I presented my testimony to church today. Here it is:
Hi, my name is Justin Wang and I’m 16 years old.
Last year I was on a ride home from a doctor’s appointment with my Mom. She said “Justin, your heart is failing and you need a heart transplant.”
Let me explain: I was born normal, which is even worse. If I was born normal, then wasn’t I supposed to live a normal life?
At the age of 2, I was diagnosed with hypereosinophilic syndrome.
Hypereosinophilic syndrome is a 1 out of 50 million people blood disorder. That’s EXTREMELY rare. One divided by 50 million isn’t even a decimal! It has to be put into scientific notation!
Why would God choose me to be the one out of the 50 million people to have this extremely rare blood disorder? Why not you?
I was only 2. There was nothing I did for me to deserve this as punishment.
By age 6, I had to have heart surgery to bypass the right side of my heart. Doctors at Stanford manually rerouted my blood vessels. It was painful.
I was mad. I was very mad. Why would God do this to me?
Last year, my grandma prayed for me. She asked God “Please let Justin have a heart by his 16th birthday.”
When I first applied for the transplant list, I was denied. The second time I was accepted. However, I was the lowest priority on the list. The doctors told me that I was there “for a taste” because there was no way I’d get a heart. The last time a person as low priority as me got a heart transplant was 4 years ago.
2 weeks later I got the call. There was a heart waiting for me.
That was a miracle.
I had so much joy. I thought, “There’s no way this is happening.” But it was real.
Remember when my grandma prayed for me? For me to have a heart before I turned 16?
Just like what David said in Psalm 34:4, “I sought the Lord, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
After surgery, I was in horrendous pain. The worst pain imaginable.
That’s when I asked back to the question, why me? Why do I have to experience this pain? Why not you? Instead of anyone of you, why was it me?
The hospital has a chapel, and I often invite the pastor from that chapel to pray for me. Prayers gave me comfort through that pain that I would be healed.
After my heart transplant, I couldn’t go back to my house. I had to stay at a nearby housing facility, which is the Ronald McDonald House, for 3 months.
My TCCBC (Tri City Chinese Baptist Church) church family visited me at that nearby housing facility. I am so thankful for their caring, support, and prayers, because I needed it.
I met so many people at that housing facility that had chronic illnesses or diseases, and most of them believed in God.
That’s because God gives them hope, and hope gets them through hard times.
In Psalm 46:1-3, the bible says “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
We may never know why we go through our hardships, but we can find comfort knowing God is watching over us. Without God, I wouldn’t have had a heart.
Right now I’m doing great. It’s been 6 months since my heart transplant, and I couldn’t be better. Everyday I swim, which I couldn’t before. Make-A-Wish is also sponsoring me to make a cookbook. I’m going to publish it, and it’ll help other kids with heart defects.
What is my future? My future will be amazing. I’m going to go to University, have a great partner, and be participating in triathlons. All because of God, this is possible.
Everyone loved my testimony! The people at church applauded me. Everyone in my Sunday school also loved my testimony. They said it was inspirational.