Story of a dear friend

The names in the following story, beyond the walls of the church, of God’s grace, compassion, power, and salvation have been changed:

Jesus, we love you! Thank you for your grace for bringing us into Lydia’s life and being part of Your story during the recovery after the car accident 10 months ago. Lydia and her boyfriend Taylor had a car accident in March, 2019. Her neck was severely damaged . After major surgeries, her doctor diagnosed her paralyzed for life from the shoulders down. Ian, an Uber driver, got connected with Lydia’s mom, Ruth, after giving her a ride at the time when Lydia was in ICU right after the accident. Ruth had just come from China to taken care of Lydia. Ian shared his very heavy burden for this family with me and a good friend. We started praying with him together for Lydia and Ruth. Two weeks later we visited them in the hospital. Then we connected with a believer named Abigail, whose church was close to the hospital. Abigail brought her whole home group and their church members to serve them. Ever since then, almost everyday there has been visitors by her bedside. Pastors, counselors, friends and relatives continuously showed up at the hospital supporting the whole family.

During this time Ruth accepted Jesus as her savior after encountering Jesus during a short inner healing prayer we did with her at a small cafeteria table in the hospital. Ruth’s best friend, who was visiting from China, also accepted Jesus. Pretty soon Lydia opened her heart and accepted Jesus too. Recently Taylor prayed with us to accept Jesus by Lydia’s bed. He said that deep in his heart he had believed in Jesus for quite some time. Praise the Lord!

Physically, God is slowly healing Lydia. She has recovered a lot. The first time we met her at ICU she could hardly move or swallow anything. Now she can move her arms and wrists  and use her phone. She still has no feeling from her shoulders down, including some inner organs, legs and feet. She and her mom decided to go back to China to continue treatment there.

Spiritually, Lydia and Ruth are very thirsty for God’s Word and prayer now! People have been coming to read the Bible with them. Lydia asks very good questions about the Bible and prepares questions to ask her pastors. Almost every day during this long hospital stay Taylor served and supported Lydia.

Before Lydia and Ruth departed for China last week they received two corporate prayer times over the phone. The first one was with the CBC Healing Prayer Room team. Lydia and Ruth got prayer from seven prayer warriors over WeChat. The second prayer time was on Tuesday night with the CSOM team. This time 11 prayer warriors were praying with Lydia and Taylor through WeChat. Full of God’s presence, we prayed for the Lord’s grace, intimacy with Jesus, acceptance, wisdom, knowledge, encouragement, power and promises! One of us had a spontaneous worship song “He‘s got the whole world in His hands! He’s got Lydia and Taylor in His Hands!“ The song was so prophetic and full of promises. It brought us comfort, hope and increased our faith. Words and singing were echoing from heaven to earth and into our hearts! Lydia exclaimed, “Wow... so beautiful!”

Together we are fighting for Lydia and her family. In Jesus’s name we bless Lydia with more healing, the Lord’s mercy, favor, guidance, and preparation of their heart for the journey and transition back home. We feel God’s presence and the Spirit moving among us! Lydia and Taylor and Ruth, Jesus loves you! We love you! God is so real, so good! Every promise is true!

Lydia is now safely back home. She has started rehab in China. Through church friends’ networking internationally, a local church near Ruth and Lydia’s hometown will contact them soon. Another chapter of His story started! God‘s not done with us yet! He’s got the whole world in His hands! He’s got us in His hands!