![]() Seeing God’s Hand in the Hardships of Selling and Buying a Home Ma Ling Part 1 Deep in the night when all was quiet, Ma Ling stood in silence by the window thinking about a conversation she had had with a church leader that day. The leader, Sister Bai, said: “Sister Ma, one of the people taken in the most recent wave of arrests of brothers and sisters by the CCP government was a sister who used to stay at your home. We’re afraid that the police will track her movements through video surveillance recordings, and in that case you would certainly be implicated. The duty that you’re currently performing would be impacted too. I don’t know if you have any particular plans.” Ma Ling pondered this for a moment, then responded resolutely, “I’ll sell my home! The CCP government has always tried to follow every clue to arrest more Christians. If I don’t move, the CCP police could burst in at any moment.” Ma Ling well knew that believing in God and performing her duty in China, a country with an atheist party in power, meant being subject to the CCP police’s persecution and arrest and even the danger of losing her life; and that Christians’ homes had not been their own for a long time, and wherever they went, they couldn’t stay long—her home would have to be sold sooner or later. She knew that selling it was her best course of action at the time, but she still owed tens of thousands of yuan on her mortgage. After the divorce from her husband she could not get her residence booklet from him, so she hadn’t been able to get the deed for the property. Without the property deed, there was no way to sell the apartment. The memory from several months prior of being sent off by an employee because the documents for her property deed weren’t complete surfaced in Ma Ling’s mind and she couldn’t help but let out a sigh. She was feeling a bit anxious. The more she thought about it, the more difficult she felt it was and the more unsettled she felt. All she could do was pray to God: “Oh God! Some brothers and sisters from the church have been arrested and my home is in danger. I want to buy a different place to continue performing my duty but I can’t get the property deed, so I have no way to sell this apartment. O God! Faced with this difficulty, I don’t know what to do next. Oh God, may You guide me, and if Your will is that I sell this apartment, may You open up a path….” After praying, Ma Ling thought of these words from God: “If you believe in the dominion of God, then you must believe that the things that happen every day, be they good or bad, don’t happen accidentally. It is not that someone doesn’t get on with you or opposes you on purpose; it is actually all arranged and orchestrated by God. … Through obeying, seeking, praying more, retreating to your spirit and coming before God then, unbeknownst to you, a change will happen in your inner condition. During this period, the reality of the truth is being wrought in you” (“To Attain the Truth, You Must Learn From the People, Matters, and Things Around You” in Records of Christ’s Talks). After thinking of this passage, Ma Ling’s agitated heart settled a bit. She realized that the things we encounter in our lives every day, both big and small, are within God’s rule and arrangements, and that as God had allowed her brothers and sisters to be arrested, her home becoming entangled also had God’s good intentions within it, and there had to be a truth she needed to enter into. She thought that this particular environment would force her to rely on and look to God more, and whether or not she was able to sell her home, she was willing to leave the entire matter in God’s hands, to experience God’s work and understand His almightiness and sovereignty through this. After understanding God’s will, Ma Ling determined she would try to get her property deed first thing in the morning. The next day she still felt nervous when arriving at the Deed and Title Transferring Office. Pacing back and forth outside of the main hall, she continually prayed to God: “Oh God! I am handing the issue of applying for the property deed over to You, and look to You for it. No matter what happens today I believe that behind it is Your will. O God, I only ask You to keep watch over my heart so that no matter what the outcome, I will be able to quiet myself before You, learn to submit to the environment I am in, not complain, and not blame You.” After praying Ma Ling clenched her fists a bit—she pushed open the door to the main hall and strode in. Clutching a stack of paperwork, she lined up at the deed applications window. Seeing the long line stretching out in front of her, she felt a little worried: “I wasn’t able to get the deed when I came before; will I get it this time? Isn’t not having my residence booklet a real problem?” In her heart she called out to God over and over to give her faith, and soon God’s words surfaced in her mind: “Any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Mulling these words over, Ma Ling gradually gained some faith and strength. She thought: “That’s right! Any and all things are within God’s rule. God can make that which did not exist, exist; He can make that which did exist, not exist. Isn’t the thinking of the employee also within God’s hands? It is ultimately up to God whether or not I can get the property deed, and I believe that with God nothing is impossible. Even if I really can’t get the deed, I’m certain that behind this are His good intentions and I must learn to obey His sovereignty and arrangements.” Just then an employee asked Ma Ling, “Excuse me, what can we help you with today?” She replied, “I’m here to get the deed for my apartment.” The