Seven Prayers for Repair, Restoration, and Renewal (Part 1)

first prayer

On March 13, 2010, my ex-husband Huang Xuhui called from Taiwan and said he wanted to come over to see my son and me. I told my son Xiaoji the news, and he said to me: "Why do I feel weird..." Yes, after seven years of divorce, he never took the initiative to visit our mother and son. Only every Spring Festival or summer vacation, Xiaoji went there as a matter of routine. Visit him in Taiwan.

With heavy and uneasy hearts, we met in a shopping mall in Shenzhen the next day. I have never liked receiving messages or phone calls from him. I feel that meeting him is a real trouble and unpleasant. I just want to end this meeting quickly and return to my daily schedule. I was remarried at this time, and I said to my husband, Abraham, "Let's just have a meal, an hour is enough." So my husband drove Xiaoji and me to the appointment.

As soon as I saw him appear, still more than ten meters away, I understood his purpose: he was dying!

The word "withered" is not an exaggeration to describe him that day. After greeting me, I walked behind him and my son, cried, and ran to the bathroom to pray.

"Lord, please have mercy on him. Don't let Xiaoji have no father now...let him know you...please Lord, have mercy on him." This was the first prayer I prayed for Huang Xuhui. It had only been a year since I believed in the Lord. Many people wonder if God will listen to such incoherent and panicked prayers.

At the dinner table, he confirmed my suspicion that he had terminal colon cancer and had spread. I started to preach the gospel to him. I was very anxious and urgent. I called the fellowship leader and learned that a Taiwanese pastor was preaching at a certain church that afternoon and we were asked to listen.

I called my husband, who had been waiting in the parking lot for more than three hours, and told him that Xiaoji’s father had cancer. I wanted to take him to church and to believe in the Lord...Abraham said: "You did the right thing, go ahead." .

That afternoon, my ex-husband made a decision to believe in the Lord in that church and was very obedient when singing hymns. I couldn’t believe that this man who was so proud and lonely in my memory could actually clap his hands and sing hymns...

The next day, my father and I accompanied him to find another pastor to pray specifically for his healing.

He cried while the pastor prayed, and he didn't have to take painkillers that day. He was surprised because he had to take painkillers every few hours. While having lunch with the pastor, I saw him smile.

That night, there seemed to be a voice in my heart urging me to teach Huang Xuhui how to read the Bible and pray. I told Abraham and he was very supportive and said, "Yesterday I was very angry because of the waiting. The strange thing is that since I found out that he had cancer, I suddenly lost all my anger." So on the third day, I found Huang Xuhui and told him that after he believed in the Lord, Everything I knew was poured into him without stopping.

When I got home at around nine o'clock in the evening, my husband came over to me and said, "Thank you for your hard work." It sounded like I had done something hard for him... At that moment, I clearly felt a sense of holiness. Deep and intimate love flows like a clear spring into the tired body and mind. That was the first time after our marriage that we truly experienced complete unity. From that day until today, we have never been unhappy because of Huang Xuhui, and we fell in love even more because of it. We truly understand the power of God’s love.

second prayer

Brother Huang Xuhui then returned to Taiwan and was quickly baptized in the hospital where he received treatment. One night at about three o'clock in the night, I suddenly woke up. Before I could think about anything, I had an idea - pray. I knelt down and prayed for Huang Xuhui's healing with fear in my heart. That prayer of fear and trembling in the darkness was a turning point in my prayer. It can also be said that because of Brother Huang Xuhui, I began to learn to pray. Also joining in the prayers for him were his father, husband, and son Xiaoji.

To be honest, praying for him was a burden and not pleasant. I still dread receiving messages and phone calls from him, and whenever his name comes up, it's like being shrouded in a haze. Whenever his cancer index rises and his condition deteriorates, he is the first to complain to me. It seems that because I am the one who "sells" the gospel to him, once he uses it "ineffectively", he comes to question me as "there is something wrong with the product." Sometimes he would use more than a dozen exclamation points or question marks in a row, such as "Have I not already believed? Why doesn't God save me???????!!!!!!!!!"

Every time I received such a message, I was angry, anxious, disgusted, and very sad. I had no choice but to kneel down again to pray, call out, cry, confess my sins, and repent... Even so, I still saw his desire to live, and also See God's love and mercy for him. These questionings made me pray more and more urgently. Whenever he gets better, a message will be sent to thank God. In this way, I gradually became stronger.

During this time, I began to interact with his family again. His younger sister Yanxue’s parents-in-law and younger sister also believed in the Lord. We communicated more about her brother’s illness and spiritual growth. Huang Xuhui's mother was furious because her children believed in Jesus. Huang Xuhui could not live peacefully at home, but Yan Xue was actually willing to take him over so that he could go to church freely. Because of this persecution, my husband and I began to pray continuously for the salvation of his mother and the whole family.

