By Liu Lei
At about 11:00 a.m. on January 2, 2018, Wang Qiang was driving an electric tricycle home with a bed on it when he felt his chest was very painful, and it was hard to breathe. In less than one minute, he seemed to have suffered from shock and lost consciousness. He continued driving onward for about more than ten meters and only then did he regain consciousness. After resting for a while and praying to God, he felt a little better and then went on driving.
When Wang Qiang arrived before the gate of his house, he once again lost consciousness. With a crash, his tricycle hit the discarded bricks in front of the gate. That was when he came to himself, and found he had sweat all over his face, feeling very weak and miserable. He could only lean over his tricycle and keep praying to God, “O God! Today I have lost consciousness twice. It is Your protection that makes me safe and sound. I’m in great pain now, feeling tightness in my chest, as if to die. God! I commit myself to Your hand.” At this moment, Wang Qiang’s wife and children all came. Learning what had happened just now, his wife said, “Thank God! When driving the tricycle, you went into a shock twice, but nothing serious has happened. This is all because of God’s care and protection. Let’s rush to the hospital.”
Wang Qiang’s wife hurriedly drove him to a nearby hospital. The doctor in the Emergency Department gave him an electrocardiogram, and said, “You might have gotten acute myocardial infarction….” Shocked by these words, Wang Qiang thought, “I’m just 47 years old, and I’ve always been healthy. How come I got such a deadly disease? I don’t want to die. …” The more he thought, the more miserable he felt. He was very weak in his heart. In distress, he thought of God’s words: “While undergoing trials, it is normal for people to be weak, or to have negativity within them, or to lack clarity on God’s will or their path for practice. But in any case, you must have faith in God’s work, and not deny God, just like Job. Although Job was weak and cursed the day of his own birth, he did not deny that all things in human life were bestowed by Jehovah, and that Jehovah is also the One to take them all away. No matter how he was tested, he maintained this belief.” Under the guidance of God’s words, he knew that there was God’s permission when he encountered this sudden disease. Although he didn’t know God’s will, he was willing to experience God’s work, and to follow Job’s example by not complaining about God or denying Him but obeying all His orchestrations and arrangements. At that point, his heart calmed down a lot.
Afterward, Wang Qiang was sent to the intensive care unit, where he was given a supply of oxygen, connected with a vital signs monitor, and inserted IVs into his hand and foot. In the ICU, he was unconscious again. This time he went to a faraway place where it was dark and like the gate to hell and he couldn’t see anything. Just when he was entering it, he heard someone calling his name unceasingly, and then he awakened. He saw that the doctors and nurses were around his sickbed, that his children kept crying, and that the director held emergency medical equipment with a serious and nervous expression on his face. When the doctor saw him wake up, he said excitedly, “You’re awake! You’re awake! …” Wang Qiang clearly realized that it was because of God’s protection that he could wake up. He constantly called, “God! God! God! Almighty God …” However, he couldn’t utter a sound even though he bit through his tongue. Seeing this scene, the doctor told the nurse to use the sputum aspirator to suck the blood and sputa in his mouth. After that, he was able to say something slowly, but before he could say much he had fallen insensible again. The director immediately shocked his heart and only then did he come to life again. Wang Qiang deeply felt that death was drawing ever closer to him: Once his heart stopped, his life would come to an end. Even if he had much money, it couldn’t save him from danger, much less could it prolong his life by a single moment. At that moment, he clearly knew that it was God who saved him from the verge of death time and time again, and that God is his only salvation. He thought of God’s words: “Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things.” Recalling that he was able to be rescued miraculously from the jaws of death, he thought: “Doesn’t this show that living or dead things are all in God’s hands?” When he fought against disease, it was God who protected him and made him recover consciousness. He truly experienced the authority and great power with which God rules over everything.
Later, Wang Qiang saw that the director and the doctor called his family out to have a talk, he realized his disease was very serious. Not long after, he felt pain in his chest and vomited blood several times in succession, and there was blood all over his clothes and the sickbed and the floor. Seeing this, the doctors were afraid and urged his family to sign the consent form quickly so that they could operate on him, because Wang Qiang’s disease was very serious and must be treated at once. Hearing this, Wang Qiang was very nervous: “My condition is not good now. If I have an operation in such a small hospital where the medical skills of the doctors are ordinary and the sanitary conditions are not very good, will it be successful? What if I died on the operating table?” He couldn’t help but feel worried and scared, so he immediately prayed to God, “God! Today I had this disease suddenly and came to this hospital with less-advanced medical facilities. I feel rather worried. Whether I will be dead or alive, I give myself to You. The doctor can only cure my disease but can’t save my life. My life is in Your hands, and I’m willing to obey Your orchestrations and arrangements.” At this point, he suddenly recalled God’s words: “I am your strong tower, I am your shelter, and I am your backup. Moreover, I am your Almighty One; I am your all! Everything is in My hands.” “Faith is like a single log bridge: Those who cling abjectly to life will have difficulty in crossing it, but those who are ready to sacrifice themselves can pass over, sure of foot and worry-free. If man harbors timid and fearful thoughts, it is because Satan has fooled them, afraid that we will cross the bridge of faith to enter into God.” God’s words gave Wang Qiang faith and power, and he came to understand that God is his rear guard, and that whether the operation would succeed or not, it was decided by God. Without God’s permission, he would not die. Just like he had gone to the gate of hell a moment before, but because God didn’t allow him to die, he still came to himself under God’s protection. “Now I feel timid and fearful, it’s because I’m being fooled by Satan. I see that my faith in God is too small and that I can’t commit myself to God completely or obey God until death and I’m still unable to have complete faith in Him. I’ve experienced God’s wonderful deeds and have seen God’s great power twice when I was dying. How come that I still don’t have faith in God? Today, facing the operation, I have timid and fearful thoughts, it’s because of Satan’s fooling. I can’t fall into Satan’s tricks.” At that moment, he had the power and faith to face the operation and felt much calm. Then he asked his wife to sign the consent form and was ready to undergo the operation.
At 6:00 p.m. on that day, Wang Qiang was wheeled into the operation room. He pondered God’s words, and without his awareness the operation began. After a while, the operation was smoothly finished. Wang Qiang was transferred to the ICU. The director and doctor said to him, “Before the operation, we have continually rescued you twice and you really scared us. Your disease is very special, but you are so lucky. Many patients before you have failed to be rescued, but you can be saved and are still conscious, this is a miracle.” The patients in the same ward said, “You are so lucky, man….” Hearing their words, Wang Qiang clearly knew that his operation could be so successful that he could be saved, it was not because he had a good fortune, but because God protected him. It was God who gave him a second life and saved him from the gate of hell time after time. He gave thanks and praises to God from his heart.
During this experience, he strongly felt that only when he genuinely called on God and relied on Him, and only when he had God’s words as his power, could he have the confidence to face this sudden disease. Recalling these scenes at the life-and-death moment today, Wang Qiang couldn’t help but sigh with emotion: God practically is by my side; I have truly seen God’s great power and God’s authority, and truly felt that God is real and alive. Therefore, he sincerely offered his thanks and praises to God. He also made a resolution that for the rest of his life he must pursue the truth and must do his utmost to fulfill his duty as a created being to repay God’s love.