employee took the packet of documents she was holding and carefully looked through them page by page, then asked, “Do you have your residence booklet and marriage license?” Ma Ling replied honestly: “I can’t bring my residence booklet with me. Is there anything at all that can be done?” Saying this, she clenched her fists a bit and silently called out to God nonstop, afraid that the employee would slam her folder of documents closed, as had happened in the past, and tell her to come back when she had everything. To Ma Ling’s surprise, the employee paused for a moment and then said: “First go make photocopies of these documents, then find someone to help you get a photo of your residence booklet. You’ll also need to get a copy of your mortgage from the bank and a certificate of your marital status from the Civil Affairs Bureau.” When Ma Ling heard this, her tension finally dissipated and she gave sincere thanks to God for His guidance. It looked like things were falling into place. Ma Ling thought of a way to quickly get a photo of her residence booklet, and she even got a copy of her mortgage from the bank without going through the usual approval process. By 4:30 that afternoon she arrived at the Civil Affairs Bureau and got a certificate of her marital status in hand, without a hitch. Seeing it was nearly 5:00 pm, closing time, Ma Ling rushed to the main hall in one go with all of her documents in hand. She hurriedly handed everything over to the employee. After looking through those documents, the employee smiled and said to her: “We have everything we need. Wait for us to get in touch with you then come back to pick up your deed.” Hearing this, Ma Ling was both surprised and excited. She hardly dared believe that over the course of just one short afternoon her property deed had been taken care of! Generally a copy of the mortgage on her apartment from the bank needed to be applied for in advance and took two weeks to get, but she was unexpectedly able to get it on the spot. On top of that, the employees at the Deed and Title Transferring Office when she had come before weren’t willing to deal with her case. She hadn’t imagined that not only would that employee have a much better attitude this time, but would also inform her of her best course of action. All of this was God opening up a pathway for her—it was God’s guidance! Ma Ling then gained a genuine personal understanding of God’s words: “Any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules over all things.” She really felt that all things are within God’s orchestrations and are doing service for God’s work, and that this is a reflection of God’s authority. Part 2 A few days later Ma Ling had her property deed in hand and was then able to get the sale of her apartment registered with a few agents. In the following days there were people coming to look at the apartment one after the other, but they were all put off by its small size and the fact that the property deed had just been issued (According to the regulations of the State, when buying an apartment with a newly-issued deed, an additional 20,000 yuan in property taxes is required). They thought it wasn’t ideal. One prospective buyer after another wasn’t interested in buying the apartment after seeing it, and Ma Ling became a bit concerned. An agent told her: “To be honest, the real estate market is really hot right now, and generally we can sell a place in just a few days. There have been so many people who have looked at your apartment but it still hasn’t been sold. The price is probably too high.” In hopes of getting her home sold expediently, Ma Ling had no choice but to ask the agents to reduce the price by 10,000 yuan. Ma Ling thought that with the reduced price the apartment should sell really quickly, but after another few days without any progress, she was losing hope and feeling anxious. She started to consider: “Hm, even with the price reduction no one wants to buy the apartment. The critical issues are that it’s small and the property deed had just been issued, so most potential buyers will feel it’s not a good investment. If I lower the price even more it won’t be enough for me to buy another place. It’s no easy task to get this place sold in a hurry…. But if I can’t sell it and this drags on, what if the CCP police find my home?” Ma Ling felt confused and overwhelmed in the face of this dilemma. In her helplessness, she realized that she was not in a good state—she was completely consumed by the difficulties of selling her home and did not have confidence in God. She prayed to God: “Oh God! The CCP government’s persecution of Christians has become worse and worse, and in some places the police have started going door-to-door to look for believers. Plus I don’t know how my brothers and sisters who were arrested are doing now, and the others who have been implicated have all been forced to flee. I’m the only one who hasn’t managed to get my affairs in order. Oh, God! I want to sell this apartment and continue to perform my duty, but my faith is not great enough, and I don’t know how to deal with the difficulties I’m currently facing. O God! May You give me true faith and strength so that I will not become negative or weak in this environment and I will be able to live relying upon Your words, and learn to obey Your orchestrations and arrangements.” After praying Ma Ling opened up a book of God’s words and saw the following: “To put it plainly, ‘the authority of God’ means that it is up to God. God has the right to decide how to do something, and it is done in whatever way He wishes. The law of all things is up to God, and not up to man; neither can it be altered