By Wang Hui
In the Spring of 2015, Wang Min left her home to run some errands one day and came back to find her son Linlin sitting on his bed looking very pale. He was holding his stomach with both hands and he kept vomiting. Wang Min hurried over and asked, “Linlin, what’s wrong?” Linlin replied in a low voice, “Mom, my stomach really hurts.” Wang Min rubbed his stomach and said, “Did you catch a cold in the night, or have you eaten something bad?” As she said this, she looked in a drawer and found some stomach medicine and gave it to Linlin. She thought to herself: My 25-year-old son isn’t that delicate, so he’ll be better soon with a bit of medicine. Unexpectedly, however, the pain in Linlin’s stomach did not improve, but instead got worse and worse. He was in such pain that his whole head was covered in sweat, and he kept crying out, “Mom, it hurts so bad!” Wang Min hurriedly called for the village doctor.
When the doctor got there, he gave Linlin some medicine and inserted a drip to treat his stomach pain. But by midnight that night, Linlin was still vomiting and suffering from diarrhea, and the sweat from his head was running down his cheeks and back. Linlin knelt on his bed continually vomiting, in such pain that he was crying loudly. Seeing her son like this made Wang Min incredibly anxious, and she thought: “This isn’t an ordinary stomach ailment. Could it be acute gastritis?” Seeing her son’s condition get more and more serious, Wang Min rushed out to find her elder sister and brother-in-law, and together they drove Linlin to the hospital as fast as they could.
When in Dire Straits, One Only Has a Way Forward by Relying on God
By the time they got to the hospital, it was already gone seven in the morning. That day was a Sunday and there were many patients at the hospital, all queuing for their turn. Linlin was crouched in a corner vomiting continually, unable even to speak. Seeing her son like this, Wang Min felt so distressed, like a knife was stabbing at her heart, and she hoped that the queue would move quickly so that her son could be seen, but when she saw so many people there, she had no idea when they would get to the front of the queue. Wang Min was incredibly anxious and didn’t know what to do. All she could do was call silently on God in her heart: “O God, seeing my son with such a serious illness and in such pain, I feel such distress and I don’t know what to do for the best. I don’t know when we’ll get to the front of the queue, either. O God, please open up a way for me!”
Just then, someone in the crowd saw that Linlin was terribly ill, and said to the other patients, “We’re not as sick as this young man. Let him get seen first!” When everyone heard this, they made way, and Wang Min kept saying, “Thank you all!” She felt incredibly moved just then, for she had seen God’s deeds. In her heart, she kept thanking God, and she thought of God’s words: “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. This is the way in which God presides over all things.” “Yes,” she thought, “all things are created by God and God rules and arranges them all. This scene that had played out just now at the hospital appeared on the surface to be just people’s good intentions, but actually it was God’s sovereignty and arrangements at work.” From the bottom of her heart, Wang Min thanked God for opening up a way for her!
Wang Min quickly asked her brother-in-law to carry Linlin into the infirmary. After the doctor had examined Linlin and carried out some tests, he said very gravely to Wang Min, “Your son is very sick. He has acute pancreatitis. Fluid has accumulated in his chest and abdomen; his heart rate is many times faster than normal and he is in constant danger of losing his life. Let him stay here under observation. Moreover, you should think about making preparations. We’ll keep him here under observation for 24 hours, and if his condition improves in that time, then there is hope that he will get better. If there is no improvement, then he must be transferred to another hospital. With this type of illness, necrosis of the pancreas is highly probable, and that is not an easy thing to treat no matter how much money you spend …” Hearing the doctor say this, Wang Min felt as though her head had been struck by a sledgehammer, and she could hear a constant buzzing in her ears. Her tears slipped down over her cheeks, and she said to herself, “How could my son get such an illness so suddenly?” At that moment, she thought about how her son had only just turned 25, about how he’d lived the poor student life for over 10 years before finally finding a good job. Happy days had only just begun for him. Now he had suddenly contracted such a serious illness, and if something bad happened to him, what would she do? In that instant, Wang Min felt that all hope was lost.
Just then, Wang Min called out to God: “O God! My son has contracted a serious illness and I don’t know what to do for the best. I feel so low and weak, and so helpless. O God! If my son can’t be cured, I don’t know if I’ll be able to carry on. Please give me faith and strength.” These words of God then came into her mind: “You shouldn’t be afraid of this and that. No matter how many difficulties and dangers you face, you shall remain steady before Me; … I am your strong rock, rely on Me!” “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. If you have but one breath, God will not let you die.” God’s words increased Wang Min’s faith a hundredfold, her heart felt at ease and she felt that she had support. “Yes indeed,” she thought. “God is my support! God is the almighty one true God, and He is the almighty physician. Why aren’t I relying on God and looking to Him? Thinking back to those early days, Lazarus had been dead for four days already and his body had begun to rot. But one word from God and he came out from his tomb—this was God’s great power! God controls man’s life and death, and He controls Linlin’s life. If God does not allow Linlin to die, then he will not die so long as he had one breath left.”
Thinking of this, Wang Min walked over to Linlin and held her son’s hand. In a soft voice, she said to him, “Illness has befallen us, but we must not misunderstand and blame God. For better or for worse, it’s in God’s hands. You and I both believe in God, and we have to rely on God and call on God with our hearts.” Hearing this, Linlin gently nodded his head. In her heart, Wang Min beseeched God, asking Him to protect her heart so that she would be able to submit to His orchestrations and arrangements, and she wished to entrust God completely with her son’s life and death. At that moment, her heart no longer felt so sad.
