Robbed!!!

About a month ago, my family and I were robbed at our home at 4.30am. I was soundly asleep when I was rudely awakened by 4 robbers who had entered my bedroom, after breaking in through the kitchen grills. They covered their heads and faces using our t-shirts which were hanging out to dry at the backyard. The gangleader was the only one who spoke to us most of time. He threathened to harm with the clever knife in his hand. They bound my hands and told me to wake the rest of my family - my son, daughter, mother and mother-in-law. My husband was in Seremban at that time. After that, they ransacked our rooms and took away all our valuables - cash, jewellery, lap-top, camera, 4 hand-phones, badminton racquets and shoes.

During the robbery, which lasted about 30-45min, I was filled with the peace of God. I was convinced God was with us and that He was still in control, even though there were evil men around us. I kept praying that He will protect us from bodily harm and He did!!! God even gave me the words to say so that the robbers will not bind my mother-in-law's hands at the back of her because her shoulders were experiencing pain and they were compassionate enough to agree. Because of that, she was able to free the binds on her leg easily and able to walk to her sewing-machine to get a pairs of scissors to cut the binds on my son's hands. He then freed the rest of us. Also when I saw my waist-pouch worn across the chest of the gang-leader, I was calm enough to bargain with him, to ask him to take the money inside but to leave my documents behind. He cooperated! Thanks to God !It saved me from alll the hassle if I had to report the loss and get replacement of all my bank cards, identity card, driving license,etc.

As soon as my son cut the binds on my hands and legs, I called 911. But the policewoman on the line told me to call 103 to get the telephone number of the police station closest to me. When I threatened to report her unwillingness to help me, she relented and connected me to the Kuching police station. Within 10 min after that call, the police arrived at my house to investigate the robbery. They found the entry point- a cut chain-link fence at the back of my house and a cut iron grill at my kitchen.They found the robbers' weapon - the cleaver knife on my bed and tried in vain to get the finger-prints of the robbers. They found the sock which was worn by the robbers to prevent finger-prints being left behind. A sniffer dog was brought to my house to sniff out the scent of the robbers and it led to the back lane onwards to the adjacent road and the trail of scent ended. The neighbours were questioned by the police. My family and I were also questioned many times regarding the details of the robbery. Despite the flurry of investigative activities, there is no trace of the robbers to this day.

After the robbery, my daughter who is most traumatised by it has been sleeping with my husband and I till today. Hopefully, after our new fence is built and extra iron grill installed at the top of our stairs, and the alarm system of the house fully functioning, my daughter will feel safe enough to sleep in her own room again. May God heal her completely of the trauma she had gone through and take away all her fears and enable her to trust Him again. God had never left her, even during the robbery but she needs to be reassured of God's abiding presence with her and be courageous again like she used to be. She still talks and make noise often in her dreams. She says she does not dream about the robbery but had other types of bad dreams, eg huge spiders.

Guess what? 2 weeks after the robbery, my husband lost his wallet with all his documents while we were watching a movie. It was very stressful, having to cancel the bank cards and going to report the loss of his documents and running around to the different places to replace them. Even though the wallet was found 2 days later, all the hard work had been done. We are grateful, though, that it was found in answer to our prayers and there were many more cards inside that we do not have to replace. Wonderful to know that God is with us through it all!