In August 2015, I personally experienced a horrific disaster—the strike of Super Typhoon “Soudelor.” In the experience, I truly saw that God’s authority is immeasurable.
That night when the typhoon struck, I was busy with something as usual. But after a while, whistling winds blew outside, and the raindrops blown by the winds hit the windows and doors with “pitter-patta” sounds. Soon, the rainwater flew into the house through cracks around doors and windows. We hastened to unplug the computers’ power and a few minutes later, the power and water supply were cut off. Then I realized that this typhoon might be stronger than the ones I had ever experienced before. At that time, the winds blew harder. A sister shouted, “Come hold the door quickly. The door is about to be blown down, and the glass is about to be broken.” We all rushed to help hold the door, but as the winds didn’t weaken a little bit, we could hardly hold it on. Then, a thought ran through my mind: Once the glass door is broken, my head, face, and body will be scratched; then, what shall I do? Because I was timid in my heart, I felt more and more scared and panic. Later, I remembered the brothers’ and sisters’ personal experiences in the floods and earthquakes. During the disasters, only those who truly called out to Almighty God were kept. As I was thinking, the others said at once, “Let’s pray to God right away!” We held the door and knelt down on the knees and prayed to God. The moment I knelt down, I thought of God’s word, “The disaster is brought down by Me and of course, orchestrated by Me. If you cannot work for good in My presence, then you will not escape suffering the disaster.” (from The Word Appears in the Flesh) Yes, the disaster is brought down and orchestrated by God, and everything is in God’s hand. So, I prayed to God, “O God, the disaster is brought down and orchestrated by You. The typhoon today is also orchestrated and arranged by You, and it’s Your trial coming upon us. The typhoon is commanded by You and I believe You rule over everything by authority. I am willing to commit myself into Your hand and obey Your sovereignty and arrangements.” After the prayer, though the winds still blew hard outside, I felt peaceful and secure in my heart. We all calmed down. At that time, a sister asked, “What is true happiness?” I blurted out, “True happiness is having God in the heart and gaining the truth.” After that word, I began to think back: In the face of the violent typhoon, we felt so helpless and panic when there was no place for God in our heart; when we prayed to God and were led by God’s word, our heart was secure and peaceful no matter how violent the typhoon was outside. This was a sharp contrast, so I couldn’t help praising God, “The days of having God with us are so happy!”
And then, we worked in cooperation with each other. Some sisters began to put the computers in a safe place, some sisters held the glass door, and another sister and I were responsible for cleaning up the water in the house. While cleaning, we fellowshipped about the experiences that some brothers and sisters relied on God to see God’s deeds in the disasters, and we also fellowshipped about God’s latest expression, “On the micro level, all the mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, and landmasses that man beholds on earth, all the seasons that he experiences, all the things that inhabit the earth, including plants, animals, microorganisms, and humans, are subject to God’s sovereignty, are controlled by God. Under God’s sovereignty and control, all the things come into being or disappear in accordance with His thoughts, their lives are all governed by certain laws, and they grow and multiply in keeping with them. No human being or thing is above these laws. Why is this? The only answer is, because of God’s authority. Or, to put it another way, because of God’s thoughts and God’s words; because God Himself does it all. That is to say, it is God’s authority and God’s mind that give rise to these laws; they will shift and change according to His thoughts, and these shifts and changes all occur or disappear for the sake of His plan.” (from Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh) God’s words made it very clear that nothing can be above what God has ordained. Isn’t the typhoon also no exception? Its strength is in the command of God. It will be stronger or weaker as God wishes. So, we no longer worried about whether it was going to get stronger, because all this is in God’s dominion and command. Gradually we felt the typhoon didn’t directly attack our door, and it seemed to suddenly shift its direction! The brothers and sisters who experienced the flood saw God’s wonderful deed after their prayers—the diversion of water; after we prayed with the same mind, we saw God’s authority—the redirecting of the winds. God’s authority is really immeasurable! While we shared experiences, we suddenly saw the metal roof of a house behind was lifted and in the air flew a large white object that fell in their yard. We heard our neighbor’s glass door break, whereas ours stayed well. Each one of us felt grateful and said that this was God’s authority and God’s power. It was God who changed the direction of the winds and kept us. At that moment, I believed more firmly in my heart that God’s authority holds sovereignty over all things and commands everything. Just as Almighty God says, “God created everything, and having created it, He has dominion over all things. In addition to having dominion over all things, He is in control of everything. What does this mean, the idea that ‘God is in control of everything’? How can it be explained? How does it apply to real life? How can you come to know God’s authority by understanding the fact that ‘God is in control of everything’? From the very phrase ‘God is in control of everything’ we should see that what God controls is not a portion of planets, a portion of creation, much less a portion of mankind, but everything: from the massive to the microscopic, from the visible to the invisible, from the stars in the universe to the living things on earth, as well as microorganisms that cannot be seen with the naked eye or beings that exist in other forms. This is the precise definition of the ‘everything’ that God is ‘in control of,’ and is the scope over which God wields His authority, the extent of His sovereignty and rule.” (from Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh)
The next morning, we saw that the power poles at the roadside fell to the ground, the trees were uprooted one and another, and many houses had their roofs blown off. It was a mess everywhere, and the beautiful city in the past no longer existed. Although when disasters befall there is God’s anger, there is also God’s mercy. God wants mankind to survive better, so He did not destroy them directly but gave warnings and made exhortations to them through disasters. At that moment, I couldn’t help singing a hymn, “God hated mankind because mankind had been at enmity with God. But in God’s heart, His care, concern, and mercy for mankind had never changed, and even though He had destroyed mankind, such a heart of His remained unchanged. When mankind was full of corruption and disobeyed God to a degree, God had to destroy this mankind, God had to destroy this mankind because of His disposition and His substance and according to His principle. However, because of His substance, God still had pity on mankind, and He even tried every way to redeem mankind so that mankind could continue to live, so that mankind could continue to live.
Yet men stood in opposition to God, and they continued to disobey God and refused to accept God’s salvation, that is, they refused to accept God’s kindness. No matter how God called, warned, supplied, helped, and tolerated them, they did not understand, feel grateful to, or pay attention to God. When God was sorrowful, He still remembered to show men the utmost tolerance and wait for men to turn back. When the limit had been reached, He would do what He should do without any hesitation. That is to say, from the moment God planned to destroy mankind to the moment God’s work of destroying mankind formally began, there was a period of time, a course. This course was given for mankind to turn back, and it was the last opportunity God gave to men.” (from Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs)
Through this personal experience, I see the real existence of God’s authority, and also feel that man is so small and less than an ant in the face of disasters. If it were not for God’s mercy and care, we would not know whether we could remain alive. Now I realize that it is most important for us to pursue the truth, gain the truth, and do more good deeds. Before disasters, fame, position, money, and affection cannot save people, and only the truth can save us! I’m willing to cherish the opportunity God has given us to repent, cherish every day to seek the truth and experience God’s word from any person, occurrence, or thing God arranges every day, and practice all truths God requires in performing my duty, and pursue to be a qualified created being.
