Over the years, thousands of Filipinos have sacrificed many things to serve as missionaries. They give up lucrative jobs, comforts of home, mom’s home cooking and many other equally note-worthy items and opportunities. They willingly brave extremities such as heat and humidity, cold and wind, slimy, hard, itchy, strange, and weird local food and delicacies. Not to mention more complex cultural differences, even persecution and life threatening situations. On a personal level: loneliness, physical sickness and being homesick. Despite of all of these, missionaries have only one thing in their minds - to do whatever it takes to get the Gospel to those who have no means of accessing it.

Here’s the story of an ACM trained missionary, Leila Peters (not her real name). May you be blessed with her passion to serve God (not even her health condition could stop her) and how Jesus miraculously healed her because of her love for the lost.

Leila, together with her teammates, conducts a one-year comprehensive Bible based leadership training in an “underground” Bible School in China. Their vision is to train minority Christian leaders to equip them for mission and church planting. Their students come from different parts of the country. These students commit themselves to stay for a year to learn about the Bible and be trained for ministry.

Leila was in China when she discovered a lump in her neck. She consulted a doctor there, but was advised to go home to the Philippines and seek medical attention. It was difficult for her to decide because it was the middle of their training season, but with the help and encouragement of her team, she got back to the Philippines on May 15, 2005.

Leila’s heart for the lost despite of her sickness…

During Leila’s stay in the Philippines, she took several blood tests, ultra sound tests and ECT. She was under medication for three months. Her doctor also advised her to go through a CT scan. To make matters worse, she needed to wait before being operated on because of her thyroid problem which needed to be regulated.

While in the country, she heard stories that the police officers raided their school. They put their students to jail and questioned their teachers. They locked the school building and took all their things, including their computers. The only things left were the clothes of the students. This made it more difficult for Linda, as she shares, “I wanted to be there with my team as they have been with me. But God assured me that they will be alright. He is in control. He loves them more than I do.” And as promised, everything went well. Amazingly, nobody was sent to prison and thrown out of China. “Indeed, God was in control,” Leila recalls as she tells us.

September 25, 2005 was Leila’s schedule of operation. “According to my doctor, my lump had many veins. The operation would be very risky; my voice might even be affected. So I conditioned myself, if ever I will not be able to make it after the operation. I thought I was going to die after they removed the tumor in my neck.

When I woke up, I could barely breathe,” Leila relates. In the depths of her struggle, Leila prayed a prayer, born from her despair. In her prayer she told God, “If Your will is to take me home, I am ready…But he told me, not yet! “ Leila emotionally shares.

“When they took off the regulator from my throat, I could hardly breathe and swallow. I told myself, “This is it!” Little by little, I am seeing light. The first thing I saw was the room number, 7. I was encouraged for its God’s perfect number. I started seeing people around me praying on their knees. There were also people gathered for a prayer meeting at the nurse’s station... My heartbeat was fast and my BP was high. I could hear the voices of the nurses around me. My neck and face felt swollen. Through it all, I know God was with me and He assured me that it’s not yet my time.” Leila narrates.

Making it was still unbelievable for Leila. After her operation, she, again, faced another hurdle. But just how God has seen her through, making it possible for her to be still alive, she takes her recovery one day at a time. “I went back to the hospital several times. I could not eat nor swallow water. I could not think nor talk. I had difficulty breathing. My heart was beating so fast. Progress was slow…I could not write, so I could not email as much as I would have wanted.”

To Leila’s shock, one morning, she felt another lump on her neck. “I got afraid, I did not want another operation because I still felt very weak. I prayed so hard and promised to see an oncologist after the holidays.”

On January 1, Leila’s oncologist diagnosed her with cancer. She was advised to get chemotherapy and radiation. “I still don’t want to believe it…I texted and tried to email everybody asking for prayers” On the second week of January, she started with her chemotherapy. “It’s a harsh treatment and I felt so alone. I poured out my heart to the Lord because I still wanted to go back to China . I felt so down. I couldn’t talk to anybody because my voice was still so soft. I was also having a hard time financially. I went back to the hospital for the fourth time. This time, however, nobody visited me despite all my text messages to my friends, asking them to visit me and pray for me. Almost everybody was busy.”

After a few days, friends started texting and e-mailing her. Some visited her and sent monetary support too. “I cried a lot...One neighbor came to our house thinking something happened to me. Well, something really happened to me…God touched me through her surprise visit...He even heard my cry for China . He promised me, I would go back to China . God is good. His love really never fails. I felt His faithfulness through the devotion of my mother, the caring prayers and monetary support of my brother’s and sisters in Christ, my co workers, and also through the support and encouragement of the ACM staff.

God’s Miracle Healing!

ACM referred Leila to another oncologist. The doctor advised her to go back to her first doctor. When she saw her first doctor again she went through another series of tests. According to her doctor, if this time her results are clear, she will not have to go through Chemotherapy or radiation again. The doctor also said that it would take time for the lump to come back or might even never come back again. Indeed, our God is a miracle working God, “After taking the entire test, the results were clear! To God be the Glory!” Leila ecstatically shares.

Because of this experience, Leila has come to a better understanding of what it means to completely rely on God for everything. “I felt so sorry and have asked the Lord for forgiveness in trying to tell Him what to do, to the point that it was okay for me to die. God has His own timetable. I could have trusted Him more. His word in Hebrews became true to me when He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.” And today, I am healed.

To be sure, Leila went through another CT scan. She testifies, “I underwent another CT scan last month. And the results were really clear. God healed me!…Praise the Lord.!”

God honored Leila’s desire to reach those who have never heard of Jesus Christ in China by healing her. Despite of her condition, in her heart she was more mindful of the needs of the Chinese more than hers. She wanted to live so she can live for others! After her miraculous healing, Leila felt even more passionate to go back there. “A friend of mine asked me why I’m going back to the mission field. - How can I not? She said. It’s the only reason I’m still alive. My work is not finished yet!”

Even though she was still weak and her voice has not fully recovered, she arranged for her comeback. “I discussed my physical condition with my leader in China. He told me, my voice is not a problem, because I have the heart for the people.” Leila is being asked to do administration work in their underground Bible school when she comes back.

Today, Leila is back in China . The question is – Are we willing to do the same?

Will we be as in love with God? Shouldn’t we have the same heart for the lost? Will you follow His will in bringing His love to others?