Following the coronavirus epidemic prevention regulations set by the government, the church that I serve in took measures to dissuade people with cough and fever from attending the collective worship activities in the church. Since the beginning of winter, the church members often suffered from colds, coughs, and fever due to the cold weather. As a result, the church had repeatedly emphasized that if the above symptoms occurred on Sunday, the believers should worship at home, rest, and seek medical treatment instead of going to church. This measure was targeted at all members of the Lord's family, including the Church ministers.
On December 22, two days before Christmas, one of the head pastors in our church developed a cold. After explaining the situation to the church, they arranged for him to rest at home. The duties he was to perform during Christmas were transferred to other pastors because it was expected that he would not fully recover until after Christmas. (As a matter of fact, he hasn't recovered from the cold yet, and is yet to return to his church duties.)
The church originally planned to hold celebrations together as a body on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day respectively. To cooperate following the work arrangement of the government departments on the current epidemic prevention, the church postponed the two activities to Saturday afternoon on the 26th, and Sunday morning on the 27th.
However, on Thursday the night of the 24th, I felt a serious discomfort in my upper respiratory tract, accompanied by a mild cough and sore throat; I knew I had a cold too. I usually get a cold easily, often several times every year. Usually, once this symptom occurred, it would become more and more serious, resulting in tonsillitis, severe cough and hoarseness, and even speechlessness. This situation usually lasts for more than a week.
However, the church had arranged for me to preach on the 27th. I knew that because I got cold easily, not to mention preaching during the Christmas celebration on the 27th, whether or not I could attend the celebration was uncertain. At that time, I wanted to tell the colleague who was in charge of this situation and ask him to arrange for someone else to preach. However, there were only three main pastors in our church, and one was not expected to attend the Christmas celebration due to fever and cough. The other pastor, the pastor of our church, not only had to preach during the afternoon celebration on Saturday the 26th, but also serve as one of the two hosts for the host song and dance worship on Saturday and Sunday. If I were to ask for sick leave again, he would have to preach on Sunday the 27th and this would increase his work pressure.
Given the above situation, I decided to pray to God in faith and entrust the matter to Him, asking Him to lead me in my service to Him. Therefore, I prayed to God to heal me so that by Sunday my cold symptoms would be completely gone without coughing or fever and I would be able to speak normally.
Through prayer, my cough and sore throat gradually subsided, and by the time I woke up on Saturday morning, my cold symptoms were almost gone. I knew that God had listened to my prayer and was performing the healing so that I would have the assurance to preach on the 27th. On that morning, my cold symptoms had completely disappeared. Therefore, I successfully completed the morning sermon.
However, after the group meeting on Monday night, a brother asked me, "Do you have a cold today?" I said, "Did you notice that my voice is a little hoarse?" The brother said, "Yes!" So I told him that I had a cold for several days. But he told me that during the Christmas celebrations on Sunday, especially during my sermon, he didn't notice any sign of a cold. I told him that God listened to my prayer, guarded, and led His holy work.
This little cold made me truly experience the truth and power of God again. At the same time, it also reminded me of another little experience of God's divine power at the Christmas of the second year after I believed in God.
On Christmas Eve that year, to attend the Christmas celebrations organized by the church, I asked the leaders of my unit for a personal leave one week in advance on the grounds of my "father's" birthday. (I knew that if I had explained the reason for asking for leave to the leader of the unit truthfully, it would not be approved, so I didn't say it was the birthday of my father who was in heaven.)
I suffered from anal fistula in my early years, and this ailment reoccurred sometimes, other times it did not. However, it happened again two days before that Christmas. There was a lump (pustule) the size of a duck's egg on the side of my anus, which made it difficult for me to sit or lie down. The pain was excruciating. At that time, I could tolerate the pain psychologically but was more worried about not being able to go to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. So my wife and I prayed to God to heal me so that I could go to church on Christmas Eve and Christmas. On the evening of the 23rd, the pustule popped out and the lump disappeared. I knew that God had answered my prayer and that of my wife.
- Translated by Nonye Nancy
