Editor's note: "You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance." This is a middle-aged male believer's record of his mother's healing experience and personal journey. Facing a sudden illness, this brother who was once in grief, anxiety, and weakness was moved by his mother's joy and simple faith in the Lord, being deeply aware of the grace and blessings coming from God in the suffering.
The following is a first-person account of him:
At around 2 am on January 20 of this year, awakened by my mother's painful moans, I hurriedly got up to check on my mother. Knowing her stomach was hurting, I immediately led her in praying together, asking for the Lord's mercy and healing. However, after the prayer, the mother still felt unbearable pain.
Asking for a taxi, I took my mother to the local hospital for emergency treatment. After arriving at the hospital, we did infusions and examinations. After these treatments, my mother's pain was finally relieved to a large extent.
At 9 am that day, my mother started her ten-day treatment journey in the digestive department ward of the hospital.
Thanks to the Lord, the conditions of the ward were very comfortable and clean. We were also surprised by the double bed and independent bathroom in the ward. It seemed that my mother would be treated without any worries.
In addition to the ward facilities, what surprised us most was that the aunt in the same ward with us was also a Christian. After a day or two of communicating, we came to know that her home was a meeting point in a neighboring township and her husband is also a Christian.
For the next few days, our two families prayed and praised together in the ward, listening to Sunday sermons together. What's more grateful was that another patient is also a Christian who joined us. Being happy every day thanks to this young female believer's company, my mother and the aunt in the next bed were often in tears of laughter.
After ten days of treatment and observation, my mother was diagnosed with intestinal obstruction and needed to be transferred to another hospital for further treatment.
The day after my mother left the hospital, I heard that the old believer in the same ward had also been discharged to go home. I later learned that she had been taken away by the Lord five days later and maybe she also felt the love and joy from Christ in her last moments.
My mother was transferred to an old hospital with relatively poor conditions and facilities which I had concerns and fears about.
Although I read the Bible and prayed for strength every day, I was always afraid when I thought of my mother who was intubated on the sickbed and would undergo the surgery with unknown prospects. I worried that I would never see my mother again when I woke up. When I washed her feet every day, my tears wouldn’t stop falling. Looking at my mother on the hospital bed, I often told myself, "It would be better if I could suffer instead of her!"
Although I was often weak, my mother's faith was much stronger than mine. In the new ward, my mother continued her devotions, including reading scriptures in bed every day and singing hymns to herself before surgery. Every time there was a new patient in the ward, my mother would share the Gospel with them one by one. Though the patients in the ward changed frequently, my mother's evangelism never stopped.
On account of the successful surgery, she was recovering well. But she could not help preaching the Gospel to the other patients in the corridor. In front of a dozen people, my mother talked and sang without stage fright, not seeming to be a patient at all.
After my mother was discharged from the hospital, this special period of hospital life with my mother became a precious experience in my own faith. Looking back on the days and nights in the ward, I did find that our carts overflowed with abundance.
Finally, I would like to thank all believers for their prayers, such as the disabled fellowship, the brothers fellowship, the elderly fellowship and the gathering site. I'm grateful for the Lord's care and healing.
- Translated by Luke Liu
