The story of Job, a man from the East, a few thousand years ago appears to be repeated in the life of Brenda Yong who, despite facing some of the toughest challenges in life, found peace in the eye of the
storm…
To many who espouse Feng Shui, 2016 would have been an inauspicious year for Brenda Yong Sook Kwan, but despite a triple tragedy which rocked her family, the then 42-year-old Licensed Financial Advisor found peace in the eye of the storm.
Many people would have caved in when faced with similar tribulations in life, but Brenda found new strength when forced to overcome such tragedies herself. She instead became a more resilient woman and resolved to help more people to achieve financial freedom.
To get to where she is today, the Group Managing Director of KP Financial Group, testified that nothing could happen to her unless her God permitted it.
“I recognise the sovereignty of God in my life,” she said. “Without His permission, nothing could have happened, and I know He meant it for my good.”
Hailing from Seremban, the mother of three went through a series of fiery trials with her children and husband, after her own mother’s medical bills gobbled up her savings. “We had to sell our property and pawn the gold in order to cover Mom’s medical expenses.”
That was around 2003, and her mother has since passed on, but before Brenda could take a breather, she had to go through the trauma of seeing her own children in pain. If compiled into a book, it would have been one chapter commencing immediately before the previous chapter had even concluded.
That Year 2016
At 8.08am that morning of March 20, 2016, 13-year-old Charlene Tan was screaming in agony, after a gas explosion was heard from the kitchen of their condominium in Bandar Sri Damansara.
Brenda and her husband, Robert Tan Kair Thiam dashed into the kitchen to find their daughter ablaze. Helping to put off the fire, the whole incident happened so suddenly that they could do nothing to help Charlene.
She had unknowingly turned on the gas stove, when she was supposed to turn it off, after discovering a gas leak. Before she realised it, it had sparked off an explosion. “Mom, this is painful, this is painful!” she screamed at the top of her voice. “Every drop of her tears was yelling out, ‘I need help, Mom!’”
“We could only rush her to the nearest hospital,” Brenda recalled, as she shared her story to an audience of a thousand during a TEDx talk in Bangsar on the evening of June 2, 2019, three years later.
There were boils all over her skin. For the next 26 days, Brenda’s husband, Robert Tan accompanied his daughter to the Intensive Care Unit of KPJ Hospital in Damansara Utama.
The accident happened during the hot spell brought about by the El Nino – El Nina climatic phenomenon that year. On April 5, similar explosions caused by gas leak at two separate restaurants at Mid Valley Megamall had also injured eight persons.
Just four months after the explosion, on July 5, that same year, Robert suddenly collapsed and became unconscious. His brother rushed him to KPJ Hospital, and by the time he arrived at the emergency centre, he had passed on. He had suffered a sudden heart attack.
“This was truly unexpected. He was usually very fit, a muscular, six-footer kind of a man,” Brenda’s expression was one of disbelief as she described her late husband. “Who could have believed that he died of a heart attack? The biopsy showed that one of his arteries had 100% blockage.”
At the wake services over the next three days, hundreds of people turned up. “I realised that I was bearing in my heart a sense of guilt which was already eating into me,” Brenda admitted. “Three or four days of guilt was enough to make me nearly breathless. Every four hours, I would have a panic attack, which was something very serious.
“Robert once asked me a question, ‘Do you think you have married the wrong person?’ I had no answer. So, I just did not reply to him. I did not know that guilt could really kill you until my pastor addressed it specifically. I confessed this before the Lord and cast my guilt upon Him. I felt God was speaking to me and I knew that up to the point of Robert’s death, I had given him my best as a wife.”
She broke down in tears, as she cried before her God. “I experienced a deep peace within my soul like I have never experienced before,” she said.
Another Crisis
Just a month after Robert’s funeral, their eldest son, Dixon Tan, who was 14, started developing some big lumps – as big as golf balls – all over his body. Very soon, there were patches on his body, which contained lots of pus.
“This is probably because his stress level was very high due to the various crises that we were facing in the family. Even I could not take it myself. The doctor said that Dixon’s condition was serious,” Brenda teared, as she recalled the trauma the family had to go through.
“Throughout this period, because I had to cope with so many things, Dixon had to walk about 14 kilometres to the clinic to pick up the medicine himself,” she added. “For someone at his age to cope with the death of his father and seeing his sister getting burnt, and I had to rush in and out of the hospital, I can understand what Dixon had to go through.”
“I was desperate. My husband was no longer by my side. I was wondering where my help was going to come from.”
Brenda just felt totally helpless. Looking to the right and to the left, she could not find any help. “I was desperate. My husband was no longer by my side,” she described her feelings during that moment as she listened to the doctor at the hospital. “I was wondering where my help was going to come from.”
By then, Brenda felt as if everything in her private world had just collapsed. There was a sudden surge of panic and she was stuttering as the skin specialist continued with his prognosis.
“We have to carry out an emergency surgical removal of these lumps; if not, this can seriously harm his body,” the doctor said.
Every part within her began to shout out for help. She felt a sharp pain on her left chest. “I thought this only happens in movies,” she said. “As I was listening to the doctor’s explanation, I suddenly felt the pain inside my chest. I could not speak. For once, I felt like I was in a movie when the doctor broke the bad news, some of the actors and actresses thump their chest whenever their stress level is high.”
Thankfully, the operation went well and Dixon fully recovered, but again it was only a short breather.
Another Storm
Just when she thought that the storm had passed, her six year-old daughter, Ashley suddenly had a severe asthma attack.
“Just when she was coughing badly and having difficulties in breathing, ” Brenda continued, “I was having too much stress and pressure that my body was unable to cope anymore. This caused me to have very heavy bleeding due to the thickening of the wall of the womb. At 42, my hair was already turning white all over.”
