By Xiaohui
Whether it be illness or danger, You are always accompanying me through it. Following You in this life is my greatest happiness.
I suffered from anemia and looked everywhere for doctors to cure it with no success. However, after believing in the Lord for one month, my health improved dramatically by praying to the Lord and relying on Him. I knew that this was the Lord Jesus’ great power and it was the Lord Jesus who treated me. This experience gave me some appreciation of the Lord’s power and love, and so I was filled with faith in the Lord. I silently swore an oath that I would believe earnestly in the Lord Jesus the rest of my life. In particular, something happened afterward made me become even more certain that the Lord Jesus is the only true God who created the heavens and the earth and all things, and it also increased my faith to follow the Lord. I will never forget this experience …
That year my daughter was two years old. One morning, I was pumping water at my neighbor’s when I heard my daughter shouting: “Mom, mom….” I thought she was just calling in fun, so I didn’t look back at her, and as I was pumping I said to her: “Go home first, I am getting water to cook for you.” Not long, I finished pumping and took the water home. However, I couldn’t see my daughter when I got home, and at that time, I became extremely anxious. Then it suddenly occurred to me that there was a sump one meter deep in my neighbor’s courtyard. If my daughter fell into it, the outcome would be terrible—she was sure to be drowned.
Anxious and worried, I then scurried to my neighbor’s but didn’t find my daughter. I looked at the sump and saw the surface of the water was calm. At the time, I became even more anxious and thought: “My daughter is so timid and afraid of others that she even fears to go to her grandma’s house. She follows me around all day but now I don’t know where she is.” I was frightened that something would happen to her. Just then, I suddenly saw her red hat emerging from the water, and I realized that she had indeed fallen into the sump. My tears started pouring down. I thought: “Had she fallen into it when she called me? Such a long time has passed, and in the chilling cold of winter, the temperature of the water in the sump is so low. …” I dared not think further and hated me for not having turned around to look at her. Otherwise, things would not have been like this. I was burning with anxiety and only had one thought in my heart: “Quickly rescue my daughter.”
Without taking off my heavy cotton-padded clothes, I jumped into the dirty water which was up to my thighs. Bending, I began to grope for my daughter, and soon after, I got her. When I pulled her out of the water, her eyes were closed, her whole body and face were all blue and ice-cold; she was completely motionless, made no sound, and was not breathing. I realized that she had been dead.
At that time, I felt great pain in my heart. Quickly, I tried to get out of the sump with my daughter in my arms, but because my limbs were already frozen stiff and out of control, I couldn’t make it. I had to climb wildly with one hand clinging to the brink of the sump and the other holding my daughter, and after struggling for a while, I finally managed to clamber to the ground. Immediately after that, I tried desperately to run homewards but my legs seemed to be unconscious and couldn’t move. At that moment, all I could think about was hurrying home to warm my baby, because I thought that by doing so, she might have a chance at survival. So I dragged my trembling legs and staggered home while constantly calling out to the Lord: “Lord! My child is dead. What should I do? I beg You to save her. …”
As I walked into my courtyard, I saw that three of my neighbors were there, and that beside them a fire was burning briskly. Seeing my child’s face had been blue and thinking that she was beyond saving, they were very scared but still comforted me: “Don’t panic. Don’t panic. …” I quickly went over to the fire, seated myself and put my baby on my lap with her face down to make her vomit—I believed that she must have swallowed much dirty water after being in the sump for so long a time. I then made haste to unbutton her soaking wet cotton-padded coat and said to the neighbor who also believed in the Lord: “Let’s pray to the Lord together.” I quickly prayed to the Lord: “Lord! My baby isn’t breathing. Lord! I implore You to save her. I know that everything is in Your hands. I entrust her to You. …”
At that time, when seeing my daughter had been dead, I felt very scared and extremely grieved, but I still held a conviction that mankind’s lives are all in the Lord’s hands. Thereupon, I prayed constantly to the Lord, and then I suddenly recalled that the Gospel of John records: “Then when Jesus came, He found that he had lain in the grave four days already” (John 11:17). “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I knew that You hear Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that You have sent Me. And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them, Loose him, and let him go” (John 11:41-44) The Lord Jesus said for Lazarus to come back from the dead, and it was done. With this in mind, my heart became filled with confidence. The Lord Jesus controls everyone’s life, and not only can He heal the sick and cast out demons, but He can resurrect the dead as well. Mankind’s lives and souls are all in the hands of the Lord, so my daughter’s life was also in His hands. It was up to Him whether she lived or died. Realizing all this, I was not scared.
What came as a real surprise to me was that I had just pulled off one of my baby’s sleeves when she burst into tears. I immediately patted her back to make her vomit dirty water, but she didn’t spit anything out, as if she hadn’t drunk at all. As soon as the neighbors saw my child come back to life, they went to fetch dry cotton clothes, and I then quickly got her sopping wet things changed. Shortly, her body and face gradually turned pink. After she was fully awake, I found nothing wrong with her, and in over an hour, she ate some food.
Under the Lord’s care and protection, my daughter avoided death. The neighbors present all said excitedly: “Thank the Lord. The Lord Jesus is almighty and wise, and also has authority and power. He has resurrected the child.” At the time, I was full of gratitude to the Lord Jesus—it was the Lord Jesus that granted my daughter protection and brought her back to life. From this, I witnessed the Lord’s great power and saw that everything is under the Lord’s control. Though the fact that Lazarus came alive after being dead for several days isn’t in line with man’ notions and imaginings, this kind of thing was happening to my child. The Lord Jesus is my Savior and my rock!
Three days later, seeing my lively and lovely daughter playing in the courtyard, I was more than happy. It was the Lord Jesus who had given her a new life. My heart verified to me that the Lord Jesus has such authority and is the God who created the heavens and the earth and all things. The Lord Jesus can raise the dead, which is something that can be done only by the one true God. After coming to this realization, my faith in the Lord grew and I bolstered the will: I’m willing to serve the Lord all my life to repay His love.
The Bible says: “Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). In our entire life, we will more or less encounter some dangers, but with the Lord’s protection, there is no need to be anxious and afraid.
