By Xinping
At the age of seven, I suffered a serious case of osteomyelitis. When I went to the hospital with my family, the doctor said: “Fortunately, her examination was conducted in time, otherwise the infection might grow into bone tuberculosis. Now her life is no longer in danger, but her lower leg needs to be amputated.” Hearing these words, my grandmother knelt down and pled pitifully with the doctor: “She is so young. How could she live with just one leg? …” Due to my grandmother’s pleas, doctors performed an operation on me and drew the necrotic bone marrow out from my lower leg instead of amputating it. Though I kept my leg, the cut didn’t heal for over one year after the operation. It was always oozing pus and blood. Due to this, I wasn’t able to walk at all. The old doctor in our village threw up his hands: “I’ve tried all the medicine available for this illness, but it doesn’t work. Her body has become resistant to the drugs.” Hearing this, my grandmother said helplessly: “Now, what can we do?” After thinking for a while, the doctor said: “Western medicine doesn’t work, but there’s a medicinal herb—the leaf of the eucalyptus plant. It can help discharge pus, promote tissue regeneration and heal the cut. However, this kind of tree is rare. There are many mountains in this region. Whether you can find it or not might depend on whether a miracle would happen to her.” After learning of the shape and characteristics of the leaf from the doctor, my grandmother immediately went home and told my father about it. My elder sister, who was only ten years old, heard about this and then went up to the mountains on her own to help look for the leaf. Finally, one day, my sister found eucalypti on a high and steep mountain and brought some leaves back. When the doctor saw the leaves, he said in surprise: “Those indeed are the leaves of the eucalyptus. You’re so lucky that your sister was able to find this rare tree! Truly, God was looking out for you.”
Later on, I attended primary school. As I was looking up words in the dictionary, I came across an annotation in the dictionary saying that eucalyptus could be used as medicine. At that time, I was curious about this: The doctors tried so many medicines but failed to heal my cut. However, this unremarkable leaf can actually heal my cut. Where does eucalyptus come from? Who bestows such miraculous efficacy on it? I didn’t find the answer for a long time.
Time passed. One summer, a couple of my playmates in my village and I played hide-and-seek in front of my house. One of the playmates who lived next to my house was stung by a wasp on the hand and it became red and swelled up at once. It hurt so badly that he cried. The rest of us were so scared we didn’t know what to do. His mother quickly came over. She picked a few leaves of towel gourd in my garden and rubbed them hard with her hands. She applied the green juice squeezed from the leaves to her son’s hand. Before long, the swelling subsided and my playmate said that it no longer hurt. Seeing this, I became more curious: Why does the leaf of towel gourd cure the wasp sting? Why do these plants have such great efficacy? When I grew up, every time I went to the clinic I would ask the old doctor about the medicinal properties of plants. I would say: “Where do these herbs come from? How can they have medicinal properties?” Hearing my questions, the doctor smiled and said: “I can’t answer your profound questions. …”
Afterward, I believed in God, and read God’s words: “God created among all things some plants, animals, and various herbs that are specifically meant to heal injuries or treat illness in the human body. What should someone do, for instance, if they are burned, or accidentally scald themselves? Can you just rinse the burn with water? Can you just wrap it up with any old piece of cloth? If you do that, the wound might fill with pus or become infected. If someone gets a fever, for instance, or catches a cold; suffers an injury while working; develops a stomach ailment from eating the wrong thing; or develops certain diseases caused by lifestyle factors or emotional issues, including vascular diseases, psychological conditions, or diseases of the internal organs, then there are corresponding plants that cure their conditions. There are plants that improve blood circulation and remove stagnation, relieve pain, stanch bleeding, provide anesthesia, help heal the skin and return it to a normal condition, and disperse stagnant blood and eliminate toxins from the body—in short, these plants have uses in daily life. People can use them, and they have been prepared by God for the human body in case of need. God allowed man to discover some of them by happenstance, while others were discovered by people whom God chose to do so, or as a result of special phenomena He orchestrated. Following the discovery of these plants, mankind would pass them down, and many people would come to know about them. God’s creation of these plants thus has value and meaning. In summary, these things are all from God, prepared and planted by Him when He created mankind’s living environment. They are essential. Are God’s thought processes more thorough than those of mankind? When you see all that God has done, do you have a sense of God’s practical side? God works in secret. God created all of this when man had not yet come into this world, when He had had no contact with mankind. Everything was done with mankind in mind, for the sake of man’s existence and with thought for their survival, so that mankind may live happily in this rich and plentiful material world that God prepared for them, free from worry about food or clothes, lacking nothing. In such an environment, mankind can continue to reproduce and survive.”
After reading God’s words, I understood that these plants were from God and that it is God who created all things and prepared everything that we humans required for existence. God prepared not only all kinds of drink and food for our survival but also plants that can cure various diseases so that we can live healthily. God was thoroughly thoughtful for our sake and prepared everything for us humans. His love is so great and so real. I remembered when I was young, the cut in my leg oozed pus and blood continuously after the operation. The doctors could do nothing about it, but the eucalyptus leaf created by God healed my cut so that I could walk like normal people. What’s more, my playmate who was stung on his hand by a wasp experienced a great deal of pain. However, after his mother applied the juice squeezed from the leaves of towel gourd to his hand, surprisingly the swelling subsided. All things God creates are so wonderful and this is God’s power! I’m thankful that I can come before God, read God’s words, know the Creator and can feel God’s sincere love and care for us humans from all things God created. Meanwhile, I also see the wonder of God’s creation of all things and how he has done all this for mankind. I truly experienced that we humans can leave neither God nor the myriad things created by Him. I sincerely give thanks to God for preparing all things for us humans!
