By Lisna Liu (as told by her daughters Lis Liu & Janti Liu)
Driving on Christmas Day in 2000, on our holiday in Malaysia I was with two of my daughters, my son-in-law, and my granddaughter. We were cruising down the North-South Expressway, not far from Selayang town, at a brisk 120 km/h when suddenly, one of our car tyres burst causing our car to somersault and spin wildly.
During this harrowing experience, I could hear my daughters crying out the name of ‘Jesus.’ Within minutes, I was ejected through the rear window and pinned under the overturned car which landed in a roadside ditch. I could feel blood oozing from my head yet I remained conscious and remarkably free of pain. It was in that very moment that I uttered a prayer for the first time: “Lord Jesus, today I accept you as my personal saviour. Please do not take me yet, as I still have earthly responsibilities. My three children are not yet married!”
The car was a total wreck, but amazingly my son-in-law found his mobile phone in the car’s center console – the exact same location as before the accident. This enabled him to make emergency calls and contact my other family members. I could hear motorists who stopped to assist asking aloud, “How many people have died?”
Spinal cord injury and fears of paralysis
Of the five passengers, my condition was the worst.
While I was rushed to the nearest hospital, I kept praying to Jesus for protection. Upon reaching the hospital’s emergency room, the attending night doctor conveyed the grim news that my X-rays showed two broken ribs.
Scans also revealed a severe spinal cord injury. I continued to pray fervently for divine healing. Hours later, a second set of X-rays ordered by the daytime
doctor miraculously displayed no broken ribs at all! Still, the spinal cord demanded attention.
Since the hospital’s expertise in that area was limited, they advised transferring me to a prominent hospital in Kuala Lumpur. However my family chose to charter an ambulance to transport me to a hospital in Singapore. The specialist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore confirmed the urgent necessity
of surgery due to the severity of the spinal cord injury.
Without it, I faced the terrible prospect of lifelong paralysis. The doctor instructed me to fast, as the surgery was scheduled for the following day.
Desperately I sought to understand the odds of recovery with surgery versus without it.
The doctor explained that with surgery, there was a 50% to 60% chance of recovery, with the remainder, according to his words “a Higher Power.” Without surgery, paralysis within six months was virtually certain.
Before the operation, my children and I gathered for prayer and worship. My second daughter contacted her pastor to pray for me and seek guidance. The pastor proposed to pray in alignment with my faith. He advised, “If you believe that God could heal you through the operation, I would pray for that; if you believe God could heal you even without surgery, that would be my prayer.”
I chose the latter option.
Resting in the finished work of the Cross
On the morning of the scheduled operation, I made the firm decision to cancel it. The doctor was taken aback and sternly warned me about the dire consequences. As I had decided to go without surgery, my sole source of hope rested in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross.
I firmly believed that “by His stripes, I am healed.” I clung to God’s promises for healing daily, without fail. In the following days there were ups and downs,
hope and despair but one thing remained unwavering: His promises to me were always “yes and amen.”
It has now been 24 years since that life-changing accident. Through God’s love, grace, and mercy, I am still able to walk without support today. Though the medical prognosis predicted my paralysis, God chose to heal by His power, to bring glory to His name.
From Tek and Goldie: Recently we got to know the Liu family in Perth. Lis the daughter who runs a school with her husband in Thailand and is taking a course in Perth went to buy food in a restaurant and was told by the owner that there was a christian group that meets there on Saturdays. Lis was interested and brought her elderly parents, her sister and brother to visit. Thereafter, coming regularly to our fellowship, as we got to know them, we discovered more and more their awesome journey of faith in Jesus Christ. Here are the stories of the parents Mr & Mrs Lisna and Chuangmin Liu. They speak Chinese so their daughters
wrote their testimonies.