By Xiaoping
Every time when I think about the viral Hand-Foot-Mouth Disease (HFMD) in 2012, my heart is still fluttering with fear. This sudden plague caused a particularly high mortality rate among the kids suffering from HFMD. My son was one of them. However, by faith in God, my son was protected by God and through this I saw God’s omnipotence and wondrous deeds. Just as God says: “Whatever your background, and whatever the journey ahead of you, no one can escape the orchestrations and arrangements of the Heaven, and no one is in control of their own destiny, for only He who rules over all things is capable of such work” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life”).
On April 26, 2012, my son had a fever. It didn’t go away after he got injections and medication in the clinic of the village for two days but became worse. He started to vomit. I got scared and asked the doctor about my son’s condition. The doctor said: “HFMD is a kind of viral illness and is very severe this year. The medical equipment of the village is quite poor. For the sake of your son, we recommend you go to a bigger hospital.” After hearing the doctor’s words, my families and I took my son to the Municipal People’s Hospital straight away. After checking, the doctor there said my son was infected with the HFMD and there appeared some red dots on his palms and soles. He asked: “How old is your child?” I said: “14 months.” He said: “Your child is severely sick and we need to send him to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).” After hearing the doctor’s words, I got scared and tears came out.
My son was sent to ICU and was put on a ventilator, being confirmed in a critical condition. I choked with sobs and said to my husband: “The condition of our son’s illness is so severe. What shall we do if he dies?” My husband comforted me and said: “Don’t be afraid. The doctor will have a way.” I felt so hopeless and painful. So I ran to the roof and broke down in tears. I thought: Who can save my son? Suddenly I realized: I am a believer in God and God is the source of man’s life! I quickly knelt down and prayed to God: “God, You are almighty. Everything is in Your hands. Man’s life is in Your hands too. I can only entrust my child to You and may You take care of him. Whether he can live or will die, it’s all in Your hands. Even the doctor said my son’s sickness was severe with life-threatening, I will believe only You can dominate man’s life. God, I am willing to rely on You and look upon You. May You keep my heart and guide my way!” After prayer, I was not that sad and scared and my heart got much calmer. I thought of God’s words: “Since the day man came into existence, God has ever worked thus, managing the universe, directing the rules of change for all things and the trajectory of their movement. Like all things, man is quietly and unknowingly nourished by the sweetness and rain and dew from God; like all things, man unknowingly lives beneath the orchestration of God’s hand. Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life”). With the enlightenment of God’s words, I had more faith to rely on God. And I believed all things in this world live under the orchestration of God’s hand and work along with God’s will. Man’s destiny is also in the hands of God. No matter what the doctor says and what he does, it can’t decide man’s life. Only God can save man’s life.
My husband took our son for the blood test and I waited outside the ICU. After a while, an 8-year-old boy was lying in the bed and pushed out of the ICU. He had been in the hospital for a week and had every molecule of blood exchanged. But it didn’t save his life. Seeing the boy being sent to the morgue, his mom cried sadly and fainted. Tears also came out of my eyes and I couldn’t stop them. I couldn’t stand stably, so I leaned to the wall and sat on the floor. I felt scared again and thought: The next one lying in the bed and being pushed out may be my son … At that moment, I kept praying to God and didn’t dare to leave God for a second.
The next morning, the doctor called me and my husband to go into the ICU. He asked one of us to put on the disinfectant clothes and go to see the child. I quickly said, “I will.” But the doctor said: “You’d better stay here, and let the father go. I am afraid you will cry and fall in a faint.” After hearing the doctor’s words, I stepped back and the nurse quickly held me. I thought: Is my son really dying? Cannot he really be saved? In a hurry, I said to the doctor: “Doctor, please save my child!” I was anxious and about to kneel down. At that time God enlightened me again and l realized: Man’s fate is in God’s hands. I suddenly woke up: Yes! Why did I beg people? Can humans save humans? No! We cannot control our own fate, so how could man control other people’s fates? Doctors can only give medical treatment, but cannot save man’s life! After understanding God’s intentions, I gained confidence. I ran up to the roof and prayed to God sincerely: “God! Man’s fate is in Your hands. No one can decide my son’s fate. I would like to put my son in Your hands again. May You have mercy on him and protect him. …” After prayer, I came downstairs and my husband cried to me: “The doctor said our son was too young and we sent him to the hospital too late. There is sputum in his throat. If the sputum keeps in the throat, it will kill him because he can’t breathe. Our son is having a fever and it is getting worse now.” My husband started crying after saying these words and I couldn’t help crying either. But I was not as hopeless as my husband, because I believe God will make the most suitable arrangements for my child.
On the third day, the doctor said: “The fever of your son is gone now, but he is not yet out of danger.” My husband said: “Doctor, please cure my son with the best medication!” The doctor replied: “I will try my best.” But in my mind, I know it’s not the doctor, but God who protects my son. Although his fever was gone, I never dared to leave God. On the fourth day, another boy was pushed out and dead. His grandparents couldn’t accept the fact and fell in a faint. Seeing this, I was not as scared as the first day, because I can feel God’s presence and He keeps strengthening my faith.
One week later, the doctor called me and my husband over and said: “Your son is out of danger now. But be prepared that even though the sickness was cured, his intelligence may be affected and he is likely to become handicapped.” My husband said with bloodshot eyes: “A fool is better than none. He is still my son even if he becomes a fool.” I said sadly: “If the child becomes a fool, how shall we live?” My husband said: “There is hope as long as being alive and no hope if die!” My heart was lightened by his words. Yes! God, You remind me with my husband’s words. Since God has saved my son’s life, is there any need to be concerned about his future? Whether he will become a fool or not, isn’t it in God’s hand? Thinking these in my mind, I prayed to God in my heart, “God, I have seen Your omnipotence and wondrous deeds. So I have faith in you whether my son will be a fool or not. Whatever You arrange for him will be most suitable …”
After 20 days in the ICU, my son was transferred to an ordinary ward for observation. One week later, the doctor said: “We will do an EEG for your son today. If there is no major problem, your son can leave.” I was so excited to hear these words. In the afternoon, my son received an EEG. When we passed the images to the doctor, he said: “You sure you didn’t bring the wrong ones?” I replied: “I am sure. There is my son’s name on them. Anything wrong?” The doctor was surprised: “The images show your son is the same as other ordinary children and it seems he never had HFMD at all. I have been a doctor for such a long time and have never seen any kid that has such normal intelligence after suffering a severe disease like HFMD. That’s a miracle!” After hearing the doctor’s words, I was so excited and thought: “God, I see Your almightiness. Man’s fate is in Your hands.” The doctor then said: “You can proceed to leave the hospital tomorrow.” I was excited and said: “Yes!” At that time, I thought of God’s words: “In any case, all I wish is for man to understand this: Without the care, keeping, and provision of God, man cannot receive all that he was meant to receive, no matter how diligently he tries or how arduously he struggles. Without the supply of life from God, man loses the sense of value in living and the sense of the meaning of life. How could God allow man, who frivolously wastes the value of His life, to be so carefree? As I have said before: Do not forget that God is the source of your life” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life”). From the sickness my son went through, I realized that the destiny of man is in God’s hands. In this HFMD plague, many families relied on doctors and kneeled to beg doctors for help. But it didn’t help and they can only watch their children being taken to the mortuary. The facts showed that superb medical skills can’t save man. As humans, we should come back to God and worship the only true God. Only in this way can we get God’s protection in various disasters and gain a good destiny.
