By Liu Min

Every one of us will encounter several things that become inscribed on our memory in our lifetime and every detail of them is always our unforgettable memory. In my lifetime, what is most unforgettable is that a serious illness nearly took my son’s life but in the end he was out of the woods and miraculously survived.

One day, when my son was 10 years old, he got a sudden high fever and kept bleeding from his nose, so I took him to a local clinic to see a doctor. The doctor said: “The child’s temperature has reached 39ºC, and he needs to receive intravenous therapy for several days. He will be fine after inflammation goes down.” Hearing the doctor say this, I thought: “If my son just needs intravenous drips, it’s probably not serious.”

But to my surprise, a week later, my son’s illness was still no better. Seeing this, the doctor anxiously said: “You’d best go to the municipal hospital quickly for a checkup to see what disease your son has.” Only then did I begin to get nervous, and I was afraid that my son had a disease that was difficult to cure. But at the same time, I remembered that I was a Christian, and that I should seek the Lord and rely on the Lord when I encountered situations. So I hurried to pray to the Lord: “O Lord, I don’t know what disease my son has or whether he is in danger, but I believe that all things and all events are under Your rule and arrangements. I am willing to entrust my son’s illness to You. May You lead me. Amen!” After praying, my heart felt much more at ease and much calmer and I was not as tense because I had the Lord to rely on. Then my husband and I took our son to the municipal hospital. The doctor there very quickly gave my son some basic treatment such as inserting fluids to diminish inflammation, and then he made a further examination.

While waiting for the results to come back, my son’s illness was still very serious. His temperature reached over 39ºC and he still kept bleeding from his nose. Seeing that he got no better but grew worse, I felt his illness was surely not a minor one. A week later, the results of my son’s examination came back. My husband told me, “Our son gets terminal lymphoma. The doctors said that they had no way to save him and that if we insisted on having him cured, we would lose both our son and our money.” As soon as I heard what my husband said, I was immediately dumbstruck and my entire body became limp. So, I hurried to prop myself against the wall and sit on a chair beside me. I thought to myself: “I only have this one son. He just turned 10 but has suffered such a fatal illness. If he dies, how will I live? …” In this extreme torment, I rushed to kneel down and pray: “O Lord! I have no one to lean on now. I beg You to give me faith so that I can stand firm in this environment.” After my prayer, I became much stronger in spirit. Then, I said to my husband, “As long as there’s a breath of life in our child, we should pay any price for his treatment.” Later on, we had our son transferred to the Provincial People’s Hospital.

The doctor there said: “To be honest, the survival rate for the same situation as your son’s is only 25%. Whether he can recover depends on his luck. I hope you’re able to prepare yourselves, just in case.” At this point, even though I heard that my son’s chances of survival were slim, I was not so timid or afraid because I believed that as long as I had faith in the Lord, He would lead me through this difficult time. Also, I thought of the Lord’s words: “For truly I say to you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matthew 17:20). From the Lord’s parable of the mustard seed, I realized that faith is so powerful that it can create many miracles because this faith is from the Lord Jesus, and that only when I pray to the Lord Jesus and rely on Him more can I establish true faith. Thank the Lord! When I prayed to Him, relied on Him and was full of faith in Him, my son’s fever came down bit by bit and about two weeks later it receded. At that time, I became full of gratitude and praise for the Lord. But in order to increase my faith, the Lord continued to give me a trial.

During my son’s second course of chemotherapy treatment, he had a fever of 40ºC and kept bleeding from his nose. When the doctor saw this, he shook his head and left the ward looking disappointed. Noticing the doctor’s expression, I felt such extreme pain and thought: “Could it be that my son really will leave us?” Just as I was in pain and weak, several brothers and sisters came to the hospital to visit my son and me. They said, “We should rely on the Lord more. The Lord wants our faith. We must believe in His great power. Back in the days when the Lord Jesus came to work, there was a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years. She couldn’t be cured by anyone but when she touched the hem of the Lord’s garment, her flow of blood stopped immediately. This could only be achieved by having true faith in the Lord. So our faith must strike its roots into Christ as the rock and we must stand firm and not be unwavering. Now your son’s condition gets worse again; this is the Lord testing your faith.”

After listening to their words, I recognized my lack of faith in the Lord and I felt very ashamed and guilty. Thereupon, I prayed to the Lord silently in my heart: “O Lord! My son gets worse again. And I see that I am of little faith. I beg You to give me faith. I am willing to continue to experience this environment and submit to Your sovereignty and arrangement.” After I prayed, I thought of Job’s testimony. During his trials, he had all his family property stolen, and his children killed, but he never blamed God but instead obeyed God’s sovereignty and arrangement and praised God’s righteousness, saying, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). Then I thought to myself, “My son’s getting such an illness is the Lord’s trial for me. I will imitate Job, and maintain my faith in God, and submit to God both when God gives and when He takes away.” After making this resolution, the miracle occurred again. My child’s condition actually improved day by day again. His fever came down and his nose stopped bleeding. My heart swelled with gratitude to the Lord again.

Later, during my son’s following chemotherapy treatment, I relied on the Lord and prayed to Him that I believed that, He is my refuge and He would have the final say on whether or not my son would be fine. I would obey Him even if my son really couldn’t be fine. When I put this into practice, under the Lord’s protection, my son’s condition was totally controlled, and the test results showed that his cancer cells gradually disappeared. Three months later, he finished his treatment and was discharged. After more than a year, I took him to the hospital for reexamination and the result showed that there were no signs of recurrence and that he had regained his health.

Now, many years have passed. My son has already graduated from university and become a doctor. I am very grateful for the Lord leaving me such a memory which enabled me to taste and experience His omnipotence personally and to see that man’s life, death, fortune, misfortune, future, and fate are all in His hands. The Lord is our rock and staunch support. I’m willing to follow the Lord all my life and repay His love.