At that time, I had become a student in the "Qunfang Sheng" business management course led by Teacher Gao Lili, the founder of the Kingdom of God Christian Association. I asked Teacher Lili to visit him in Taiwan. She went very faithfully, and also met with Brother Huang and his My little sister ate and prayed together, which gave them great comfort and encouragement, and also let me know that I was not the only one who suffered.

third prayer

Half of the reason why I divorced brother Huang Xuhui was because of his mother. She married Huang Xuhui in 1991 and settled in Taiwan in 1997. She lived with her parents-in-law and her family, but she was extremely unhappy. Later, he resolutely gave up his Taiwanese household registration, returned to the mainland with Xiaoji, and vowed never to go to Taiwan again.

After my divorce in 2002, I returned to work. God actually enabled me to have a good income and a safe life. What I am best at is editing or fashion design, and God has always given me opportunities to fully develop in these two areas.

One morning, I was kneeling in my room, praying for Huang Xuhui's illness and his family as usual. Somehow, the Holy Spirit suddenly led me to review the past experiences with his mother and make a profound confession. I saw that my former mother-in-law had so many qualities worthy of pity and consideration; I saw how cold and resentful I was when she scolded me... I cried and said to God, "It's all my fault. She scolded me. I didn't say anything, which made her even more angry. I had no love or communication in my heart. I was wrong. Please forgive me... Please have mercy on her. She has had no parents since she was a child. She needs love so much, but I have never loved her. Give her salvation and bless her..." I burst into tears and even fell to the ground crying. After that, for the first time, a sincere wish for my mother-in-law to be blessed arose in my heart.

I was supposed to go to a training course that morning. Not only was it a long way to go, but it was also during rush hour. If I didn't arrive on time, I would be forced to stand in class all morning. It was really embarrassing. After praying, I hurried out and there were only fifteen minutes left before class. I prayed desperately along the way, "Lord! Please show me a miracle to prove that I was with You in the prayer just now. Don't let me be late..." Originally, the journey took nearly thirty minutes, but when I arrived at the classroom, the class started The bell just went off and I didn’t have to stand around in shame. My mood is as clear as the sky after the rain, and one thing is completely gone, that is, the hatred I had for my mother-in-law. It feels so beautiful and relaxing, and a new power gushes out from the bottom of my heart! God used this miracle to tell me that He can stop time, and He can also turn back time and heal the dusty pain in my heart.

That night I took the initiative to call Brother Huang Xuhui and told him about his morning prayer experience and how much I wanted to bless his mother. I looked forward to one day being able to say blessings to her in person. He choked up.

I never knew or expected any change in the relationship between my ex-mother-in-law and me. However, after praying, I found that God gave me a new power in my prayers.

Not only that, husband Abraham's prayer for Huang Xuhui has also entered a new realm. He naturally prayed for him and felt that the two of them were already very familiar, and he didn't even remember that he was my ex-husband. When I was waiting for Xiaoji and I to meet Huang Xuhui, I didn't show up for three hours, and I felt angry and jealous. But when he learned that Huang Xuhui had cancer, the Holy Spirit took away all the negative emotions in an instant and never came back. I think if it wasn't from God, we really couldn't do it.

At the same time, the mother-in-law of the younger sister Yanxue got up at five o'clock every morning to pray for Huang Xuhui. Because she believed in the Lord, she was even willing to let her daughter-in-law take her terminally ill brother to live at home. This allowed me to truly see Father God’s unyielding love for Huang Xuhui...

Huang Xuhui himself also transformed. He was filled with the Holy Spirit during a conference, and soon afterward he began to follow the church's preachers to Taitung to minister to some orphans and elderly people and pray for them. He sent many photos, one of which was of him holding a scalded toddler. I was deeply shocked. I couldn't believe my eyes. How different this was from the original him!

Huang also called and said he wanted to bless and pray for me. I never imagined that our broken relationship would one day be reconciled and we could bless each other! I dare not ask for such kind words, but we were once a family, and now our intimacy in the Lord is better than any relationship maintained by human power.

That Christmas, he actually sent three gifts, each of which was the same. They were written on them for me, Abraham, and "Dad" (that's what he still called my father). He knew that Abraham and my dad had been praying for him too. Those three gifts made me truly feel what being a “family in the Lord” is like.

fourth prayer

One day in the spring of 2012, his eldest sister and younger sister called respectively and asked me to persuade my brother, saying that he collapsed and was desperate. After receiving targeted therapy in Germany, the cancer index still did not drop. They could not dissuade him, and reminded him that time might be running out, and asked me to prepare to buy Xiaoji a plane ticket back to Taiwan. But when I saw his extremely happy face during prayer, he smiled so hard that his teeth were exposed. That image encouraged me, and I felt that there was still a chance of improvement, so I prayed to God to let Xiaoji wait until summer vacation before going to Taiwan.