by man. It cannot be moved by the will of man, but is instead changed by the thoughts of God, and the wisdom of God, and the orders of God, and this is a fact that is undeniable to any man” (“God Himself, the Unique I” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God’s words gave her great faith, enabling her to realize: “The heavens, earth, and all things are ruled by God and under the arrangement of God; aren’t all human affairs also within God’s rule?” Ma Ling thought of the Lord Jesus using five loaves and two fishes to feed five thousand people in the Age of Grace and of Him raising Lazarus with a single word. In human eyes, these wonders are simply not possible, but they were really and truly done by God. All of that was the manifestation of God’s authority, so how could the issue of her home being sold not be within God’s arrangement and orchestration? Both the price it was sold for and the day when it was sold were also determined by God. If no one ever bought it and she was arrested by the CCP government, that would be what she needed to experience and there would certainly be truths that she needed to gain within that kind of environment. At this point, she was no longer willing to rely upon her own thinking to figure out if the apartment could be sold or not and realized that she needed to learn to seek God’s will, leadership, and guidance and wait and observe God’s deeds in the midst of this hardship. She felt much better after coming to understand all of that. She didn’t feel so anxious anymore, and just wanted to be able to concentrate fully on fulfilling her duty. That day a person came to look at the apartment, who, to Ma Ling’s surprise, took a liking to it and showed genuine interest in buying it. After negotiations the selling price was 5,000 yuan higher than she had anticipated. Not only that, but with alacrity the buyer paid for it up front with a single cash deposit of over 300,000 yuan. The buyer also agreed to allow Ma Ling to continue living there after the sale was complete until she was able to find another place. Seeing God’s rule and arrangements in all of this, on top of feeling gratitude to God, Ma Ling also gained true personal experience of God’s almightiness and sovereignty and she felt even more ashamed of her lack of faith. Thinking of everything that had taken place, from getting the property deed to selling the apartment, she saw that according to man’s mind, none of that could have been taken care of, as they were things that human means couldn’t achieve, but with what God had brought into play and arranged, everything had gone very smoothly. It was beyond human imagination. It was perfectly clear that getting a copy of her mortgage from the bank should have taken two weeks, but she got it that same day. It was quite evident that it was not an ideal apartment in several aspects, but because the buyer liked the layout of the apartment and the direction it faced, he was willing to buy it for a slightly higher price. The facts laid out before her gave her a genuine realization that all those things truly were within God’s control and His domination. They were determined by God—when it wasn’t the right time for Him, He wouldn’t do anything, and no matter how much she ran hither and thither, how much she ran herself ragged, nothing would be resolved. Part 3 After receiving the buyer’s payment, Ma Ling just had 250,000 yuan left after paying off the mortgage. Considering the fact that apartments were about 10,000 yuan/m2 on average at the time and even an unfinished garage would be sold for over 200,000 yuan, she thought there was no way she’d be able to afford an apartment with what she had in hand. Ma Ling felt a little discouraged—if she really couldn’t buy a place she’d have to rent, but the CCP government was closely investigating rented households. If she were renting, it wouldn’t be safe to perform her duty. She really didn’t know what to do. She racked her brains, but still felt that with the little bit of money she had, buying another place was nothing but a fantasy. She prepared herself for the worst. If she couldn’t afford another place she would have to rent, and even if that might bring danger there was nothing she could do about it. Ma Ling later read these words from God: “What man does or thinks, what man understands, the plans of man—none of this bears any relation to God. Everything proceeds according to God’s plan, in keeping with the times and stages set by God. Such is the principle of God’s work. … Do the facts prove that the behavior and conduct of man hindered the work of God? They did not hinder the work of God! Did man’s little faith in God, and his conceptions and imagination about God affect God’s work? No, they did not! Not in the least! God’s management plan is unaffected by any man, matter, or environment. All that He resolves to do will be completed and accomplished on time and according to His plan, and His work cannot be interfered with by any man. God ignores certain aspects of man’s foolishness and ignorance, and even certain aspects of man’s resistance and conceptions toward Him, doing the work that He must do regardless. This is God’s disposition, and is a reflection of His omnipotence” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Pondering over God’s words, Ma Ling thought of a matter that had happened in the Age of Law: When God promised Abraham that he would have a son, even though Abraham, who was nearly 100 years old, did not believe it was possible and fell down to the ground, laughing, God did cause Isaac to be born on the appointed day and carried out the work of the Age of Law on Abraham’s descendants. This