My daughter took a bad turn, and we fell into despair.
At about 4:00 pm the next day, Lanlan suddenly breathed hard, and turned paler and paler. My husband hurried to inform the doctor. After the doctor and experts arrived, they examined her, saying, “She was on the point of death. We must cut open her respiratory tract to let her breathing be assisted by a ventilator, or she’ll die at once.” Hearing the words, I felt very nervous and was afraid: If her respiratory tract is cut open but she can’t recover from the operation well, then she will carry a breathing tube all her life. But in order to make her continue to live, my husband and I agreed to have the operation. Over half an hour later, the operation ended. The doctor said to us, “This is the last way. If her breathing can’t be assisted by the ventilator, we will have nothing to do with it.” Hearing the doctor’s words, my heart was in worry and suspense. My husband and I accompanied our daughter and observed her breathing carefully, not daring to be careless for a moment.
At about 11:00 pm, Lanlan breathed more and more rapidly. Seeing that her lips moved lightly, and that she wanted to say something, I pressed my ear to her mouth and then she said, “Mom, I can’t breathe. Maybe I’m dying….” Before I could respond to her, she fell unconscious, unable to hear my calls any more. Seeing this, my husband went to get the doctor in a hurry. I cried to call her constantly. Soon, all the orthopedics and otolaryngology specialists as well as thoracic surgery specialists came to examine her, and then they went for a consultation in the office. My husband also followed them out. I had my face buried in the bed close to my daughter’s face, falling into agony. At that moment, I wished I’d prefer to be the one lying in the bed, and was unwilling to see her suffer such great pain.
After 20 minutes, my husband came back, with his eyes reddening. He feebly said, “The doctor said Lanlan was dying. They let us go home.” I looked at the feeble husband, and then the unconscious daughter. Suddenly I had a strong belief in my heart: My daughter won’t die. God will save her! Then I firmly said to my husband, “We can’t go back now.” Later on, the attending physician came to talk to me, trying to persuade me, “We consulted together, but we really can’t think of ways to save your daughter. She’s about to die. I advise you to go back.” At this point, I remembered God’s words, “So long as you still have one breath, God will not let you die.” I believed: God has such power and authority. As for whether or not my daughter is dying, only God has the final say but not the doctor. Afterward, regardless of how the attending physician advised me, I firmly answered, “I will by no means go back before the last possible moment.” And meanwhile, I asked him to save her again. At my request, he had to pick up a 40-centimeter-long tube, and then inserted it into her opened trachea to suck out phlegm. Four times later, she unexpectedly got her breath back and slowly opened her eyes. I happily held her hand and constantly gave my thanks to God in my heart. The patients around all said in amazement, “She pulled through.” Hearing these words, Lanlan reached out her hand, motioning that she wanted to write something. I handed her a pen and paper, and she wrote, “God won’t let me die so long as I have one breath left. It was predestined in heaven that I should still live, and I thank God!” But the doctor said, “Although your daughter gets her breath back, she will definitely not survive the night. I suggest you go home in advance.” After saying this, she left shaking her head. Seeing my daughter regain her breath, I was full of faith in God and let her listen to the hymns “Song of Loving God Without Regrets” and “Bearing Witness Requires True Faith.” As she listened, she fell asleep quietly, spending the night safely.
At about 7:00 am, she began to breathe quickly again and looked deeply uncomfortable, holding out one hand and letting me give her the pen and paper. She picked up the pen and wrote with difficulty, “Dad, mom, I breathe hard, feeling I’m dying. I might not last out this morning.” Looking at these words, I felt very upset and despair once again filled my heart. I tightly held her hand and kept calling out to God in my heart, “God! My daughter is very miserable, as if she’s really dying. Oh, God! I have no idea how to face what will happen next. I ask You to help me.” After the prayer, I thought of God’s words: “Since you believe in and follow God, you should offer everything to Him, and should not make personal choices or demands, and you should achieve the fulfillment of God’s desire. Since you were created, you should obey the Lord that created you, for you are inherently without dominion over yourself, and have no ability to control your own destiny. Since you are a person who believes in God, you should seek holiness and change.” Pondering God’s words, I reflected on myself: During the period when my daughter had the accident, every time I prayed to God, I didn’t stand in the position of a created being. When she was on the brink of death several times, I didn’t obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements but was full of demands of God in my heart. I demanded that God save her and not let her die. From this, I saw how unreasonable my prayers before God were. All things are in God’s hands, and so is my daughter’s life. Whatever God does, there is His intention in it, I should submit to Him—this is the proper attitude for me. Under the guidance of God’s words, I made a resolution before God: I’m sincerely willing to entrust my daughter’s life to God. Whether or not God deprives me of her, I will not make any complaints and truly obey God’s rule and arrangements. Then, a hymn of experience echoed in my ears: “God suffers for me, I’ll repay His grace, gladly accept refinements and a life of suffering. If I could know God more, I’d give my life. … I’ve seen in the last days God’s appearance. I want to serve Him through life, all my days. I give all I have to gain such a life. Oh, I’ll give my life to follow God. I’ll not seek people’s approval. Oh, I’m willing to be rejected. Knowing God is my great honor!” Pondering the words, I thought: That’s right. Since I have chosen to believe in God, I should stand witness for God. Regardless of how miserable and sorrowful I am, I must still praise and follow God. Then, I, preparing for the worst in my heart, controlled my emotion and held my daughter’s hand, saying, “Lanlan, our lives are bestowed by God. Regardless of whether we live or die, we should obey God. Even if we’ve believed in God for only a short time, we are very happy and don’t come to the world in vain compared with unbelievers. Because we’ve heard God’s voice, known there’s the Creator in the universe and also known as long as we’re alive, we should worship God. Therefore, no matter what the result is, we should thank God and never blame Him, you know?” She appeared to understand my words, nodding and then blinking. Two lines of tears fell from the corners of her eyes. Her breathing grew more difficult, and she went into a coma again. Looking at her, I weakly sat there, with tears falling.
