Sayers didn’t have much time to live. The 24-year-old’s chest was wracked by tuberculosis, fluid pooling in both of his lungs. Doctors did what they could, but it was too late for anything at this stage.
“There is no hope for his survival,” they told his family. All that was left for Sayers was to lie in bed, counting the days until his death.
The World’s Lures
Looking back, Sayers couldn’t pinpoint the exact decision that led him to his deathbed—but he remembered many. The son of an ice factory worker and fishmonger, Sayers enjoyed a relatively happy childhood. He and his family lived comfortably, wanting for nothing.
As the youngest, Sayers’ parents tended to spoil him, which Sayers would later take advantage of. After graduating high school, Sayers ignored his parents’ and elder brother’s advice to find work, and instead took his parents’ money, spending it frivolously on illicit and intoxicating vices while he whittled his time away partying with friends. But his wild habits eventually caught up with him.
Sayers developed a persistent cough; his parents took him to the local hospital, where they received the horrible news that he had tuberculosis. His case was far too advanced for treatment. Sayers’s family couldn’t help but feel regret and sadness for Sayers—regret for his wasted youth that led to this crisis and sadness for his life cut short.
Would things be different if Sayers had listened to his parents? If he had avoided those vices, would things be better? Sayers didn’t know.
Hope for the Hopeless
As Sayers lay in the hospital bed, several youths, members of a Gospel for Asia (GFA World) youth fellowship, came to the hospital to visit with the patients and pray for them. When they came to Sayers, the young man shared his story and his hopelessness.
The youths encouraged him, sharing how Jesus performed miracles of healing; He could certainly heal Sayers—but Sayers had to pray and ask.
When the believers returned a few days later, they found a much-improved Sayers. Miraculously, after praying, Sayers had begun to feel better. Encouraged by this sign, the members of the youth fellowship and Sayers continued to pray in earnest for his complete healing. One month later, the Lord answered. Sayers was healed, contrary to the doctors’ diagnosis and all other expectations.
Sayers was ecstatic; he had thought he would surely die. But Jesus had healed him! Emboldened by this second chance, Sayers began attending the local church the youth fellowship called home, rejoicing with his fellow believers in Christ’s love.
“In the beginning, I did not have any hope to live longer,” Sayers shared. “I thought that my life would come to an end soon, but when I believed in Jesus Christ, I got a new life and new hope. I want to live for Jesus Christ till the end of my life and become a living testimony for His glory all through my life.”
Now, instead of counting down his days, Sayers counts every day as a gift from the Lord, celebrating his rescue from death and his newfound life in Christ.