made Ma Ling realize that human notions and delimitations cannot possibly hold back the completion of God’s work. As long as God has determined to do something, it will occur and become a fact, no matter where or when. She understood that this little difficulty she was facing in buying a home counted as nothing for God. God saw it with the utmost clarity. It was just she, foolish and ignorant, who could not see into the matter and did not have enough faith in God. Thinking of this, Ma Ling felt a rush of faith, realizing that when encountering difficulties she had always looked at the problems through her own eyes. Take buying a home this time as an example—she thought that whatever she could achieve God could also achieve, and that God couldn’t achieve whatever didn’t seem achievable. Wasn’t that lacking true understanding of God’s almightiness and sovereignty? Even if God chose not to open up a path for her to buy a new place, that wouldn’t mean He wasn’t able to do it, just that He had planned to do things that way. Either way, she should submit. When she thought of this Ma Ling’s heart felt much enlightened. She was no longer willing to rely on her own notions and imaginings in issues she encountered. As it is written: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecc 3:1). She would let things take their course with buying a home and believe that God had prepared and arranged everything. A few days later her agent suddenly called: “There’s a two-bedroom for sale and they have the deed….” Ma Ling hung up the phone and rushed out to see it. It was in good condition, in a nice location, and the price was good. It was perfect for her, and most importantly, it was really easy to get in and out of the place so that would be beneficial for performing her duty. Ma Ling reserved the apartment. She was absolutely certain that this was what God had prepared; she silently thanked God over and over. After moving in to her new place, it was much safer to have brothers and sisters over. They didn’t have to be as constrained as before. At the very least, the CCP police still weren’t aware that she was there so she could also perform her duty in peace. Experiencing such wondrous orchestration and arrangement from God once again, Ma Ling felt that she was very much in His debt. She saw that her faith in God truly was too small and at the same time felt an indescribable excitement and joy. Seeing all of these things happen one after another, she came to have a bit of genuine experience and understanding of God’s words: “Of everything that occurs in the universe, there is nothing that I do not have the final say in. What exists that is not in My hands?” (“The First Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). She thought: “It’s so true. God’s authority and almightiness are with us at all times, in all places. God has the final say in all things, and no human can fathom God’s almightiness and sovereignty.” In the silence of the night, Ma Ling sat under the lamp at her desk and wrote in her notebook: “As one of creation, whatever I encounter, as long as I maintain a heart of accepting and obeying the sovereignty and arrangements of the Lord of creation, as long as I actively experience the leading and guidance of God’s words and observe His deeds, I will be able to personally experience His faithfulness as well as the authority and power that His words possess. As long as I genuinely believe in God and rely on Him, no matter what difficulties I face God will be there to help me at any time.” Thanks be to God! All the glory be to Almighty God!
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Who Was It That Rescued Her Marriage? (Audio Essay)
Yang Zi, China She had just turned twenty, she had a graceful figure and appeared as pretty as a flower, and there were many suitors pursuing her. But she didn’t pay this any mind until one day when her friend invited her to come out and she by chance met Lin. Lin was almost 6 feet tall, he was tall and handsome, with a dignified bearing. He spoke with humor and with wit, and was able to attract her in an instant. And Lin too was quite interested in her. The two of them started seeing each other very soon, and after a few months they got married. Before long they had a child of their own, and this made her feel very blessed. But good things don’t last forever. Just when she was starting to enjoy everything and long for a beautiful future, she discovered that Lin was not engaging in honest work every day. All day long he was idling about, and he would even go out often and get in fights and gamble. When he returned home, he would pick out faults with her no matter if there was something going on or not. He simply did not care for her or their child. She did not understand why Lin was acting this way. Many times with eyes full of tears she would urge Lin to walk the correct path, but not only did Lin not listen, he would even lash out at her, and one time he even went so far as to nearly choke her to death. She had lost all hope in Lin. Before long, Lin got sentenced to prison for breaking the law, and she had to support herself and their one-and-a-half-year-old child on her own. Her life was full of hardships and dashed hopes. It wasn’t until 2003, when Lin completed his prison sentence and was released, that she was finished with this painful marriage. After this, she took her son to her parents’ home. Since she didn’t have a job, she and her son had to rely on her relatives to assist them, which made her feel very embarrassed and helpless. When her neighbors saw that she was having difficulty taking care of her child by herself, they made an effort to