His health is indeed getting worse and worse, his vision is gradually blurring and he cannot see light. The doctor said that this was a sequelae of treatment and that it was impossible to recover. I just kept praying for him on the phone and encouraging him. What else?

I told Teacher Gao Lili about the situation and asked her to visit him again. Teacher Li Li not only agreed, but also taught and encouraged me that God’s arrangements are always right and will only bring better results. After listening to it with tears in my eyes, I felt new strength in my heart.

▲After chemotherapy, the cancer index has not dropped, and Huang Xuhui’s health is getting worse and worse.

Later, with love and courage, Teacher Li Li went to Taipei Renai Hospital to visit him. She led him in reading Psalm 91 and inserted his name into the text by faith, making God's promise to the psalmist a promise to himself. After talking with him for a long time, Teacher Li Li made a prayer full of the power of the Holy Spirit: "I declare in the name of Jesus that you will not die! Now is not the time for you to die. You must wait until your whole family believes in the Lord before leaving... …”

This visit gave him a sense of calm and new strength, and allowed him to apologize to me for the first time for our divorce. He said to me: "I confess to God that I didn't treat you well in my marriage before..." It's hard to say how he felt at that time. It felt like he had been avenged. This was not because he admitted his past wrongs, but because he knew how much God valued him. I want to regain the respect I deserve.

A few weeks later, he was discharged from the hospital, originally diagnosed as never being able to leave the hospital again. However, my eyesight is still bad. I dare not cross the road, cannot see the light, and have to wear sunglasses at home. The pain has also worsened. All we can do is pray, pray, pray. Sometimes I pray so feebly and weakly that I don’t know how to turn things around.

I don’t know how long it took, but one Sunday, when worship was about to end, I received a call from him: “My mother has just decided to believe in the Lord!” Hallelujah, there is no one in this world who believes in the Lord more than me. My former mother-in-law’s belief in the Lord made me even more excited! (As I write this, I still can’t help crying and laughing...) I ignored the rules and immediately rushed to the podium to give my testimony and tell the whole church that my former mother-in-law had become a Christian! At that time, I never thought about whether her belief in the Lord would affect my relationship with her. I was simply happy for her, and all the past knots seemed to disappear like clouds of smoke.

Even greater good news came at noon the next day. He called again and said, "My eyesight has recovered and is exactly the same as before. Yesterday when my mother made up her mind to pray, I felt something strange in my eyes. When I woke up this morning, I found that my eyesight was completely fine." Already..."

▲Teacher Gao Lili visited Huang Xuhui in the hospital and led him to read Psalm 91 together.

(Image source: http://www.bassett.org/gedownload!/VISITORS-get-well-flowers.jpg?item_id=166833105)

I put down the phone, closed the door and praised God loudly for His great deeds. At this time, the CD player suddenly started singing poetry! That hymn CD usually gets stuck at the ninth song, and it got stuck there when I was praying in the morning. Only at that moment, the ninth song started singing by itself, the only time!

As soon as the summer vacation came, I asked Xiaoji to go to Taiwan to accompany his father. But Huang Xuhui was not very satisfied with him and called me to complain that his son was cold and didn't care enough about him. When talking about some details, I said to him: "I failed to teach my son well, please forgive me." At the same time, I half-jokingly said to him: "Don't you think his behavior is similar to the way you used to treat me? "?" He actually laughed on the phone.

Before my son went to Taiwan, I had been praying to God, asking God to put a heart of unity and love in their father and son. Xiaoji suddenly suffered from urethral stones in Taiwan and suffered severe pain in the middle of the night. Huang Xuhui knelt beside the bed, massaged and prayed until his son fell asleep. Later, when the son got better, he even helped his father bathe and rub his back. When Huang Xuhui called me later, he cried and blamed himself for not caring enough about his son. He has completely changed. He is a man who wants to start his life again. He has a strong desire to survive. He often misses the children of the aboriginal people in Taitung, and those dozens of children call him daddy. I also really hope that he can live on, because he will affect more lives with a completely different life. Not only did he rebuild his relationship with his sons step by step, he also treated those sons of the mountains with a father's heart. (To be continued)

† Because of her ex-husband Huang Xuhui’s belief in the Lord, Maya was able to become “one family in the Lord” with him, and her son Xiaoji was able to rebuild her relationship with his father. So what impact would her prayers have? What big thing is God going to do in her life? Please look forward to the touching conclusion in the next issue.

Author profile:

Maia, an image designer and fashion designer, founded Maia's Vogue company and her own clothing brand Maia's. He has published a series of books such as "Achieve Your Best Self" and "My Wardrobe Classics".