Yue (pseudonym) and her husband are Christians. They have a small business; their profits are not high because they insist on doing their business legally. However, as for Yue's other sisters, some of them have become nouveau riche after receiving relocation compensation, while others have accumulated wealth through unlawful means. Since all of her sisters are wealthier, Yue is considered poor among them.
Her eldest brother died young, and his children went to work in the city. But Yue's sister-in-law continued to live alone in the countryside because she was not used to city life. Every month, Yue would travel a long way to visit her and bring her some of her favorite food; she had been doing this for ten years. All of her sister-in-law's neighbors spoke highly of her, "She has done a better job than all her brother’s daughters!" The other brothers and sisters of Yue were upset when they heard such comments. They said that Yue was foolish because now that their eldest brother had died, their sister-in-law, who had a different surname, did not belong to their family anymore.
One day, Yue received a phone call that her sister-in-law was unconscious from a brain hemorrhage, so she rushed to the hospital. Fortunately, with timely treatment, she was out of danger.
Because of the special nature of his work, Yue's nephew could not stay with his mother all the time, and Yue's other siblings all tried not to get involved by saying that they had health problems. In fact, Yue was not feeling well either; she was suffering from neuralgia due to frequent insomnia, but she chose to stay.
Soon, fifty days had passed. During that time, to save money, she ate only two meals a day, and each meal cost only five yuan. Still, Yue thought it was too expensive, so she made some pickled Chinese radish and ate it with porridge for two days. Meanwhile, she and her husband continued to pray for their sister-in-law to wake up soon.
But because she could not sleep well for a long time, her headaches got worse, and even painkillers could not relieve the pain. The pain was simply unbearable. So, even though she did not want to spend any extra money, she went to the drugstore and bought some medicine, which cost her a little more than ten yuan.
After taking the medicine, her headache was immediately relieved, and she could sleep even better than before. Yue was thankful that God cared for the poor and cured her neurological headache with just one box of pills. What made her even more thankful was that her sister-in-law could have been in a vegetative state, according to the doctor, but she miraculously woke up and recovered quickly.
As for the other sisters who disapproved of poor Yue and didn’t take care of their sister-in-law, one sister was hospitalized for a stroke. Another sister had diabetes, and her husband had to undergo two stent surgeries. But even though they had spent all the money, they were still not cured. Yue's youngest sister, who treated her the harshest, used the huge amount of relocation money to start a business, but she failed and lost everything overnight. Feeling anxious and angry, she also became ill. All of her sisters were sick, and only Yue and her family were safe and healthy.
She said that all of her sisters were heavily in debt now, and their lives were not as good as before. She hoped that they could learn to love and that love would grow in them. She also hoped that her sisters would understand that only love could create miracles and that love was worth so much more than money.
(This article is originally published by the Gospel Times and the author is a Christian from Liaoning Province.)
- Translated by Joyce Leung
