On October 7, I felt a sudden sore throat in the evening.

I bought Strepsils and rested. I had a fever that night and it subsided by evening on the next day. I went for a prayer meeting thereafter, believing the fever could have just been due to a lack of rest.

However when I came home, I had a very high fever, painful body chills, cough and sore throat. I went to family clinic in the morning of October 9. I could hardly stand as I waited for my turn.

Although I was experiencing some symptoms of COVID-19, I was quite certain that I wouldn’t be getting it.

After all, even though I was fully vaccinated, I did not visit any areas that are at risk or anyone who was infected or had recovered.

I heard God whisper to me, “Be still and know I am God”.

The ART test was performed, and my result came as negative. I went to collect my medicine, but the staff told me to wait outside the clinic for a moment.

Then I heard from them that my ART test had showed a faint positive sign after a while. I was shocked.

“Don’t worry, sometimes ART is false positive. Let’s wait for the PCR test and we will advise you further,” assured the nurse.

There and then I heard God whisper to me: “Be still and know I am God”.

I responded, “Alright God, if my result is confirmed to be positive, I will just be with You in these 10 days”. I had decided to be Jesus-positive!

Hours later, the PCR result came back as positive. By then, I was already isolated in my room.

I posted on Instagram: “Alright, I am taking a 10-day vacation with Jesus indoors. Time to rest fully: physical, emotional, cognitive, and most importantly, spiritual rest in Jesus.”

And I had told God: “I am surrendering my life, You take over. Lead me in these 10 days and teach me to rest more in You.”

I was going to learn to guard my mind and trust God.

Though I was in a lot of pain, I was able to text church friends and a few others whom I had been in contact with. Praise God that all of them turned out fine.

I could hardly eat, drink or speak during the first five days as I was in so much pain, especially with my throat.

To be honest, fear crept into my heart those first few days. Fear of dying early. Fear of not telling people how much I appreciated them.

What helped then was experiencing great love and support from my family, who sent me encouraging messages over WhatsApp. Those conversations brought laughter to me on many occasions.

Fear crept into my heart those first few days. Fear of dying early. Fear of not telling people how much I appreciated them.

As I was without any appetite and food for days, I started to get some food into my system by starting with grapes and bubble tea.

Beyond receiving my church’s care package, I also updated a few more friends to pray over my fever — and the fever left!

The Lord also brought me to Psalm 91 in that time. He guided me spiritually each day, and I could see many things with great clarity through His heart, Word and Spirit.

God gave me lots of wisdom and revelation through reading the Word and encouraging Christian movies like God Calling and Miracles From Heaven. 

On the fifth day of my isolation, however, I was rushed in an ambulance to the emergency department due to breathlessness.

But God used that episode for His glory.

It was heart-breaking to see many elderly patients being sent to the A&E department every minute. I understood the severity of the virus then.

I realised that my presence there changed the spiritual climate as I brought everything to God. I prayed for every single person whom I got to see in the hospital (as the Holy Spirit led me).

I was discharged around 11.10pm.

There was some confusion about how I was to travel home. It was later confirmed that I needed an ambulance to return home, but as there weren’t enough ambulances I had to stay overnight.

I was put up in a sort of “camping bed”. Those conditions were not good. It was uncomfortable to sleep and I felt too insecure about the atmosphere to heal, rest and recover.

The next morning, I came home via ambulance. With the little voice I had, I sent an audio message thanking friends and asked them to pray for me. 

I ate an Indian salad after I returned to my room and watched another Christian movie — A Gift of Miracles —  and afterwards found that my throat was healed miraculously!

There is great power in prayer. The Lord healed me and delivered me from all painful symptoms! Many people had been praying and speaking life over me.

The unconditional love from my family provided a safe place for me to rest and heal faster too. My sister has been so kind to make sure I stay comfortable in my cave.

I praise God for all these people in my life and especially for protecting my entire family from testing positive as well.

Truly, these 10 days were koinonia!

Though I was not eating much, I felt God was giving me life through His Word. In that light, Matthew 4:4 started to make deeper sense to me.

As I recovered, I was reminded how at the beginning, I had decided to hold on to my faith and trust that the Lord would fight my battles.

And He did just that. I also learnt to guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus who is the author and perfecter of my faith (Hebrew 12:2).

Now I see that every day is a gift. I know my God has the best plan for my life.

By His grace, I am saved through faith and I desire to live each day knowing who I am in Him!

Proverbs 19:21 reads: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

This verse came very clear as God led the 10 days when I surrendered my life to Him.

I thank God and rejoice that I am now officially recovered from COVID-19. Finally, I am out of the cave now.

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for these amazing and memorable 10 days of solitude!