look for a partner to introduce to her. At first she thought that she just wanted an average man, that as long as he was good to her child then it would be okay, but then she thought to herself: I’m still quite young, although I’ve gotten divorced, I cannot just settle for anyone. To her surprise, her neighbors introduced her to men who were very short, or otherwise they weren’t the least bit handsome, or they didn’t have a dignified bearing, some of them even forsook her for having a child, and none of the men that came by suited her, which made her feel quite disappointed. Later on she met Jun, he was eight years older than her, he was divorced, and he had a daughter. He had a dark complexion and average looks, and he wasn’t very tall. In her heart she didn’t really regard Jun highly, but he was honest and kind-hearted, and he was very kind to her and her son. So, she thought it over, and decided that for the sake of her son she had to compromise and marry him. After they got married, he was just as kind to them as he was before. He took care of them, he was very considerate, and he even did work around the house, cooking food and washing clothes. But she couldn’t get past the pitfall of her vanity, so she still could not completely accept Jun in her heart. She resented him for looking ugly and felt that he was undeserving of her. For this reason, she never wanted to go outside together with her husband. One time when she was out, she saw a dress in the display window of a shop that she really wanted to go try on, but she saw her husband behind her, who was old and dark, she thought if she let him walk beside her then the people working in the shop would certainly point at her and make fun of her behind her back, they would laugh about how she didn’t have a good eye for things. How could her husband be so old? She couldn’t let go of this pride of hers, so she made him wait for her outside in the entryway of the shop. In that moment, she saw a look of disappointment sweep over his eyes, but then he immediately smiled and said: “Go try it on, I’ll wait for you.” When she heard this, she felt somewhat ashamed and uneasy. After this, in order to make her accept him in her heart, Jun took over all household duties, and did them the best he could, but no matter what he did, she wasn’t able to fully accept him. In 2010 she started doing cosmetics business, and when this started, the clothes and makeup she wore became more and more fashionable and trendy, making her look even younger and more beautiful. When she would stand in front of the mirror next to her husband, he appeared even more like a rural peasant in contrast to her, he didn’t have the looks or the personality. The distance between them had increased, and at this time she felt even worse in her heart. In addition, she was interacting with lots of people and saw that these other people’s husbands were good-looking and outstanding, so whenever she would return home and see her husband, she would feel more dissatisfied, and she could not help but find faults with him. Actually, she felt lost, for she knew that her husband had always worked hard to win her favor, and that she shouldn’t treat him like this, but since she always felt a disequilibrium in her heart, she couldn’t control how she felt. As time passed, Jun was unable to put up with this kind of life, the two of them would often get into quarrels, and they were living in suffering. She thought back to one afternoon when Jun came to the office to pick her up. Actually it would have been a good thing if he did not come because none of her coworkers knew what he looked like. But he came that day to pick her up, and then the next day her coworkers circled around her, asking: “Who was that yesterday who picked you up? He looked so rustic….” She immediately felt like she had lost face. She felt upset because she thought that her husband shouldn’t have come to pick her up. At the same time, she also asked herself how she could have found such a disappointing husband that she didn’t want to be seen with, who was ridiculed and looked down upon by other people. She really had a difficult time living like this. In this moment, she came up with a brazen idea: She would look again for someone of the opposite sex that she liked. As for her marriage with Jun, if it really wasn’t going to work then she’d end it. Thereupon, she accompanied her coworkers whenever they invited her to go sing at KTV, but all she wanted to do was find a person of the opposite sex that she admired. At this time, since Jun was often being avoided and ignored by her, he started to feel a suffering in his heart, and he too started feeling more and more indifferent toward her. It got to the point that he too would sometimes not return home when he got off of work. In this way, the marriage between her and Jun entered into a crisis … It was at this time that a classmate introduced to her the salvation of God in the last days. She saw that God’s word is very practical, and that every sentence spoke to a deep place within her heart. Not only did it reveal the truth and substance of humanity being corrupted by Satan, it also pointed out the proper path to follow in one’s life. So she gladly accepted God’s work in the last days. When she got together with brothers and sisters, she saw that they were all very pure and that they loved one another, and whenever they got together they never talked about what they wore or ate or about other pleasures. They never compared themselves with each other to see who was the prettiest or who had the most money, all of them just focused on pursuing the truth, and whenever things befell them they