By Jingxin
After two years since my husband and I got married, we still couldn’t have a child, and only after all kinds of treatments did I get pregnant. After my daughter was born, her constitution was very bad. Besides, at that time it was winter and the weather was bitterly cold, so she caught a cold. In the beginning, she just had tiny coughs, but one evening a few days later, her cough got worse and worse. When she was coughing, she was moving her arms, and her breathing was quick and shallow, which seemed that the next moment she would be unable to catch her breath. I immediately became so scared that I started to panic. I thought, “It has been difficult for me to have this child. If something happens to her, how will I live?” Then I called my mother-in-law and asked her to find a doctor.
Over 10:00 p.m., the doctor came. After seeing my daughter’s condition, he said to me seriously, “Your child’s treatment can’t be delayed any longer. I suspect there is inflammation of the lung. You’d better take her to the county hospital.” After the doctor left, I helplessly watched how my daughter was suffering and all I could do was feel anxious and worried.
The next day, my mother came to my house. She fellowshiped to me, “Jingxin, we believe in God now, and so we should learn to pray to God and rely on God in everything. God is almighty and the child’s life and death are in God’s hands….” Before she could finish her words, I interrupted her and replied without getting too serious, “I get it.” But though I knew I should pray to God and rely on God when things happened to me, when I saw my daughter was so ill, I no longer had a heart that relied on God but instead just believed doctors would cure my daughter’s illness.
Therefore, my husband and I hurried to take our daughter to the county hospital by bus. When we got there, a doctor took an X-ray for my daughter. After seeing the X-ray, he asked us very seriously, “How long has your daughter been coughing?” I answered, “A week.” Hearing this, he shook his head and said, “She is too small and her treatment has been delayed for so many days. Now there is inflammation of both her lungs. Her condition is very serious. Our equipment at this hospital is not sufficient. I advise you to go to the municipal hospital.” What the doctor said caused me to feel extremely scared and I thought, “My daughter was only born over ten days ago. Could it be that I will lose her?” My heart was in agony as if it was tied in knots.
Then, we went straight to a pretty well-known hospital. Full of confidence, we walked into it and found an attending doctor. He looked at the results of my daughter’s examination, then directly refused us and said, “The best time for treatment has been missed because of your long delay, so it’s not easy to cure her illness. She is so small. You might as well go to other hospitals.” I was unwilling to give up and so asked him, “Can’t such a big hospital treat my daughter?” He answered, “Sorry. You’d better go to other hospitals. Don’t delay anymore!” For a moment, I felt like the sky was falling, and thought, “Who exactly can save my daughter?” But I still didn’t want to give up, so we went to one hospital after another. However, all of the doctors said that my daughter was too small, that they had never seen such a small child contracting such a serious lung disease, and that they really were powerless. Their words were the same as death sentences for my daughter. I became desperate. I dragged my heavy body, cradled my daughter I would lose at any time, and walked out of the last hospital step by step with my husband …
In the bitterly cold winter weather, we stood at the side of the road and waited for a taxi. Seeing everything before my eyes blankly, I recalled what had happened in the hospitals. Sorrow and distress were a weight so oppressive I could barely stand up. I thought, “Could it be that my daughter could only live for over ten days in this world? Why couldn’t those pretty well-known hospitals and famous and experienced doctors treat my daughter?” Thinking of this, I really wanted to cry loudly. Just as I was desperate and helpless, I remembered what my mother said before, “God is almighty. No matter what we encounter, we must rely on God and pray to God. As long as we sincerely rely on God, God will open a way for us.” I suddenly felt that I found a support. I prayed to God in my heart remorsefully, “O God! I am unworthy to come before You. Although I’ve believed in You for several months, I never truly believed in Your rule over the fate of mankind. When I encountered things, I had no faith to rely on You. When my daughter was sick, all I could think about was finding doctors, but I faced setback after setback. God! Now I’m willing to entrust my daughter’s illness to You. I am not worthy of making requests of You. No matter whether my daughter’s illness will be cured or not, I will obey Your orchestrations and arrangements without complaints….” After I finished praying, my heart calmed down a lot.
