親突然甦醒過來,並两度擡頭前傾,彷彿欲起身前行,隨後又安祥熟睡。想必是母親見到了天使,意欲起身追随。延至十時三十分,安祥熟睡中的母親,在兒女環繞下,即卸下世上ー切的勞苦病痛,在主懷中,長眠安息了。母親一生留給家人子孫,深長的愛,在主道上,亦留下美好的脚踪。記憶中母親永遠是孩子們信仰的支柱和榜樣。她對神忠貞,固守真理;對教會同靈則總以愛心關懷,真誠相待。家裏客廳,總掛着她牢記在心的祖母遺願:「同有一個心志,站立得穩,為所信的福音,齊心努力.」(腓一27)。値此同時,感念太平洋教會諸位弟兄姊妹,長執及傳道們,為主耶穌的緣故,多年來給予家母和我們一家人,時常的代禱,與諸多的愛心協助,我們衷心感謝,永誌不忘,也願主親自記念你們所付出的愛。此時我們雖悲傷不捨母親的離去,但仍齊聲地從心中讚美歡呼:「哈利路亞,感謝主!」願一切榮耀頌讚都歸我主基督耶穌,天上獨一的天父真神。阿們! BiographySu Yeo Lin was born on August 11, 1920, as the third child to Mr. and Mrs. Lin, of Fuzhou in Fujian, China. At the age of nine, her father passed away leaving her mother to care for their 6 children. Her mother (our grandmother), Yizhen Ma-Lin, was an elementary school principal and a devout Christian in the Methodist Church. After the Truth of the True Jesus Church was preached to Fujian, she was chosen by the Lord and received the Holy Spirit, resulting in her entire family receiving water baptism. Due to her love toward God and man as well as her fervency in sacred work, Grandma was ordained as Deaconess Julia Lin. She was later elected as a representative to attend the National True Jesus Church Conference in 1926 and the first Theological Seminary. All this established a solid foundation for the faith of her children, one of whom was our beloved mother, Sister Su Yeo Lin.Our mother was a dynamic, energetic and capable young lady. She was the captain of the volleyball team of her secondary school. During the Sino-Japanese War, she was tasked with the responsibility of the orderly dispersion and relocation of students during Japanese invasions. Upon graduation she went into nursing school.In 1946, our mother married the County Police Chief, Hsi-Chien Lin. Our father was originally brought to church by our grandmother when both were working as volunteers at an orphanage. After he accepted the Lord, grandma introduced him to my mother and the rest was history.The following year, our parents moved from Fujian to Taiwan as China fell behind the Iron Curtain. God blessed them with two sons and two daughters, and my mother transcended to be a model example of the traditional Chinese mother and wife, diligently taking care of her family, supporting her husband and teaching her children.In 1956, while residing in Keelung City, my mother lamented that there was no place of worship for the local believers of the True Jesus Church. She, then, encouraged my father to liquidate his company’s stock for a house to accommodate church services in the area. In the 1960s, the Holy Spirit started to move toward establishing a church in Keelung. My mother, in her prayer one day, saw a shining white boat sailing into the Keelung Harbour. From that point on, she was guided, step by step, in her proactive and diligent way in the Divine work. On several occasions, our mother was even miraculously brought back to life from her critical illnesses.From the time that we were young, our mother had always focused on our religious education. She often used Bible stories to teach us how to behave in our daily lives. Each time that we saw her praying alone in the living room with tears in her eyes, we knew that one of us must’ve misbehaved again, or she had encountered some difficult problems, or that she was praying for the Divine work.In 1983, our parents retired and brought their faith and hope for a new chapter of life to San Francisco. The words which we heard most often uttered by our mother were, “Thank the Lord!”In 1991, our father fell ill. Our mom single-handedly took care of him for 8 long years without uttering a single word of complaint to us. We still only heard words of praise and thanksgiving.In 2012, our aged mother started to experience increasing difficulty in verbal communication. She became anxious and her health gradually declined. At 92, she could no longer look after herself. She had taken a few tumbles, but she never suffered any fractures. This was indeed God’s special mercy and grace.In Mid-March of 2019, due to her deteriorating health, doctors advised us to place her in 24/7 professional nursing care. Usually, such facilities would take months to find. Moreover, the place may be outside the city. Nonetheless, thanks to God’s providential care, we managed to move her to a small private nursing facility within 3 days.On April 21st, our mother attended the semi-annual Spiritual Convocation at Pacifica Church. Following the Holy Communion, we noticed that mother was not quite right, so we brought her back to the home. The nurse noticed that her condition seemed critical and immediately called for an ambulance, which took her to CPMC at Davies. The diagnosis was severe dehydration, leading to multi-organ infections and kidney failure. She was put on antibiotics. A CT scan and chest X-ray later ruled out stroke, but her condition remained critical.The doctor explained that if an elderly person had no desire to eat or drink, then it was an indication that the end is near. We, as a family, were now confronted with the decision as to whether to continue with treatment for our mother or to focus on making her as comfortable as possible. Even though we dreaded to see her drift away and will miss her with all our hearts, we did not want her to continue to suffer from any further human interventions. Reluctantly, with heavy hearts, we decided to let our mother take the final steps in her journey according to God’s will.Because there was a shortage of beds and her condition, although critical, was relatively stable, the hospital staff wanted to send our mother back to the home. Not wishing our mother to be moved in her fragile state, we implored the doctors to extend her hospital stay. By God’s grace, the hospital granted our request on a daily basis. They decided that noon of April 24th would be the deadline to send our mother back to the convalescent hospital. Unanticipatedly, at 8:30am of that day, my mother suddenly woke up and lifted her head twice. She tried to lean forward as if to get up — as she might have seen an angel and meant to follow. At 10:30 am, April 24, 2019, our mother, surrounded by her children, finally rested from her earthly labours and was called peacefully back to the Lord at the age of 98.We contemplate and reflect upon the deep love and the exemplary life led by our late mother—she will always remain in our memories as the pillar of our faith and the best model for all those who knew her.Our mother, Su Yeo Lin, was faithful to God to the end. She was steadfast towards the truth and always caring towards the church brethren with a sincere heart. Still hanging in our living room is a poster with our grandma’s hope and inspirational words of instruction: “Standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel “(Phil 1: 27).We now look back with gratitude on how the brethren as well as the deacons and pastors of the Pacifica Church have prayed unceasingly for our mother showing our family love and support. We thank you and will never forget your kindness. May the Lord remember your love! Today, we are deeply saddened by the departure of our beloved mother, we still give praises to God with the words, “Hallelujah! Thank the Lord! May all the praise and glory be to our Lord Jesus, Hallelujah, Amen!”

Su Yeo Lin

August 11, 1920 - April 24, 2019