Joseph’s Testimony

Dallas, Tx  7/4/2007

      My name is Joseph Fong, I was born in Chicago, Illinois. I am 15 years old, and am in 10^th grade.  I live in Bedford, NH. 

      Last year, around the end of July, I started having severe pain in my back, and trouble breathing.  The pain was so severe that it hurt to lie down, and I couldn’t sleep at night.  The family doctor found signs of cancer in me, and sent me to the nearby larger hospital.  The doctors there determined that it was cancer.  I had T-cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a type of cancer which erupted in about two weeks.

      I was confused and scared for my life.  Never in my lifetime had I imagined that I would get cancer.  To me, it was like a nightmare come true.  I felt that my situation was completely hopeless. After I was admitted to the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) in the hospital, I turned to God for help. I was at that point completely helpless, and the only thing I could do was turn to God.

      My dad stayed at the hospital with me, and helped me tremendously through the first few weeks. He reminded me that I was not alone, and that I had family and friends all praying for me.  Most of important of all, he reminded me that I had God.

      It has now almost been a year since I was diagnosed with cancer.  I am still undergoing chemo-therapy.  I know that this illness was God’s will, because it brought many changes to my spiritual life.

      I have realized through this cancer how much we need God, not just in times of trouble, but in our everyday lives.  This cancer in a sense ‘woke me up’, so I would look at reality and the truth of God. I have also come to see how weak and helpless we are without God as well.

      One of the biggest benefits of this disease was that it brought me to start the practice of waiting on God.  I read Pastor Chow’s book The Practice of Waiting on God and have benefited greatly from it ever since.  I learned to put my faith and trust in God, which I never practiced before I had cancer.  I learned to surrender my worries and troubles to him.  I also learned that my relationship with God comes through faith, and by that faith, I could be healed by God.  Therefore my faith in God greatly increased. 

      Before this cancer, I was spiritually ‘dead’.  I knew nothing about waiting on God, nor putting my faith and trust in him.  I was wandering around in my worldly life.

      I have also come to realize the importance of my spiritual life and my personal relationship with God.  It should the first priority of your life over all things.  Before this cancer, I did not take my spiritual life seriously, and therefore did not grow spritually.

      This cancer put me in the right direction, and put a pulse of life through my spiritually dead body.  If I had not had this cancer, I don’t know where I’d be today.  I realize how fragile our life is, and how many things we take for granted.  Not everyone who gets cancer is as fortunate as me.  Everyday when I wake up, I thank God for giving me another day of life, and another day to live.

      I feel I have grown close to God.  I know he was with me during those hard times, when I was sick and while I was going through six months of intense and unpleasant chemo-therapy.  I would often grow nauseous, and vomit.  Most of the time, I had an upset stomach. And during my radiation treatment, I had to stay in bed and sleep because of the all severe headaches I would get.  My appetite grew smaller, and I grew small, frail, and weak.

      I know God is still with me to today.  I feel I have a need to be closer to God, and to improve my practice of waiting on God.  My fear and anxiety have been long gone ever since I turned to God.

      This cancer last of all how stubborn or ignorant we can be.  For me, it took a disease to turn me around to God.  Everything that God allows to happen has a purpose in His wonderful plan.  God’s plan is too wonderful for us to understand1. All we can do is follow him and his will, not our own.

      I am glad that I got this cancer, for it changed my life completely, and put me in the right direction.  I know what it is like to be weak and sick.  I also know I can always put my faith and trust in God.  I have experienced drastic changes in my once spiritually dead life, which I feel as been revived.  As a good friend2 of mine once said, “I say thank you to cancer,” but more importantly, I say thank you to God, for putting me in the right direction.  His plan is too wonderful for us to know1. 

      I’d also like to thank Pastor Chow.  Last August, he took a three-day break from his conference he was conducting to visit me.  He taught and prayed for me.  He revealed God’s message to me.  A verse that Pastor Chow gave to me from God is from John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last,”

      I would also like to thank an 82 years old elderly sister3 from Akron, OH.  She flew from Ohio to New Hampshire and lived with us for 3 months and helped cook, teach, and pray for me.  I know God loves me.  He not only gave me a loving family to take care of me.  He also sent 2 of His servants to come help me.

      I am drawn closer to Him by His love and mercy and I would like to follow him all the days of my life.  I say thank you to my family who are always with me. I also say thank you to the brothers and sisters in Erie PA, Roanoke/Lynchburg VA, Dallas TX, Akron OH, Chicago IL, Manchester NH, New York NY and Greensboro NC who are constantly praying for me.