In Despair, God Is Our Strong Backup
After completing the formalities for Linlin’s admission to hospital, he was arranged a bed and a nurse came to set him up with an IV. The nurse said to Wang Min, “Your son must not eat or drink anything for seven days.” After the nurse had left, the attending doctor came over and unexpectedly said to Wang Min, “I’ve consulted with a specialist, and your son is currently in constant danger of losing his life. We’ve lost many people with the same illness as your son here in this hospital. We can only keep him under observation for one night and hope for a miracle. Whether he gets better or not depends on his luck …”
When the doctor had finished speaking, Wang Min felt very weak and extremely grieved. When she thought of how her son could be gone at any moment, tears fell freely from her eyes, and her legs felt so wobbly that she couldn’t walk. When she got to the ward to see her son, she saw his whole body filled with tubes and his face as white as a sheet. He looked as though he was breathing his dying breath and his eyes were shut tight. Wang Min felt pain stab her heart and she ran to the toilet and burst into tears. In her ears there resounded the words the doctor had said to her: “We’ve lost many people with the same illness as your son….”
The more she thought about it, the more afraid she became, as though death was pressing near to her son. Once again, she called on God in prayer: “O God! I feel so helpless and afraid and I won’t be able to endure the blow of losing my son. I really don’t know how to face it all. I ask You to protect my heart so that I don’t leave You. Please guide me and give me faith.” After praying, Wang Min thought of God’s words: “Who of the whole of mankind is not cared for in the eyes of the Almighty? Who does not live in the midst of the Almighty’s predestination? Whose birth and death come from their own choices? Does man control his own fate?” “Yes! All creatures great and small throughout the universe, and the life and death of mankind, are all in God’s hands! Only God is the all-powerful Sovereign who controls man’s life and death. God gave my son life, so whether or not he will survive and the power to decide between life and death is not in the doctors’ hands, much less is it up to me, but rather it rests with God’s predestination, orchestrations and arrangements. Thinking back to those early days, Job lost a mountain of sheep and cattle, and he lost all his property and wealth as well as his children. But Job knew that everything he had possessed had been bestowed on him by God, and he knew that he should submit both when God gives and when He takes away. Job revered God in his heart and, when he faced such a great trial, he did not blame God or abandon God, but he praised God from the bottom of his heart, saying, ‘Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah’ (Job 1:21). Though I can in no way be compared to Job, faced with my son’s life hanging by a thread, I want to emulate Job and submit to God’s arrangements.” When Wang Min thought this way, the pain in her heart became greatly lessened …
God Grants Miracles to the Faithful
Wang Min stayed awake all that night and didn’t close her eyes once in 24 hours, until it was five or six the next morning. At that time, the doctor came cheerfully into the ward and said to Wang Min, “Your son’s heart rate has stabilized, and his condition has begun to improve! There’s no need to worry anymore. To be honest, this really is a miracle! Among those who died in this hospital with the same illness as your son, their condition was not as bad as your son’s when they arrived here, and we treated them with the same medicine as we used to treat your son, but none of them got any better. I had thought that your son was so sick that there was no hope of his recovery because, apart from his prostate, all his other organs were affected. He really has escaped from death and must be very lucky. He’s been to hell and back, but you can now rest assured!” Wang Min listened to the doctor say this and was so happy that tears filled her eyes. She kept thanking God in her heart, for she knew that this was all God’s protection. Just as God’s words say: “Almighty God is an all-powerful physician! … If you have but one breath, God will not let you die.” That her son had been able to make it through to safety was entirely due to the grace of God!
Wang Min’s son then opened his eyes and he stretched forth both his hands. With one hand, he pulled his mother close and with the other, he wiped her tears from her face, and said to her soothingly, “Mom, thanks to God’s protection, I feel a lot better. Don’t worry.” And she said to her son, “I’m so happy. You’re recovering because God saved you. Let’s give thanks to God!” He nodded.
The next day, a female patient in her thirties was moved opposite Linlin, and from the moment she entered the room, she didn’t stop crying. Wang Min heard afterward that the woman had the same condition as Linlin, and she saw that her condition was a lot less severe than Linlin’s. But a few days later, she was near death. Her family implored the doctors, saying that they would pay any cost so long as their daughter-in-law could be saved. In the end, however, after transferring her to the provincial hospital and spending over 100 thousand yuan, they were still unable to save her life.
Wang Min thought about this female patient: She had contracted the same illness as her son, had been given the same medicine, and her family was rich. But no amount of money could have saved her life, whereas, with God’s protection, her son was now out of the woods. At that moment, Wang Min came to a profound appreciation of God’s love and care for them, and in her heart, she silently thanked God for His protection.
Her Son Recovers Under God’s Guidance
Wang Min’s son stayed in hospital for two weeks and his strength gradually returned. He also began to be able to get out of bed and walk around, and he could eat normally again. Seeing her son recovering his health gradually day by day, a smile finally shone from Wang Min’s face. That her son could escape death and recover so quickly was all by the grace of God! After two weeks, the doctor told Wang Min that she could take her son home. The weather that day was unusually splendid, and a fiery red sun shone in the sky. Wang Min and her son left the hospital and took the bus back home.
On their way home, Wang Min came to deeply appreciate that whether someone lived or died was not up to the doctors, and that someone’s life could not be saved either by money or affection; God had the final say on life and death, and only God was man’s support! Thinking back to each time the doctor gave her son a “death sentence,” it had been God’s words that had given Wang Min faith and courage time and time again and enabled her to staunchly face up to her son’s illness, and her heart had been eased of its pain. From these events, Wang Min saw the Creator’s authority and power, and she came to firmly believe that, no matter what happened, as long as one sincerely relied on God and looked to Him, then God would grant His guidance, leadership and protection, and one would then be able to witness God’s wondrous deeds. All the glory be to God.
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