Freida

Sometimes God sends angels to walk amongst our midst. Freida was one of those angels. 

I remember that terrible time in South Korea when I was temporarily left out of the hostel. With nowhere to stay and no one to turn to, I basically just gathered up my courage and asked a total stranger in the females dorm's lift, whether she could take me in for a few nights. That kindly, generous, motherly soul was Freida. I practically cried tears to God for sending me an angel to help me. Those nights, I slept peacefully on the mattress in her room, knowing I was in a safe place. We spent some time talking, about her family in Africa, about her kids and how lucky she was to get a scholarship to study overseas so that her family would have a better future when she got back home.

I seldom ever saw her again after I got my own dorm room. Maybe sometimes in the lifts, maybe in the school corridors, maybe at church. And after that she left, back to Africa, and I, back to Malaysia. Our paths never crossed again. 

Today I woke up to some bad news in my Facebook newsfeed. I read that she had passed on on Monday. But, like one of her friends wrote on her Timeline, we take comfort in the fact that she had known the Lord and is now together with our Heavenly Father.