The Christian life is a journey with God, filled with challenges, but also filled with extraordinary experiences and the real meaning of serenity and happiness. In Matthew 17:20, Scripture reminds us that with a faith as small as a mustard seed, we can command a mountain to move and it will move. Earlier, in Matthew 7:7, Jesus had already promised to His disciples to ask and they’ll be given, seek and they will find, knock and the door will be opened.
In the life of one lady, sis Susan Chua, she has seen the truth of these promises of God so many times. Recently, she shared her testimony in the C3 Church at Subang.
‘I am sharing today about how my God delivered me from cancer, but the God I am sharing about is no ordinary God, and to understand His greatness and how faithful He has been in my life, I need to share with you about my background,’ she began.
Sis Susan came from a traditional Chinese backdrop. It was a tough environment, growing upwith a Communist minded father and a mother who held staunch beliefs in her own religion. ‘My father was an intelligent man,’ she shared, ‘but we lived in poverty. We were so poor that very often there was not even food to eat.’
‘There were times when I was so hungry that I would imagine myself feasting on delicacies and that would keep me sated for a while. That was how I survived. I had no hope at the time and I often wondered why with such an intelligent man as my father, we had to live in such circumstances. But looking back, God already had a plan for my future even at that time.’
When sis Susan reached a school-going age, she was sent to a Roman Catholic school. In that school, she would see the pictures of a compassionate man who clearly had a heart of love for the hurting and lonely. ‘I marveled at the love that was so displayed clearly in His face and actions, yet I didn’t know Him at that time. The school I had gone to did not explain to me who He was, nor did they ever share with me the stories of His life and ministry that I would come to know later’.
Yet the pictures of Jesus made sis Susan yearn for His love and compassion. At the age of 17, she made the decision to come to know Him personally. ‘I wanted to find out more about Him. I use to secretly run to the Sunday school near my house.’
That was not the end of the story. When her parents found out, they were furious. ‘In my time, when parents disciplined their children, they really disciplined them. And so, though it was painful, I used my wisdom not to attend in order to avoid punishment.’
It was really challenging, but in time, Christ made it possible for her to accept Him back into her life and she did so formally. ‘I prayed so many times to become a Christian, and God answered my prayers. But when God answers, He does not just answer one prayer, He blesses us with much more. We have a prayer-answering God and in Matthew 7:7, Jesus tells us to knock on the door and He’ll open it. My next prayer was for a Christian husband.’
How God brought this couple together is another inspirational testimony. There was a cultural setting during the time that one race never marry another from a different race. And so, most Chinese would never even have a picture of marrying an Indian, and vice versa. Yet God was counter-cultural against all man-made preconceived notions. God answered her prayer by bringing young Indian man into her life.
‘I knew that this man really loved God in the same way I did, and that we really loved each other. In addition, we both wanted to live a life of service for God. But not only were we from different races, I was a poor girl and he was a man from a high-caste Indian family. In the Hindu caste system, a man from a Brahmin family background would never be allowed to marry someone from a poor background. His family would object to it.’ This however was no hurdle for God. He smoothed the way for sis Susan and Rev Jai to get married.
‘The next challenge is in having a bloodline. While I knew that my husband truly loved me, I also knew that every man who marries wants a lineage. Furthermore, I had dreams for further studies which of course my husband undertook to educate me in the U.K.’ Yet, due to malnourishment, from the age of 15-45 years, sis Susan had been suffering through a bleeding disease like the woman with the issue of blood in the Bible. Medically, this meant that she was unable to have children.
Rev Jai and sis Susan stayed faithful to each other through the challenges. 40 years after their marriage, the couple remains devoted and loving to each other. In the years of marriage, God had done the miraculous and given them a daughter.
‘Despite the difficulties and the pessimism from doctors, God had give us a daughter and not just any daughter but one that is intelligent, healthy and perfect in mind.’ God also gave the couple a second son (today a pastor) followed by another daughter.
God had been so faithful in sis Susan’s life, but there was one incident that stood out. While serving in a foreign country, during a checkup, the gynecologist had discovered that Susan had cancer of the womb and advised her to go for total removal of the womb. Furthermore, this news came at a time when she and Rev Jai was about to go for a mission trip to India.
‘I was at a dilemma. The doctors were advising me to go for the operation immediately but my heart was telling me to accompany my husband to the missionary work in India. I mulled it over but decided in the end to take a faith journey and go to India instead of for my operation.’
Going through the bumpy roads in India was a very rough experience especially for a woman with a bleeding disease. But the amazing thing was that God performed a miracle out of her faith.
‘When I returned to the foreign country, I realized soon after that God had miraculously stopped the bleeding. God had healed me of my bleeding disease! I couldn’t believe it. I went to numerous gynecologists, did all the various tests and checkups, and everything, and the gynecologists always asked one question, ‘Since when did you have cancer?’ The tests and checks all came out clean. I was found to be free of cancer.’
Sis Susan shared that God has shown so many times in her life the truth of His promises from Matthew 7:7 and Matthew 17:20. ‘So often we do not have enough faith to trust and ask from Him,’ she shared. In Matthew 7:11, Jesus encourages us that if our earthly fathers know how to love their children and bless them with good gifts, how much more so our Father in Heaven. ‘Our God is a miracle-working and prayer-answering God, full of might and grace and compassion.’
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– Jason Law
NOTE: All pictures kindly contributed by Rev Jai and family.
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