would always pray to God to seek. They reflected on themselves in the word of God to get to know themselves, and they strove to put the word of God into practice and conduct themselves as honest people. This was something that she had never seen before. In addition, she also saw that whenever the brothers and sisters were with their husbands and wives, they were still putting the word of God into practice. In particular, there was a sister who was younger and prettier than her whose husband had even worse looks than Jun, but the sister didn’t avoid her husband at all. The two of them got along very harmoniously. She couldn’t comprehend this. She didn’t understand why the sister wasn’t avoiding her husband. Later on the sister fellowshiped with her, saying: “Every person’s marriage was predestined long ago by God, so no matter what kind of marriage it is, behind the scenes there is always God’s careful arrangement, and in particular, whenever the husband that God arranges for us doesn’t have any looks and doesn’t conform to our expectations, this is actually the best thing possible for us, for within this is the gracious will of God. It is only because we have been deeply corrupted by Satan that we always have extravagant desires, picks and demands, which make us not understand what God’s intention is whenever He makes His arrangements, so then we always look down upon our own husband and feel that our marriages are not what we wished for, which makes us live in suffering. But when we seek God’s will and come to an understanding of the truth and are willing to let go of our individual preferences and desires, then we will see that the arrangement God has made for us is the best and most suitable for us, and really it is protection for us. If we are able to naturally submit to this, then we will no longer turn our backs to our husbands.” At that time, since she had just started believing in God, she still wasn’t aware of the truth, she seemed to understand the sister’s fellowship but did not really understand it. She just greatly admired what the sister lived out in the presence of her husband. One day came when she read in the word of God: “We only wish to talk about the ideas that social trends bring about for people, the way they cause people to conduct themselves in the world, the life goals and outlook that they bring about in people. These are very important; they can control and influence man’s state of mind. … When the wind of a trend blows through, perhaps only a small number of people will become the trendsetters. They start off doing this kind of thing, accepting this kind of idea or this kind of perspective. The majority of people, however, in the midst of their unawareness, will still be continually infected, assimilated and attracted by this kind of trend, until they all unknowingly and involuntarily accept it, and are all submerged in and controlled by it. For man who is not of sound body and mind, who never knows what is truth, who cannot tell the difference between positive and negative things, these kinds of trends one after another make them all willingly accept these trends, the life view, the life philosophies and values that come from Satan. They accept what Satan tells them on how to approach life and the way to live that Satan ‘bestows’ on them. They have not the strength, neither do they have the ability, much less the awareness to resist” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Once she finished the word of God, she finally understood. Actually, her suffering in these past years all originated from Satan’s corruption. Satan imbues man with the idea that men looking for women who are “fair-skinned, rich and beautiful” and women looking for men who are “tall, rich and handsome” is the only way to have a blessed and happy marriage. Under the influence of this kind of societal trend, people’s viewpoints on marriage have become distorted. Nowadays when people search for their other half, they simply do not care about the quality of their partner’s humanity, and whether or not they are suitable for themselves, instead they stress their partner’s looks, whether or not they’re tall and handsome or fair-skinned and pretty, or if their family is well off, or whether or not they meet the standards they have demanded for their spouse, and so on. They feel that so long as they are able to find a handsome or pretty spouse with money, then they will have a grand and enjoyable life that certainly will not be lived in vain. She also unwittingly accepted this kind of viewpoint when it came to choosing a spouse. In her mind she had always hoped to find a tall and handsome husband with a dignified bearing to share her life with, and she believed that this alone would make her happy. Think about it, the first husband that she chose carefully—Lin—all of his qualifications conformed to the standards she had when it came to choosing a spouse, he really did satisfy her vanity, but after they got married she realized that Lin’s humanity was not good, that his behavior was stubborn and obstreperous and that he had countless bad habits. Not only did she not have a happy marriage, on the contrary she was neglected by Lin, he made things difficult for her and even beat her. At last, she was even forced to raise her child alone. Whenever she was living together with Lin, there was a lot of suffering in her body and in her soul, and in the end, while she was in pain, she ended this first marriage. Whenever she thinks about that time in her life now, it scares her. But her current husband—Jun—although he is not handsome or tall, although he is quite unsophisticated, still his moral standing is