There are many times when God shows His faithfulness, and that He watches over us, not just in delivering us from a crisis at a certain point of time, but also from a related crisis that may occur many years from the original one. Recently, we heard of one such testimony from a friend and fellow brother in Christ.
Two years ago, in June 2021, we featured a story from Brother Peter Khoo. God had miraculously saved him from a serious injury and even possibly death in 2019. He had fallen from the top of a 6-foot ladder. This might have brought serious injury even to a younger man, but Peter was already 64 years old at that time. And yet he had escaped without a single scratch.
‘I fell backward with my body curled up straight to the floor tiles,’ Peter remembered. ‘The angels must have held my body or else the impact of the fall would have resulted in very serious consequences. There were no broken bones, no head concussions, only some scratches on my legs and arms.
‘Psalm 91 verses 12-13: “For He commands His angels to guard you in all your ways they would lift you up in their hands so that you would not strike your foot against the stone“ aptly described my fall. Even more so as I was confessing Psalm 91 frequently in my morning devotions,’ he shared. ‘I am forever grateful for the second lease of life the Lord has given me.’
The fall was the first occurrence. Three and a half years after that first incident, in March 2023, Peter would encounter another close call with death. ‘I did not expect another chance encounter with death would come from that fall,’ Peter related.
‘My wife and I, together with her siblings and family, went for a short vacation to Danang and Hoi An, Vietnam. On the day we landed in Danang, then went on the road to Hoi An, my challenges started. My hips started playing up and I had difficulty even walking 500 metres without stopping. At the same time, I started coughing and my throat started getting scratchy and itchy. The cough developed into phlegm which began forming in my throat and lungs. The cough and phlegm discharge intensified the next day and on subsequent days.’
Peter shared that the medications he brought and even those he bought from the local pharmacy in Vietnam did not really help much. To make matters worse, his hips joints got worse and the few massage centres he went to brought some relief but for only short periods.The night time was particularly excruciating as coupled with the pain, he was also coughing very badly in the damp air of the late evening, night, and early morning hours.
‘The coughing and spitting out of the phlegm disrupted both my wife’s and my sleep. We prayed and claimed God’s healing power and protection but the symptoms persisted.’ Yet in the midst of all this, Peter strangely felt peaceful. ‘Somehow though I felt something was building up in my lungs I felt assured that everything was going to be ok.’
After three days in Hoi An, Peter thought of seeing a local doctor but he never got around to it as he felt that he would be going home in just a couple of days and that he could consult his doctor back home in Malaysia. The day after arriving in Malaysia, he consulted a respiratory specialist. From the X-ray results, it was confirmed that there was an onset of pneumonia. However, it had only affected his left lungs.
‘My doctor told me that I was very fortunate that it did not spread to my right lung. He explained that pneumonia is very contagious and going five days without medication is very dangerous. If the pneumonia had affected both lungs the effects could be fatal. On hearing that, I was truly amazed,’ Peter said gratefully. The pneumonia could have developed into a deadly condition by the time he was seeing the doctor. God had preserved Peter’s life despite him not being aware earlier of the seriousness of his condition. ‘Praise the Lord. Again the Lord has shown His mercy and removed the sting of death from me.’
Due to the seriousness of his condition, the doctor admitted Peter immediately after the consultation. At the same time of the pneumonia, Peter’s hips were getting very bad and he could hardly walk 100 feet without taking a rest. ‘My treatment at the hospital involved both for the pneumonia and the hips and joint pain which brought an accelerated improvement. The cough and phlegm were almost gone in only 24 hours after receiving the medication!’
It took just a few more days for Peter to walk on his legs and hips without experiencing great pain. ‘The Lord had used the doctors and the medication to bring healing and restoration to my body in an accelerated manner,’ he shared. ‘After five days, I was discharged and I was free of pneumonia and my lungs were almost back to normal. My legs and hips took a bit longer to fully restore. I had to regularly see the physiotherapist and chiropractor for treatments. After about 1.5 months, my legs were back to normal and I could even jog with no pain.’
There was one more addendum to Peter’s testimony. ‘The Lord’s loving kindness is forever,’ he expressed. ‘My healing is complete. I just returned from a four-day holiday in Hanoi last week (of June 2023) with my wife and her friends. One of the places we visited is Ninh Binh, a Unesco World Heritage Centre with a huge land size covering a few hundred hectares with rivers and mountains. The tour package we took included boating, cycling and climbing a mountain of 1000 steps.
‘We cycled for about 40 mins, up and down on the country road. It was great fun for our group of about 15 of us with the sun and wind blowing at us. Cycling on the deserted country road, it brought back memories of my younger days where my main transport to school was an old traditional bicycle which is seldom seen nowadays.
‘After the bicycle and boating adventure I took the challenge of climbing the 1000 uneven steps to the top of the mountain. As I trekked along the uneven stone steps it became steeper and I was getting more exhausted and I felt the pressure building on my two knees and muscles. The thought of turning back flashed through my mind. But I was determined there was no turning back for I have decided to move up with God’s help and strength. I kept on climbing up while declaring that the Lord is my strength and helper.
‘I noticed the climbers who were mainly below the age of 40 were also taking breaks like me, huffing in tiredness and resting. Finally after about a 30 mins walk, I reached the top! Wow! I made it! I raised both my hands and praised the Lord.’
‘I was almost in tears when I recalled that at the end of March 2023, as shared above, I had been hit with severe pain in my knees and hips where I could hardly walk 100 metres,’ Peter reminisced with thankfulness. ‘It took me 1.5 months to recover and only 1 month after my recovery, I could even scale this mountain. Isn’t this a powerful proof and testimony that the Lord’s faithfulness and goodness endures forever? God had always fulfilled the desires of my heart. Though I did not get to enjoy much during the earlier trip to Vietnam, a land with a beauty I had always wanted to see, God had blessed me ten-fold during this recent trip. Praise the Lord forevermore!!’
Christianity Malaysia would like to thank Brother Peter Khoo for his immense generosity and help in sharing his testimony as a blessing and throughout the production of this article. All photos were kindly contributed by Peter.
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