Due to successive episodes, things were happening so fast to her that she felt like she was no longer able to cope anymore.
“While Ashley had her asthma attack, I lost a lot of blood. I realised that I was only on 5.8 pints (2.7 litres) of blood, compared to the average adult with 12 pints (5.7 litres). At any time, I knew I could collapse. I needed several rounds of blood transfusion.”
While Ashley was crying for help that morning, Brenda had collapsed on the toilet floor, feeling helpless, because she herself was in deep pain. Thankfully, she was able to reach the phone to call her personal assistant to contact the ambulance and a church member, Jane Chow.
When Jane arrived, she immediately ferried Ashley and Brenda to the emergency centre at KPJ Hospital. “Then came the support and help from the rest of my cell mates such as Lee Peng, Seh Wan, Hooi Li and subsequently, the rest of the other lovely and helping hands,” she smiled, as she recalled how her church members had offered practical help.
“Can you even imagine that mother and daughter were lying down in the same ward, with intravenous tubes all over the body? My eyes were tearing as I saw how helpless I felt,” Brenda said as tears rolled down her eyes. “As I was looking at Ashley, I had to ask myself, ‘Will I be able to raise my three children without a father? Will my health continue to deteriorate?’ ”
“I didn’t even get the space to breathe. Within a span of only five months, after the explosion in March, Robert’s sudden death in July, and in August, Dixon’s surgery.”
During these moments of despair, it was one desperate cry for someone who could lift her out of her situation. “All that was within me began to yell out,” she said. “If there was someone who could lift me up from the pit, that someone, please help me!”
As an industry leader and trailblazer in the finance industry, she never felt the need to be authentic to her pain inside, or being vulnerable, but now, she was on the verge of giving up all hope. While some would blame it on their Zodiac sign, or the feng shui of the year, Brenda instead surrendered her life to Jesus.
“One thing I realised is that, whenever you are feeling lonely, and down, the only one that you can turn to is God, and God alone,” added Brenda.
After having postponed her operation for several months, finally, on February 14, 2019, Brenda agreed to carry out the hysterectomy to remove the womb.
The Turnaround
It was during this period of trauma and hopelessness that Brenda experienced the love of God beyond what she could ever imagine. Practical love shown by her church and the community of believers in other countries encouraged her to move on with life.
“I have a group of pastors and friends in Hong Kong who were praying for me,” she shared. “They were following my regular updates on the WhatsApp platform, and when they learnt about what I was going through, they raised some funds to buy air tickets for my children so that they could visit Hong Kong. Yes, they needed a short break. I felt God’s love mobilising the bigger Christian community even beyond Malaysia.”
The single mothers’ support group from her church also cooked for the children when Brenda was hospitalised. “The family of God really provided me with the practical support that I needed,” said the Financial Adviser Representative (FAR) accredited by Bank Negara. “For this reason, I am determined to help single mothers to find financial independence.”
Holding on to the promise from God, Brenda went in for the computed tomography (CT) scan, feeling assured that God was with her throughout the traumatic period.
As soon as she consumed the barium sulfate contrast suspension, she vomited it out. “My body was already at the breaking point,” she admitted. “I could not take the suspension as my body rejected it.”
Quoting Hebrews 13:5 from the Bible, Brenda said God was with her all the time, “for He Himself has said, ‘I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,’ and with Him, there is absolute certainty.” This brought about comfort and peace beyond her comprehension as she kept meditating on God’s promises.
Hebrews 13:5-6
Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?”
“This was very comforting to know,” she testified. “I told God that I could not continue drinking and vomiting the suspension like that. I knew I had to drink it, and complete the CT scan and God helped me pull through. I found peace in the eye of the storm. While I was in the CT machine, I began to understand what Paul wrote to the Philippian church – `the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.’”
The operation was successful, and Ashley’s health was gradually restored. When Brenda was later invited to speak to the audience at a TEDx function in Bangsar, the Capital Market Service Representative’s License (CMSRL) holder said that she was blessed to have found the Kingmaker in her life – someone who groomed her to become the person she was meant to be.
“He is none other than Jesus Christ, the great redeemer and restorer,” she ended the interview on a high note.
NOTE: This story was first published in the book Same God Different Stories that was written by Stephen Ng and published in late 2021. It is only one of 9 powerful testimonies contained in that book. Stephen shares that the primary purpose he wrote the book is to demonstrate that God is at work in Malaysia even in the toughest situations. He also conveys that the book serves as an evangelical tool and encourages Christians to get copies of the book to give to their love ones and invite them to your church’s Easter service. English and Chinese editions are available for outreach where we have the disadvantage of not being able to share the gospel in the language.
Same God Different Stories is available now at Canaanland at RM18 per copy, or for 10 copies, the price is reduced to RM15 per copy. For bulk purchases, please write to Stephen.Ng.Author@gmail.com. To find out more about the book, read our review on https://christianitymalaysia.com/wp/book-review-same-god-different-stories-by-stephen-ng/
While Stephen is a regular and generous contributor to Christianity Malaysia, he is an independent writer and while Christianity Malaysia encourages the purchase of the book for evangelical purposes, all efforts connected with the book, whether in production or sales, are independent from Christianity Malaysia.
About Stephen Ng: Stephen Ng is a well-known and published writer of various books about local/Malaysian Christian issues and the Hebrew Language. He has written for many years, and among the recent books he has published include Where Is Pastor Raymond Koh? and You Can’t Read Hebrew? Let Me Prove You Wrong.
Stephen also manages a blog site at https://stephenngtheologicalmusings.blogspot.com/
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