The world is cold, but God’s love always accompanies us.
At that moment, the attending physician came. He had a look at the ventilator and electrocardiogram, picked up a flashlight to check my daughter’s eyes, and pinched her philtrum and arm. Finally he shook his head and said coldly, “I’ve told you she can’t last out tonight. You see, now she’s dying—her pupils are dilated, and her face also turns purple. She can’t be saved.” With that, he turned and told the nurse, “Watch the drip. If it stops later, then take out the needle.” Then he left without a backward glance. After listening to his words, my husband cried out in sorrow by Lanlan’s side and the people in the same ward all shed tears of sympathy. Even though I had prepared for the worst, when I heard the doctor’s words, my heart hurt so much as if it were hollowed out. I bent over her bed and cried to God. At this point, God’s words suddenly came to my mind, “The utmost faith and love are required from us in this stage of work. We may stumble from the slightest carelessness, for this stage of work is different from all the previous ones: What God is perfecting is mankind’s faith, which is both invisible and intangible. What God does is convert words to faith, to love, and to life. People must reach a point where they have endured hundreds of refinements and possess faith greater than Job’s. They must endure incredible suffering and all manner of torture without ever leaving God. When they are obedient unto death, and have great faith in God, then this stage of God’s work is complete.” God’s words gave me confidence and strength. I felt God was beside me, as if He told me that in this trial, I should have great faith in Him, and just like Job, I should bear witness for Him, and that no matter what the result was, I should submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. God’s words comforted and inspired me, so I knelt by her bed and prayed to God, “Oh, God! In the face of death, I realize, how insignificant and pitiful we humans are, how fragile our lives are, and moreover, how immature my stature is. Facing the fact that my daughter is dying, I obey You too little. Oh, God. May You keep me from complaint so that I can have the courage to face her death, and can say these words like Job: ‘Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah’ (Job 1:21), and have true obedience to You.” After my prayer, I was much calmer in my heart.
In obedience, I saw hope.
Over ten minutes later, I saw the liquid still flowing into Lanlan’s body. This showed she was still alive. Then, new hope flared up inside me. I asked the nurse to fetch the attending physician, but after he came, he said very impatiently: “I’ve told you your daughter’s dying, but you’re still here.” Upon my repeated requests, he unhappily inserted the tube of the electric suction machine into her trachea. Three times later, some phlegm and blood were sucked up. At that time, my daughter suddenly opened her eyes and her face gradually gained color. Holding her hand, I thanked Almighty God in my heart all the time. At that moment, the attending physician looked at the electrocardiogram and then the ventilator, saying in amazement, “How has she gotten better all of a sudden? It’s amazing.” At that moment, with tears flowing, I didn’t know how to express my gratitude toward God and couldn’t stop thanking Him in my heart. “Oh, God! Thank You for Your love for me and Your salvation for my daughter. In only three short days, what I obtained is really too much. When I was at the end of my rope and in pain and helplessness, it was You that were beside me at all times and used Your words to comfort and encourage me to give me confidence, so that I can be truly obedient in front of You and see Your almighty and marvelous deeds. May all the glory be to Almighty God. Amen.”
From then on, my daughter’s health improved day by day and her respiratory tract also recovered well. When she was going to be discharged from hospital, the doctor and nurse asked me and my daughter to write a letter to thank the attending physician, but we refused. That’s because I knew my daughter’s life was given by God and we only thanked Him.
Realization
Having stayed at home for more than a month, my daughter lived a normal life and began to fulfill the duty of a creature of creation in the church. A few years have passed since that thing happened. However, whenever I think of my daughter’s experience of a narrow escape, I am deeply moved by God’s marvelous salvation: God didn’t just give her a second life. More importantly, through this thing, it allowed me to have true understanding of the fact that our fates are all controlled by God’s hand; it also allowed me to know no matter what environment we encounter, as long as we genuinely rely on God, look up to God, learn to submit to the Creator’s orchestrations and arrangements, put aside our own intentions and desires, and practice everything based on God’s words, we will see God’s deeds and obtain His blessings.
The End.
Part One: Though Given a Death Sentence by Doctors, Her Daughter Turned the Corner Marvelously (I)
