I was raised in a missionary family.

At a young age, I received my calling for medical missions, so I left home for university to pursue medicine abroad.

At university, juggling studying and working part-time, on top of struggling with temptations, caused me to drift far away from God. I even stopped going to church regularly because I was so busy.

I was so focused on the process of becoming a doctor that I lost sight of why I even wanted to become one in the first place – which was to serve in medical missions. 

Though I eventually graduated with flying colours and had attained numerous accomplishments, I still felt a sense of emptiness within me.

This confused me, because I should have been thrilled at achieving all these things. Yet, I felt empty.

Eventually, I realised I had been running on an empty tank for so long and was so burnt out.

It was at this point that I felt a tugging in my heart to return to Myanmar, so I decided to take a short break and return home.

However, three days after returning to Myanmar, the borders closed because of COVID-19.

My first response was to be confused and devastated.

As an overachiever, I liked to have my timelines and goals set in place.

With the borders closed, I knew it was going to be messed up.

I was really wrestling with God at that time; all I wanted to do was to take a short break and return to my studies to become a physician.

I was telling God, “Lord, you knew my plans, why did You let this happen?”

I didn’t know it at that time, but He was taking me on a journey. When God closes one door, He opens another. 

Indeed, during the lockdown, I would become involved with the national efforts against COVID-19.

It was then that God reminded me of why I pursued medicine in the first place – to serve others.

I had completely lost sight of that. 

The crash

On 1 August 2022, I was driving through the remote areas in the mountains with a friend of mine.

It was dark at night and raining. I rounded a bend and I don’t know how, but I completely lost control of the car. 

Before I knew it, the car was flipped on its side, sliding off the road and crashing into the woods.

It all happened in a matter of seconds, and my life flashed before my eyes.

But because of God’s divine protection, we were fine. There’s no other explanation.

We managed to climb out of the car and tried to call for help, but it was so remote up in the mountains that there was no signal.

So we decided to search for help, and the only way to do that was to hike up the mountain.

Before we set off, there was a tugging in my heart to collect all the food from the car and bring it along. I just couldn’t ignore it.

When I asked my friend to help me do this, she was frustrated and chided me: “Are you seriously thinking about food right now?”

I, too, didn’t know why I felt this nudging in my heart. Nonetheless, we took all the food and started walking.

We were in complete darkness, nothing but woods all around us.

Our phone batteries had died too, so we didn’t even have a flashlight. 

I was so scared at that time, but I knew my friend was too. So I put on a brave face and decided to just pray. 

As I repeated Psalm 23:4 to myself, an overwhelming sense of peace washed over me and all the fears diminished. 

All of a sudden, we met a pack of wild dogs out of nowhere. There were around 12 to 15 of them, viciously snarling, trying to nip at our feet and bite us. 

We were trying to kick them away, but we knew that we couldn’t outrun all of them.

Before we set off, there was a tugging in my heart to collect all the food from the car and bring it along. I just couldn’t ignore it.

But right then, we realised that the food could distract them!

So we placed some of the food down as they began fighting among themselves over it. Then we quickly escaped and continued walking.

We met three more packs of dogs after that first pack, and did the same thing each time. But after the fourth pack of wild dogs, we ran out of food.

At that point, anxiety rose within us – we were dead meat if another pack of wild dogs crossed our path!

Thank God, that after ten more minutes of walking, we finally reached the closest village where we finally got help. 

It’s also interesting that, my dad, who was in another city far away, felt this despair and huge burden for me in his heart the night of the car crash.

It was as if God was telling him that there was something wrong with me. My dad was then able to track me down by the following day.

The next day, we had a full medical check-up. We had no injuries. No broken bones, nothing. The doctors were really shocked, because they had seen the state of the car.

On top of that, my friend wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. When the car flipped, she was literally thrown across the car.

It was a miracle.

God’s ultimate plan

I know God is powerful, but when you’re in a life-and-death situation, you really get to witness that God is all-powerful and in control. 

Later, the car-towing personnel told me that that particular bend in the road was notorious for car accidents.

Every single car accident that took place there – someone had died. We were the first ones to live.

That was when it dawned upon me that God was there with us every step of the way. 

if I had died in that car crash, what a waste of life it would’ve been… God has really been orchestrating my life and redirecting me back to Him.

That night, if there was no tugging in my heart to bring the food, I would never have thought of it.

I wasn’t thinking of food at that time, I just wanted to get help. But I couldn’t ignore that tugging in my heart.

God knew what was coming ahead, so He equipped us for what was to come.

He gave us the strength to hike the mountain in pitch black darkness for two hours after such a terrible crash.

We didn’t know where we were going, we just walked and prayed for the best.

Yet God brought us to safety. It was mind-blowing! God completely protected us from harm.

That incident was like a wake-up call for me.

It felt like God was knocking on my door because prior to that, I was living a worldly life and had completely forgotten about Him. 

I thought to myself, if I had died in that car crash, what a waste of life it would’ve been, given the worldly life that I was living before.

Looking back, I know that God has really been orchestrating my life and redirecting me back to Him.

To those who are in a tough season

I realised it’s okay to not have everything in control. Because ultimately, God is in control. 

When you know that there’s an all-powerful God you can lean on to go through trials and tribulations – that’s where your confidence, strength and peace come from. 

Before, I thought I could do it alone. But when trouble came my way, stress kicked in and burnout began. 

God is here for me. He meets me where I am and takes away these burdens from me.

It’s a matter of whether I’m willing to trust Him and just focus on Him. 

Coming back to Jesus, I realised that despite the things that I’ve done and me not choosing Him, He still loves me and sees me as His. 

I am perfect in His eyes, and that’s what matters. My confidence comes from God alone.