Then I remembered a passage of God’s words, “Almighty God, the Head of all things, wields His kingly power from His throne. He rules over the universe and all things, and He is in the act of guiding us on the whole earth. We shall at every moment be close to Him, and come before Him in quietness, never missing a single moment, and with lessons for us to learn at all times. Everything, from the surrounding environment to people, affairs, and things, all exist by permission of His throne. Do not on any account let grievances arise in your heart, or God will not bestow His grace upon you. When sickness befalls, this is God’s love, and surely His kind intentions are harbored within. Though your body may undergo a bit of suffering, entertain no ideas from Satan. Praise God in the midst of illness and enjoy God in the midst of your praise. Do not lose heart in the face of illness, keep seeking again and again and do not give up, and God will illuminate you with His light. How was Job’s faith? Almighty God is an all-powerful physician! To dwell in sickness is to be sick, but to dwell in the spirit is to be well. So long as you still have one breath, God will not let you die.” God’s words led me to realize: Everything is in God’s hands. When we encounter an issue, as long as we can be quiet before God, pray to Him, and seek His guidance, He will open a way for us. At that time, Job lost all of his immense wealth, all his children died, and he even had boils all over his body, but he remained full of faith in God, praised God’s holy name, and thus gained even greater blessings from God. However, when this illness befell my daughter, even though my mother fellowshiped with me and asked me to pray to and rely on God more, I didn’t listen; I had no faith to rely on God but instead could only think of depending on doctors. The facts had revealed how little my faith in God was. I had no place for God at all in my heart. Now, I wished to imitate Job, and sincerely entrusted my daughter to God. No matter whether her illness would be cured, I would submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements, and not blame God. After thinking of all this, I was no longer so worried about my daughter’s illness, and my heart was liberated and calm somewhat.
This was when my husband’s cell phone rang. After answering it, he said to me, “Let’s go to The Fifth Hospital. Although it is not well-known, our brother just now advised us to try it.” After we got there, a doctor asked my daughter’s condition and then admitted her. At that moment, I kept giving thanks to God in my heart, and couldn’t stop the tears of gratitude from falling down my face. I knew clearly that God had opened the way for us. Just as God’s words say, “My word is good medicine that cures all manner of illnesses. As long as you are willing to come before Me, I will heal you and allow you to see My omnipotence, My wondrous deeds….” “It is God’s authority and God’s mind that give rise to these laws, which shift and change according to His thoughts….” God is the Creator, and is the source of all life. God’s hands arrange everything, and His words are the guiding lights in my daily life. I thought of how I had gone from hospital to hospital these last over ten days, and how when the doctors gave my daughter death sentences and I had no path forward, God provided me with a way out. Through my actual experiences, I came to have some insight into and appreciation of God’s almightiness, sovereignty, and wonderful deeds. I wished only to come around to God, in the following days equip myself with God’s words diligently, practice and experience God’s words, use my experiences to bear witness to God’s almightiness and wonderful deeds for even more people, and repay God’s love!
After we completed the formalities for my daughter’s admission to hospital and got back into the ward, the others in the same ward asked about my daughter’s illness, and I told them how we had visited doctors. After hearing what I said, they all exclaimed that my daughter was saved from such serious illness and that she was extremely lucky. But I knew that it was God’s almightiness and sovereignty.
My daughter’s illness gradually got better and eight days later she was discharged. Before we left, the doctor told us, “You must pay attention to keep your daughter warm. She’s too small and moreover got pneumonia, so it’s very possible that she will suffer from the after-effects. If so, once she catches a cold, this condition will recur.” Hearing this, my heart suddenly clenched and I thought, “Why will her condition recur? Hasn’t she been cured?” When I started to feel worried and afraid once again, I remembered my experiences of seeking medical treatment along this path. I thought to myself, “At that time my daughter’s condition was so serious that every pretty well-known hospital refused to take her. It was God who practically put people, events and things into play to allow my daughter to be cured in this little known hospital. Isn’t this God’s almightiness? All things are in the hands of God. Whether my daughter’s condition will recur and how many sufferings she should encounter are beyond my control, because her whole life is ruled over by God.” After realizing all this, I silently prayed to God in my heart, “O God! No matter whether my daughter’s condition will recur, I will learn to rely on You and obey Your sovereignty and arrangements. I’m willing to pray to You and entrust my daughter’s condition to You.” After praying, I felt much calmer.
Afterward, my daughter gradually recovered, and became like the healthy children of the same age, and no longer suffered the torment of the illness. Through this, I actually saw God’s almightiness and sovereignty, and from the bottom of my heart, I realized more and more the true meaning of God’s words, “One arrives at certainty about God through experience.” Thank God.
