Testimony from Minister Gao

Isaiah 55:9 New International Version (NIV) 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

A surprise phone call

January 25th 2016 was an unforgettable day in my life. My wife was in her 3rd trimester. On that day at noon, she was resting in her bed as usual, carefully protecting the baby in her womb. A sudden phone call came, I hurried to pick it up so that it would not affect my resting wife.

It was a nurse from our OB/GYN doctor. She told me that the doctor had an important message for me. Clouded with lots of questions, I was nervous and frightened. This doctor is a Christian, many of my classmates from the seminary had been under his care and delivered many healthy babies, but this busy doctor rarely called patients.

Why is he calling me? I held my breath and couldn’t stop thinking about all kinds of scenarios. After hearing some footsteps, a calm and peaceful elderly voice came from the other side of the phone. I restlessly asked him, “Is there something serious you want to tell me, doctor?” “The result of your wife’s blood test came back. It showed that your baby had three copies of chromosome 21.”

A long pause came after that announcement, he probably sensed my confusion since I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about; he continued “that means your daughter will likely be born with Down syndrome”.
I was in disbelief after learning all this. I tried to hold my emotion and asked him calmly, “you are saying that she’s likely to have Down syndrome but there is a chance she won’t, correct?” He replied affirmatively “this blood test is highly accurate, the probability is as high as 99.8%”.

I thanked him politely and hung up. After this heart ranching conversation, my thoughts suddenly went back to two days ago on the previous Saturday, when I was at the wedding of my classmate’s daughter. I saw my friend walking her daughter down the aisle, handing her hand to her future husband, with all the happiness and joy on their faces. I also remembered at the wedding reception, my friend was dancing with her daughter and everyone at the dinner could feel how happy they were.

I remembered at that moment, I was imaging one day I would be doing the same as my friend, with my soon coming daughter. One day, I would also be handing her hand to her God chosen half, and I would be dancing with her at her wedding reception.
But my dream was broken into pieces with this phone call. I could not handle the pain myself so I woke up my resting wife to tell her the shocking news. We had no words for each other for a very long time. We both needed time to process this news, we both needed time to cry in front of Jesus.

I have never met anyone with Down syndrome in China, so I had very limited knowledge about it. I started to search online about related signs and symptoms. When I found out that it can also cause heart defects, dis-formed digestive systems, epilepsy, leukemia… my body started shaking and I could not stop crying. I could not endure my child suffering so much, and I asked the Lord to please remove this disease away from my child, please give me a healthy baby, I would do anything, anything if He could just take this away from her.

For most of the 2016 my wife and I lived in constant tears and prayers. Though we received many suggestion about abortion we believed whatPsalm 127:3 says “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.”
We had become Christian for more than 10 years, we have been through His faithfulness and love, He has given us all kinds of blessings, so we know that as long as we hold His hand tightly, He will guide us through all the darkness and storms.

“The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?” Exodus 4:11

The birth of Faith

On May 1st 2016, our precious daughter was finally here. Even though we were still hoping that the 0.02% chance of having a healthy baby, hoping for a miracle, but I prayed to God before the surgery that I will always be thankful for this precious gift that He gave me and I will love this child for all I can. I also told my wife that I will love her and take care of them no matter what happens. God will provide all we need.

When I first saw Faith, I immediately realized that she’s got Down syndrome. But my heart was filled with peace. I know she is not a mistake; she is indeed a previous gift from God. She was given to me because God knows that I will take very good care of her.

When I gazed at this little angel, I thought of a prayer from one of my professors in seminary. He prayed that I will realize one day that this baby with Down syndrome is not a test, she is a blessing for me. This gave me full of hope, but also confusion at the same time.

We named her Faith because we know that parenting this baby will be a challenging task, there will be so many uncertainties and we need lots of lots of faith from God.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

A blessing in disguise

Faith is 3 years old now. She is an outgoing, happy child. Everyone loves her in our church. Although we’ve been through a lot of challenges in the past 3 years, those are nothing compare to what we received from God. He has faithfully provided all we needed, through the support and encouragement of our church’s brothers and sisters. Because of Faith, we learned what it looks like to have simple faith in life. Because of Faith, we learned that life itself is a miracle. It took her longer than average baby to learn to flip over, to walk and to talk, but every little step that seemed simple and normal to others, she helped us realized how delicate God’s design is in that. Because of Faith, we understood what Jesus means to have pure faith and joy like a child.

God counseled us through parenting Faith. It helped me learn to care, to feel other’s pain, their helpless and hopeless. Most importantly, God taught me how to use His counsel for me, to counsel others who are in need, the most important element I need to become a pastor of a church. We still have a long road ahead of us, but I know that Faith is a blessing in disguise. We will continue to be molded and to be used by God because of her.