By Yanxiang, China
One morning in March, the sun was shining. Yanxiang bathed in sunshine felt pleasantly warm. Rambling about in the park, she saw the colorful flowers and trees arranged in the shape of circles and steps by gardeners standing neatly on both sides of the path. How beautiful! Some visitors to the park enjoyed the glorious view and stopped to smell the flowers, with a beaming smile. These sights were pleasing to Yanxiang so that she could not help but hum softly to herself. Looking up into the blue sky, she saw a flock of geese flying freely in the air, which made her feel very pleased. When she looked at these trees and flowers, her thoughts could not help drifting back to over ten years ago …
During that time Yanxiang lost her appetite, wanted to do nothing and even felt difficult to walk. After going to the hospital for an examination, she knew she came down with hepatitis B and that her liver had enlarged and was about 5.5cm bigger than before. In her case, she needed to be hospitalized for treatment. Then her family had no money, so her husband borrowed two hundred yuan from others in their village. She knew her illness could not be cured even if they spent all the money. Hence she went to a drugstore for some herbal medicine and took it for more than ten days. Once when she went to her mother’s, her father saw the herbal medicine that she took and said to her, “There are all kinds of herbs on the high mountain nearby.” Then he told the looks of the herbs to her.
After returning home, Yanxiang went to the mountain to gather those herbs: Radix Et Caulis Fissistigmae, Astragalus root, Fistular Onion, Chinese Brake Herb, honeysuckle, abrotanum, Japanese St. John’s wort Herb, spreading hedyotis herb and barbed skullcap herb. They can treat hepatitis, ascites due to cirrhosis, hepatomegaly and liver cancer, as well as clear heat and remove toxins. Yanxiang took the herbs for more than a month. Afterward, when she went to the hospital for a check-up, the doctor asked her in amazement: “You haven’t been hospitalized for treatment, but how can your condition improve so quickly?” After Yanxiang explained the reason, the doctor could not refrain from wondering at the magical effects of natural herbs. Hearing her illness went away, Yanxiang was so overjoyed. She could not help being thankful for these wondrous herbs and meanwhile feeling curious and confused: Why do these herbs have such magical effects? Were they really produced by nature?
That was until one day when Yanxiang came before the Creator and from God’s words she found the answer that she had been looking for. God’s words say: “In regard to the sources of food for the lives of mankind’s physical bodies, God has made very precise, very accurate and very suitable preparations, so that people’s lives are rich and plentiful and not lacking in anything. This is something people can feel and see. Additionally, among all things, whether it is animals, plants, or all kinds of grass, God also created some plants that are necessary to resolve harm or illness to the human body. What do you do, for instance, if you get burned? Can you wash it with water? Can you just find a piece of cloth somewhere and wrap it up? It might fill up with pus or get infected that way. What do you do, for instance, if you get scalded accidentally by a flame or by hot water? Can you flush it with water? For instance, if you get a fever, catch a cold, suffer an injury from physical work, a stomach ailment from eating the wrong thing, or develop certain diseases due to living habits or emotional issues, such as vascular diseases, psychological conditions or diseases of the internal organs—there are corresponding plants to cure all of these. There are plants that improve blood circulation to remove stagnation, relieve pain, stanch bleeding, provide anesthesia, help people recover normal skin, eliminate blood stasis in the body, and eliminate toxins from the body. In short, they can all be used in daily life. They are of use to people and have been prepared by God for the human body in case of need. Some of these were allowed by God to be inadvertently discovered by man, while others were discovered from certain special phenomena or by certain people prepared by God. Following their discovery, mankind would pass them down, and then many people would know about them. This way, God’s creation of these plants has value and meaning. In short, these things are all from God and were prepared and planted when He created a living environment for mankind. All of these things are very necessary.”
After reading God’s words, Yanxiang understood: As it turns out, the wondrous herbs that can cure various diseases were prepared by God for us humans. Not only did God prepare the necessary daily food for us, but He created the plants that can cure all kinds of illnesses. Moreover, He arranged the right opportunity to let us discover their various uses, and then we could get them to cure our illnesses and keep us healthy.
God’s consideration for our survival is very thoughtful and what He has prepared for us is complete and inexhaustible. All of this is His love and care for us. Before, Yanxiang didn’t know the mystery of God creating various herbs, but only knew every plant has its medicinal value. However, through reading God’s words and recalling her own experience—Hepatitis B being unexpectedly cured by the herbs, she felt behind the herbs was God’s concern and love for us.
God’s words say: “In all the things God does, there are perhaps many that He doesn’t talk about, instead doing them in silence; He does all things silently by means of His essence, His truthfulness, His faithfulness and His love. People may realize this, and then again they may not, but because of His essence He never feels any misgivings about anything He does, nor has He ever needed man to repay Him for anything, and nor has He ever hoped to gain anything from man; this is something no created being could do.”
Yanxiang was deeply moved by God’s words. God is silently doing everything for us and allows us to enjoy all abundance from God. But He never claims credit, demands anything from us, or asks for a reward from us. Only God can love us and show concern for us like this. Yanxiang sighed: In the past, I only knew to appreciate trees and flowers, breathe the fresh air and enjoy the warm sunshine, but didn’t know these things are all from God. And I was never thankful to God for His blessings, either. Just as a child is looked after by his parents but is unaware of his parents’ love. Therefore, Yanxiang swore an oath to perform her duty well and repay God’s love in the future.
