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A Gift from God

By Stella Satish

I was an ordinary woman, happy and content with my life. A loving husband, dotting parents-in-law,two affectionate sons - Prijith Kumar(9) and Sajan Kumar (6). As I was taking care of my family with my heart and soul, I didn't realise there was something more in store for me.

One day Satish, my husband, was complaining of stomach pain, and a lump on his stomach. He went to the hospital and after the clinical examination, a series of tests ere ordered. The final diagnosis turned out to be the advanced stage of Lymphoma (stage III), a form of stomach cancer. The lump was operated, but soon two more lumps came up.

"O God, Why me?" asked Sathish, folding his hands. "In such a young age, why should I get this? who will take care of my family?" Crying in despair, he stared at the blank future.

I couldn't see him crying. He was hesitant to tell me the seriousness of his illness. But he knew that one day or other he had to tell me. So, the earlier the better. When he finally revealed it to me, I wanted to console him, but what would I say? Instead, I too cried with him. I couldn't think of anything about our future, all that I could think was falling at the feet of God and ask for courage and strength to go through the present situation.

We were just lower middle class people and didn't have any insurance or other property to sell to meet his medical expenses. All that we had was our small family house in the city limits of Thiruvananthapuram. Since Sathish was the soul bread winner of the family, we couldn't think of anything else, and decided to sell the property for his treatment, even though there was no assurance that he will be recovered completely. But leaving our trust in God we went ahead and made arrangements for the sale, which will contribute to the treatment expenses amounting to Rs.12 lakhs.

When my husband came to know about our decision he protested. He was very much against it and told us he preferred death than selling the only property we had.

More than his health, he was worried about our future by selling the house.

"Where will we move to? A rented home?" "How will we pay the rent?" "What will happen to my wife and our kids?" "Who will take care of my aged parents?"

He was worried about these questions, which had no answer.

Finally, the house was sold, and we moved to a small rented house. In the meanwhile, Sathish went through two more operations, 24 radiations and 6 chemotherapy, by then we had already spent Rs. 1 1/2 lakhs. He was required to take 40 more radiations. Still the future was at bleak, and he was given just 3 months time!

Sathish was completely shattered. He didn't want any more treatment. He was frustrated, and prayed God day and night asking for His mercy. By then he knew that only God can save him from the clutches of death and continued to pray. Seeing his struggle, some of the patients in the hospital told him to call Jesus and pray. With all his hearts, Satish prayed Jesus, socked in tears, promising Him to give himself to God, and vowed that if he was spared he would spend his remaining days for God's work.

During his heartbroken prayers, something happened. He felt some unusual happenings in his body and mind like an electric shock. Soon he felt that he is free from his illness and a strange feeling of happiness and joy enveloped him.

This made us believe that miracles do happen. My husband was discharged from the hospital without doing any further radiation or chemotherapy, to start his promise to God, which was a turning point in our life. He is very happy with his present life, a gift from God, serving God, by way of helping the needy.

With the unspent money we had from selling our house, we bought a land in a remote village and built a small house and a church adjacent to it. Since then we are spending our time in doing God's work. After this unforgettable incident, it is more than 3 years now, but the memories are still fresh in our mind.

You can see about our work and the photos of Satish before and after his illness. Satish before and now

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