Three years ago, I came to BBTC with the aim of preparing my daughter’s funeral. That week, my daughter was hospitalized with fresh blood in the stools and was diagnosed with a liver and a colon disease. The doctor said that there is no cure. In the future, there may even be a need for a liver transplant or for the colon to be removed.
The worst that can happen is cancer of the bile. My wife and I were totally petrified. Because my wife and I love our daughter so much, this diagnosis shattered our world. There was no explanation of why she have the diseases. The doctor can only think that it’s genetic. The liver disease is so rare, till now we have not found a second person in Singapore with the same disease. At that time, I realized that all my skills and education were utterly useless. We felt totally helpless and alone. There was nothing that I can do, except to make sure that she goes to heaven.
My wife and I made our own choice to come to church and BBTC was impressed on us. That first Sunday was a divine appointment. I came with death on my mind, but the sermon was on healing, exactly what I needed to hear. The worship and even the video encouraging people to attend corporate prayer impressed on me about the need and power of prayers.
I thought that I came to church without any friends, but there were a number of people who saw and recognised me that day. It dawned on me that before I even stepped into church, God had already been planting key people in my life, just for this moment when I decided to come to church in a state of surrender. From that day, I dedicated my life to God and became an active member in BBTC.
My cell overseer, Tuck Leh, immediately mobilised weekly prayers by the pastoral staff, and also arranged for elders and pastors to expect my family every Sunday for altar calls, which we are continuing to this day.
Every month, my daughter needs to go for blood tests and medical reviews. There is this reading called GGT that we monitor and the doctor uses it to decide whether the medication needs to be increased or decreased. The maximum reading for a healthy person was 80 and when diagnosed, her reading was at 1500. With the medication, the reading was kept at 600, which is still very high as we are praying to go below 80.I read about this antibiotic that an American doctor prescribes to his patients with the same disease as my daughter and there were many good testimonies.
It is not a cure, but his patients are able to live normal lives without any liver failures or transplants. This antibiotic is the miracle that we have been praying for. I discussed with my doctor, who do not agree with my findings. But God kept leading me to more and more compelling articles about the successes of this antibiotic but my doctor, who is a professor kept saying that I am mistaken. I prayed to God who gave me many signs to pursue this path and I made contact with the American doctor. We had a phone call and he assured me that it was safe to proceed. My own doctor eventually agreed after seeing all my research, but I still needed to overcome many fears and people who asked me to reconsider.
It’s like the 12 spies that Moses sent to spy on the Promised Land, who returned and most of them told the Israelites that there were giants, and that it is better not to do anything.It’s all praises to God who gave me the courage to overcome all the fear, disbelief and negative thoughts that is coming from myself and gave me the assurance to proceed with this antibiotic.
Within three weeks of first taking the antibiotic, the GGT reading went from 600 to below 200. This month, the reading went to 61, going below the 80 mark that we were praying for. The medical review has now become quarterly instead of monthly and we will look to reducing the medication progressively. This journey is not over and we will still need many prayers.
I like to thank God for giving me courage and wisdom and I praise God for bringing me into this great family and all the BBTCians who have been praying alongside my family. I recognize God’s blessings all this time and thank God that my parents have also accepted Christ and have joined the BBTC family. I would specially like to thank all pastors, cell group, tribe and ministry members who have been standing alongside my family.