My Husband Had a Sudden Disease and His Life Was at Stake
On the morning of January 20, 2017, when I was cooking in the kitchen, my husband came to the door and said to me: “I feel very sick to my stomach. Just now in the garden I spat a blood clot which was as big as a walnut.”
Hearing that, I was stunned for a moment. Without even waiting for my response, he vomited blood and fell to the floor. I was so scared and hurried to help him up, but he had fainted unconscious. Seeing that his face was sallow and his lips were purple, my heart skipped a beat and I really was afraid that he would leave me forever. With no time to think much, I immediately dialed 120. The phone got through, but before I could speak, he vomited blood again. Soon, he fainted again. I was so scared that my mind went blank, staring at him blankly, and it took me a while to come to my senses. Then I dialed 120 again. Just when I dialed the number in panic, he vomited blood again. In less than half an hour my husband vomited blood three times and every time after he vomited blood, he fainted. Seeing him lying in a pool of blood, my heart leaped into my throat. I thought: “If he goes on like this, how long can he hold on?” In panic, I suddenly thought of God, and I hurriedly cried out to Him: “Oh God! Please save my husband. Only You can save his life. I’m very frightened now. May You protect my heart, calm me down, enable me to learn to entrust him to You and rely on You to go through this crisis.” After prayer, my heart calmed down a little and my husband came awake slowly. After about ten minutes, seeing that the ambulance still did not arrive, I got anxious and cried out to God again: “God! Whether the ambulance will come or not is in Your hands. May You give me faith and strength, be my strong rear guard, and keep my heart quiet before You all the time. I am willing to obey Your orchestration and arrangements and to experience Your work.” After I prayed, I thought of God’s words, “God’s word is potent medicine! Put to shame the devils and Satan! If we grasp God’s word we will have support and His word will quickly save our hearts! It dispels all things and sets all in peace. 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 without worry. If man has timid and fearful thoughts, they are being fooled by Satan. It fears that we will cross the bridge of faith to enter into God.” God’s words gave me reliance and calmed my heart down a lot. All things are in God’s hands, so my husband is also orchestrated by God’s hands. What God wanted was my faith. But Satan feared that I would have faith and rely on God, so it did everything it could to send me its thoughts, with an aim to make me live in fear and timidity and lose confidence to cooperate with God. I should see through Satan’s schemes according to God’s words and cooperate with God through faith in Him, entrusting my husband to Him and obeying His sovereignty and orchestration, so that Satan will get no opportunity to exploit. God’s words removed my timidity and fear and made me filled with confidence in Him. I was willing to rely on God and lean on faith to experience His work.
God’s Words Gave Me Strength When My Husband Was Confirmed in a Critical Condition and Had to Be Transferred
After about twenty minutes, the ambulance arrived, and my husband and I were taken to the hospital. When we arrived there, my husband was sent to the emergency room. After a rescue, the chief doctor asked me to his office and said: “Your husband’s Hepatitis B (ascites due to cirrhosis) is very serious. Because of excessive loss of blood, his blood pressure is very low, which is 50/40. Moreover, his blood type is special, and it isn’t easy to find that type of blood. He might die at any moment. You’d better get him transferred for treatment.” Hearing these words, I immediately got frightened, “Can it be that so many doctors can’t do anything about my husband’s disease? What should I do if he vomits blood again and his condition gets worse when we transfer to another hospital? But if we don’t transfer to another hospital and thus he really dies …” I didn’t dare to think more and could only keep calling out to God in my heart. After that, I remembered that God’s words say: “Everything that is alive, everything that has life is under the dominion of God. Everything was given life after God created it; it is life given from God and it follows the laws and path He created for it. This needs not be altered by man, and needs no help from man; this is how God provides for all things.” That’s right! God created all things. Everyone’s life is from God and follows the course predestined by God, and no one can change it. My husband’s life and death are in God’s hands. Even if he is transferred to another hospital, his life course cannot be changed. At this thought, I silently prayed to God: “Oh God! When I had no way to go, Your words pointed out the direction for me, making me know that everyone’s life course is dictated and arranged by You and no one can change it. If my husband’s life has reached its limit, no matter which hospital he is treated in, he will die. But if You don’t permit him to die, he won’t die even if he is treated in this hospital. I am willing to experience Your wondrous work….” Having God’s words as my foundation, I was calm and decided to continue his treatment here.