good. He is kind-hearted and plays his part, and he really looks after the family. He takes care of and is really considerate of her and her son. He is always thinking of ways to make her like him and treats her son as his own. But because Jun’s looks were not as good as what she wished for, she always felt a disequilibrium in her heart, and she always felt that Jun did not deserve her. She felt that she lost face and lowered her social status by finding a husband like this, so she always looked at him with unfavorable eyes. All along she wasn’t able to accept him, and it got to the point to where she wanted to fully give up on her marriage with Jun and once again find someone of the opposite sex who was tall and handsome so that she could satisfy her vanity. It was in this moment that she finally came to a sort of realization. Because she had been imbued with Satan’s ideas and her viewpoints on marriage were distorted, she didn’t know what kind of marriage she needed, so she was not able to accept Jun, and fully ignored and neglected Jun, which caused her and Jun to both live in suffering. It was for this reason that their marriage was going down a rocky path. In that moment, she really did come to an understanding through her experience. If people do not believe in God, they will not possess the truth, and so they will not be able to discern Satan’s misconceptions and lies. They will follow the evil trends of society and live on the basis of Satan’s erroneous thoughts and viewpoints, they will be duped and bound by Satan and live in suffering. How truly pitiable this is! After understanding these things, she was willing to turn away from her own mistaken viewpoints and take another look at the marriage she was in. She was also fully aware that she was a Christian herself, so she must live out the likeness of a Christian to bring shame to Satan. Thereupon she stopped thinking about going off to look for someone of the opposite sex who conformed to her desires, and instead she started to care for Jun. Slowly, she started to accept Jun in her heart. Jun could also feel the change she went through, which made him very happy. They gradually grew much closer than before when they had been indifferent to one another. The mood in their home also stopped being so tense. One day her friend came to visit her at home. When Jun saw her coming, he hurried into the kitchen to prepare lunch. As the two of them chatted, her friend said: “Our classmate Pan Lin’s husband is handsome and rich. He’s the vice president of a company and has several properties in Hangzhou….” As she heard her friend say this, she felt a sting in her heart, and she immediately thought about her dream from youth, which brought about a vague feeling of disappointment…. She realized that her situation wasn’t right, so she immediately prayed to God asking Him to protect her heart. After the prayer, she realized: When we look at people, we cannot emphasize their outward appearance, and the most important thing is to see what kind of humanity a person has. Some people, even though they are “fair-skinned, rich and beautiful” or “tall, rich and handsome,” have an extremely inferior quality of humanity, or not even the slightest bit of humanity. Wouldn’t we suffer if we lived together with a person like this? Because the viewpoints I pursued before were incorrect, in the end, I didn’t obtain happiness. On the contrary, I suffered an unspeakable amount. Even today, I still have not awakened, so how could I want to repeat such disastrous actions? The husband that God has prepared for me now is the most suitable, as well as the most beneficial, so why should I bring further trouble upon myself? Thinking of this, her heart was enlightened. She was no longer affected by her friend’s words. She smiled and said to her friend: “Everyone has their own lives. Whatever kind of home and whatever kind of marriage we have is arranged by God. What’s more, people who are rich and have good looks always have more desires, but this is not necessarily happiness. I used to want to find a husband who was tall and handsome and had a dignified bearing, but in the end Lin did not engage in honest work and I lived in lots of pain! Now I have Jun. Although he is some years older than me and his looks are not as good as Lin’s, his moral character is good, he doesn’t have any bad habits, and I know he loves me dearly and is considerate of my needs. Although our life is nothing special, it is quite harmonious, and I feel very happy.” At this time Jun came out, and this time she didn’t avoid him or try to hide him, rather she calmly introduced him to her friend. Her friend told her: “At first glance I could tell that your husband is an honest and hardworking man, and he is very good to you, you truly are blessed!” She nodded her head cheerfully, and in her heart she silently thanked God, because she was fully aware that this was God looking after her and protecting her. If it weren’t for the enlightenment and guidance of God’s words, then she and Jun may have parted ways long ago. Then how would she have this blessed life that she has today? This is all God’s blessing! When Jun saw that she was no longer avoiding him, a happy smile appeared on his face that had never been there before. After this, her relationship with Jun became more harmonious. Every time she would return home, Jun was always waiting for her with a cooked meal, and he was also very supportive when it came to her faith in God. Every time that she saw these things, it really moved her. She truly felt that God had bestowed her with the best things, and that only by submitting to God’s plans and arrangements