The year 2013 was very tough for me and my wife. On the second day of our baby girl Tricia’s birth, a heart murmur was discovered and she was subsequently diagnosed with 2 conditions—a hole in her heart and an extra blood vessel between the 2 major arteries of the heart.

Her second scan a week later made everything even grimmer. Her hole was categorised as an ostium primum atrial septal defect which the doctors said was a complicated defect.

A total of 4 cardiologists told us that this type of hole would not heal on its own as there were no surrounding tissues that could grow and cover up the hole. All agreed that an open heart surgery would be inevitable and they recommended to have it done when Tricia was around 2 years old.

We were devastated when we heard this. However, we still believed in God and prayed that He would heal her. We held on to Isaiah 53 and confessed that our baby was healed by our Lord Jesus’ stripes on the cross.

A subsequent check-up brought more bad news. The hole in her heart had doubled in size, and the resulting abnormal blood flow was causing the right side of her heart to become bigger than the left.

On 26 April 2015, my family went to church together at the Marina Bay Sands Ballrooms service venue. Towards the end of the service, Pastor Prince shared 2 testimonies on healing and prayed for the congregation. We remember clearly that he mentioned that "new cells will grow”. He also encouraged us to meditate on the words: As Jesus is, so are we in this world (ref.: 1 John 4:17).

It was inspiring and gave us new faith and hope in our Lord. After that, we constantly prayed and reminded ourselves that just as our Lord Jesus Christ is without a hole in His heart, so is our baby.

A few weeks later, on 15 May, we brought our baby for her regular check-up which was very important as it would determine whether she should undergo the open-heart surgery that year. An initial check using the stethoscope did not give hope as there was still an additional sound.

The cardiologist then proceeded to do an echocardiogram scan which took longer than usual. Finally when he was done, the cardiologist looked up and said, “The hole has closed." God did it!

Our daughter no longer needed an open-heart surgery. Though we were informed that the extra blood vessel in Tricia’s heart still remained, it did not impact her health. She could still do normal activities and participate in sports. Praise the Lord for His amazing grace!