God’s Words Became My Reliance When I Felt Painful and Helpless
When I walked into the ICU, I saw that six or seven doctors and nurses were surrounding my husband and trying to give him injection because they couldn’t find his veins. After they busied themselves for a long time, they finally put him on an IV drip. My husband was dying, his face was so swollen that he couldn’t open his eyes, and his legs were extremely swollen. When I softly called him, he heard my voice and moved his lips as if to say something but couldn’t speak. Seeing him like this and thinking of the scenes that had just happened and the doctor’s words, I was extremely grieved, and I could only sit beside the head of his hospital bed and pray to God constantly: “God! This situation reveals that my stature is too small. May You lead me and give me faith and strength….”
Then my brothers and sisters from the church came to visit us one after another. They comforted and encouraged me, and fellowshiped with me about the testimony of Job to guide me to understand God’s will. Through their fellowship, I understood how to have true faith in this environment. When Job was robbed of his untold masses of wealth by bandits overnight and later his body was covered in sore boils, he didn’t complain, and could even praise God’s name, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:21). The reason why Job had such great faith was that he had true knowledge of God’s sovereignty. He knew that he came out of his mother’s womb naked, and that all he possessed was bestowed upon him by God. He didn’t have his own motives, desires, or demands before God, so he could treat God’s work rationally, obey God’s sovereignty and arrangements, and didn’t deny the fact that God rules over mankind’s fate due to his encountering calamities. In addition, he was able to praise God’s name in tribulation because he knew that God is the Creator and people are only created beings and shouldn’t make unreasonable demands of God, and that whether people receive blessings or suffer misfortune is in God’s hand and there is God’s good purpose in it.
Just as God’s words say: “Job did not talk of trades with God, and made no requests or demands of God. His praising of God’s name was because of the great power and authority of God in ruling all things, and was not dependent on whether he gained blessings or was struck by disaster. He believed that regardless of whether God blesses people or brings disaster upon them, God’s power and authority will not change, and thus, regardless of a person’s circumstances, God’s name should be praised. That man is blessed by God is because of God’s sovereignty, and when disaster befalls man, so, too, is it because of God’s sovereignty. God’s power and authority rule over and arrange everything of man; the vagaries of man’s fortune are the manifestation of God’s power and authority, and regardless of one’s viewpoint, God’s name should be praised. This is what Job experienced and came to know during the years of his life. All of Job’s thoughts and actions reached the ears of God, and arrived before God, and were seen as important by God. God cherished this knowledge of Job, and treasured Job for having such a heart. This heart awaited God’s command always, and in all places, and no matter what the time or place it welcomed whatever befell him.” From these words, I understood that if I wanted to have true faith and not complain in the environment I encountered, like Job, I should have true knowledge of God’s almightiness and sovereignty and truly obey His sovereignty from the depths of my heart without any reasons or conditions.
From then on, I began to consciously seek this aspect of the truth. One day, I read God’s words: “God has the authority to have a person die, to have his soul leave his body and return to Hades, or wherever it should go. When someone dies, and where they go after death—these are determined by God. He can do this anytime and anywhere. He is not constrained by humans, events, objects, space, or place. If He wants to do it He can do it, because all things and living beings are under His rule, and all things live and die by His word, His authority. He can resurrect a dead man—this is also something He can do anytime, anywhere. This is the authority that only the Creator possesses.” God’s words made me have some knowledge of His authority: God can resurrect a dead man and can also have a soul leave a person’s body, His doing work is not constrained by people, events, or things, by time or by space, and all things live and die by His words—this is the authority that only God possesses. God could let Lazarus who had been dead for four days come out of his tomb and He could also have Ananias and his wife, who deceived the Holy Spirit, die immediately. These are the manifestation of His authority and power. God used the resurrection of Lazarus to make man see that He seizes the key to Hades and that only He can command mankind’s life and death. Then whether my husband will survive or die, isn’t it in God’s hands? God arranged for my husband to come into this world to fulfill the mission that he must fulfill. If my husband has fulfilled his mission, God would arrange for him to go to another place, which couldn’t be obstructed by anyone. If he hasn’t fulfilled his mission, God wouldn’t have him die even if he has just one breath left. In short, regardless of how God arranges things, there is His good purpose in it, and all I need to do is to wait for Him to reveal His intention to me.