can a person truly be happy. She had a deeper understanding that she ought to enjoy this marriage that God has bestowed upon her, and in her heart she felt more and more liberated. She thanked God from the bottom of her heart for saving her marriage that was on the brink of falling apart. All glory be to Almighty God! ![]() A Haughty Spirit Before a Fall Baixue Shenyang City Because of a work requirement, I was transferred to another work area. At that time, I was very grateful to God. I felt that I was lacking so much, yet through God’s divine promotion, I was given the opportunity to fulfill my duty in such a wonderful work area. I made a vow to God in my heart: I would do my very best to repay God. However, after I arrived, I discovered many loopholes in the work being done. As a result, I took it upon myself to begin inspecting each item of work. As I was performing my inspections, I was also thinking to myself: “How did any work get done like this? None of the work was managed properly! I thought the work done here would be excellent. But I never thought it would be worse than my previous job. Now that I’m here, it must be properly managed, step by step, according to the work arrangement. I will lead all the brothers and sisters to enter into life.” Because of this, I got together with the coordinators, began organizing each item of work, communicating, planning, and making arrangements. Throughout my communications, I frequently revealed my true feelings, “The work quality here is so low. My work before wasn’t like how yours is now. At my old workplace, we always managed work in such-and-such a way, we always did so-and-so well. We were obedient to God….” After these meetings, some of the coordinators would say: “Exactly right! We haven’t done any work of real value. This time, we need to start over and do our work according to God’s requirements.” Others would say: “Thank you for your great communication and for the arrangements you made today. Otherwise, our lack of attention to safety measures would be too dangerous.” Upon hearing these words, I was very happy. I felt that I was indeed stronger than their former leader. While I was proud of myself, I also couldn’t help but feel a little guilty: Was it really appropriate for me to talk like that? Why did I always say that my former workplace was better? But on the other hand, I thought: What’s wrong with saying that? I was just trying to teach them how to do a better job. In this way, I didn’t follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit to examine myself. In the Bible, the Book of Proverbs says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). Just as I was diving head-first into my work with very high hopes, I felt that, in my heart, I was losing touch with God. Not only did my work fail to fall into place, but also the effectiveness of our gospel work went from soaring to taking a nosedive. I fell into an extremely painful position, but wasn’t sure what I did wrong. So, I went before God in prayer to earnestly seek guidance. At this time, words from a hymn began ringing in my ear: “As a leader serving God, one needs to stand on principles. Even if you can’t communicate the truth clearly, your heart must be in the right place. You must exalt God no matter what and bear witness to God as best as you can. Only say as much as you yourself understand, only exalt and bear witness to God. Do not exalt yourself and let others worship you. Whatever you do, do not exalt yourself and let others worship you. This is the first principle you must remember” (“Three Principles for Leaders to Remember” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs).Tears streamed down my face. Remorse, guilt, and gratitude all filled my heart at the same time. I recalled all that I had said to the coordinators and felt that I was really unworthy of God’s divine promotion. The church arranged for me to come here to do my duty so that I could exalt and bear witness to God, lead brothers and sisters before God, and help them to know Him. Yet, I shamelessly showed off, exalted myself, bore witness to myself, and built myself up. I did this so that others would look up to and worship me. I was prideful. I bore witness to myself and built myself up in the name of loving and satisfying God. How does such a despicable person deserve to serve God? How could the work of such a person be blessed by God? All I was doing was competing with God for the hearts of men. I was no more than an antichrist. I was interfering with God’s work and acting as His rival. My ministry was purely against God, and God hated it. The more I thought about it, the more I detested myself. I couldn’t help but remorsefully prostrate myself before God, and cry out to Him, “Oh God! Thank You for Your chastisement and judgment which awakened me, allowing me to recognize my antichrist essence and nature like that of the archangel. You also revealed the direction of my ministry to me, helping me understand that only if I exalt and bear witness to You can I satisfy You, allow Your will to be done, and accomplish the mission You gave me to do. Only exalting and bearing witness to You are glorious. That is my duty as the created for the Creator. Oh, God! From now on, I vow to examine my heart and motives before I speak or act, consciously exalting You and bearing witness to You, leading brothers and sisters to know You, and comforting Your heart by being someone who possesses truth and humanity.” Source: A Haughty Spirit Before a Fall in Judgment Before the Seat of Christ |
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十一月 2018
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