Then I thought of the Canaanite woman’s faith in God. She knew that God is the Creator and we humans are created beings; it is God’s great exaltation and grace and love that we humans who are deeply corrupted by Satan can be saved by God; and no matter whether we humans acknowledge and believe in God or not, His identity and status remain forever unchanged. So regardless of whether the Lord Jesus saw her as a dog or how He treated her, she regarded the Lord Jesus as God and kept her faith in Him. Although she entreated the Lord Jesus to cure her daughter, her entreaty was reasonable: No matter whether the Lord Jesus cured her daughter or not, she worshiped Him as God. It was because of her true faith that the Lord Jesus answered her entreaty. Now, I’m willing to follow the example of her in praying to God with reason. If God cures my husband, I will thank and praise Him, and if He doesn’t cure my husband, I also will thank and praise Him, and I will continue believing in Him and seeking the truth.
Therefore, I prayed to God: “God! No matter whether my husband survives or dies, I won’t blame You. I am willing to submit to all situations and live by Your words so as to stand witness for You.” Unconsciously, my obedience toward God increased and I was much more steadfast in my spirit. I was willing to quiet my heart for seeking God’s will and obey His sovereignty. Later, seeing that I couldn’t take care of my husband on my own, brothers and sisters offered to stay to help me take care of him. This made me feel God’s true love for me. Since my husband fell ill, none of our relatives came to visit us. Only God was with me all the time, giving me faith, being my reliance, and guiding me forward step by step, and now He used brothers and sisters to help and support me. Seeing this, I was grateful to God in my heart.
God’s Miraculous Salvation Made My Dying Husband Turn From Danger to Safety
Later, to my surprise, my husband passed through the crisis peacefully. When he woke up, he could speak in a weak voice and his blood pressure rose to 90/60. This made me experience God’s words: “God is life, so He is the source of all living beings. Furthermore, the authority of God can make all living beings obey every word of God, that is, come into being according to the words from God’s mouth, and live and reproduce by God’s command….” God is the life source of all things, and all things are formed and stand fast because of God’s words and reproduce and disappear because of God’s words. Only the Creator bears such power and authority, and it is never-changing. This dangerous experience of my husband made me see that God holds the power of life and death over man and that no person and no thing can go beyond the authority and power of His words.
In the following several days, I often quieted my heart in front of God, pondered His words, and constantly prayed and drew near to Him. In the ward, other patients unceasingly moaned and tossed and turned because of pain and the bloodcurdling cries came from time to time, while my husband slept in peace because of God’s protection. Seeing this, I shed grateful tears. During that time I truly experienced God’s meticulous love and care for us: When I had no way out, felt painful and weak, and prayed to God, it was His words with authority that guided me out of the abyss of misery; when our relatives all kept away from us and I felt lonely and helpless, God arranged for brothers and sisters to visit us, give me fellowship of the truth, and help me through the hard time when my husband’s life was in danger; when I cried out to Him blindly, God led me to understand what was a reasonable prayer and what was true faith and obedience, making me learn how to wait and how to obey His work. From these, I saw that God’s love is not only bestowing upon us the peace and blessing of the flesh but also is hidden in tribulations.
After a week, seeing that my husband had a good appetite, the doctor said with surprise: “I would never have believed that you would recover so well. When you first arrived here, you vomited too much blood, your blood pressure dropped to 50/40, and we couldn’t find your veins when we wanted to give you injection. But now you survive; this is really inconceivable. This is indeed a great miracle! It’s amazing! You’re so lucky!” Hearing his words, I offered my sincerest thanks and praise to God. All of this is God’s wondrous deeds!
After over half a month, my husband was discharged from hospital. After we returned home, his body recovered quickly, so that he could work to support our family to the best of his abilities. In this experience, I truly tasted God’s love for me and felt that God is the only salvation of us mankind and that only God’s words can lead us through the difficulties and be the very present help of us. Thanks be to God! This experience made my confidence in following God become even greater. I will follow God till the end!
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