By Chen Hui
I have believed in God for a dozen years. The most unforgettable experience during my career of believing in God was my narrow escape from death under the protection of God.
It was one morning in the spring of 2004. After breakfast, as usual, I put the wrapped books of God’s word and other objects in the basket of my bike and went to preach the gospel by bicycle. After I covered twenty kilometers and crossed a large bridge, I traveled westward along the road. Then a small agricultural tractor tried to pass my bike on my left side. The head of it was just passing my bike when a large truck laden with sand struck the tractor directly from behind. Soon the tractor was striken upside down, and I was just pinned under the tractor-drawn trailer. At this minute, I cried out instantly in my heart: “O God! Please save me….” Immediately after my prayer, the trailer was upside down again, leaving me exposed once more. When I came to myself, I was lying on the ground, not feeling anything abnormal from head to foot. So in my heart I constantly gave thanks to God. At this moment, I heard people around discussing: “It’s over. This person must have been killed by the trailer!” Then those two men driving the heavy goods vehicle lifted me up and helped me walk slowly to see whether I could still walk. Having taken several steps, I found myself indeed in good shape and there was even no abrasion of the skin. The people around said: “He is so lucky! God helped him!” Meanwhile, the two drivers would love to take me to the hospital for a checkup. I had a stretch, not feeling anything abnormal. So I told them: “It’s unnecessary to go to the hospital since there is nothing serious.” But people around said: “No, you need to go to the hospital for an examination.” I said: “Oh, there is no need of that.” At this moment, the two drivers gave me their only 150 yuan and said: “This is all we have. You can go and have an examination in the hospital with it by yourself.” I said: “That’s really not necessary.” But one of them insisted on putting it into my pocket and the other picked up my bicycle. When I took my bicycle, only to find that not only my bicycle but the books of God’s word and something else in the basket were all in good condition, this even more made me see God’s wondrous deeds. At this time, I thought of a passage of God’s word clearly: “Almighty God, the practical God! You are our impregnable fortress. You are our refuge. We huddle under Your wings, and calamity cannot reach us. Such is Your divine protection and care” (“Chapter 5” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning). From God’s word, I saw God was beside me in that split second, caring for and protecting me; I sensed God is my refuge and strong tower. Only if we come before God can we gain His care and protection. If I had not trusted in God, I’d have already been smashed into pieces today. I didn’t even dare to imagine that I could survive such a severe accident without suffering any superficial injuries. Not only this, but my bicycle did not crash, from which I really witnessed God’s marvelous deeds.
When I continued going ahead by bike, I couldn’t express my gratitude to God, grateful tears blurring my sight and sliding down along my cheeks. I prayed silently to God in my heart: “O God! I thank and praise You! Thank You for Your wondrous protection for me. I saw Your love to me, and that Your marvelous work saved me. My heart will love You forever, and I am resolved to perform my duty well to satisfy You. O God! My heart belongs to You forever. I wish to be with You forever. Amen!”
After praying, I had a sense of being face to face with God, which was extremely enjoyable. Unconsciously a paragraph of God’s word appeared in my mind: “Whatever your background, and whatever the journey ahead of you, no one can escape the orchestrations and arrangements of the Heaven, and no one is in control of their own destiny, for only He who rules over all things is capable of such work. Since the day man came into existence, God has ever worked thus, managing the universe, directing the rules of change for all things and the trajectory of their movement. Like all things, man is quietly and unknowingly nourished by the sweetness and rain and dew from God; like all things, man unknowingly lives beneath the orchestration of God’s hand. Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). On the way, I was pondering this paragraph carefully in my heart. Recalling the thrilling scene just then, I truly saw both the heart and spirit of man are in the hand of God and whether things are living or dead, they are all ruled and controlled by God’s hands. In this thrilling adventure, without God’s care and protection, how could I, a small and weak man, have withstood the overturning of the tractor trailer? And had I not believed in God, I would have been crushed into a pulp and already met my death under the trailer. While thinking, unknowingly, I reached the home of the gospel targets.
Just when I stepped into the door, the brother asked me with a perplexed expression: “What’s the matter with you, Lao Chen? Why is there so much engine oil on your face?” The sister valso asked me anxiously: “Why was that? What was wrong?” As they said that, they prepared water and soap for me. After washing my face, I told them the accident that had happened on my way in detail and said: “It was God’s wondrous protection that made me survive the accident. Without His protection, I would have lost my life. Through this experience, I, furthermore, recognized God is beside us at every moment, and only if we depend on God can we receive His care and protection. The experience made me have more faith in God. I will repay God’s love by performing my duty loyally in the future. Otherwise, I totally have no conscience.” After hearing my testimony, they knew for sure that God is the Creator who created the heavens and earth and all things and dominates all things, and recognized that God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Moreover, they were willing to cooperate to bring those brothers and sisters, who had meetings with them in their previous church to their home, in order for them to seek and investigate God’s work of the last days.
Thank God! Through this experience, I have seen God’s wondrous deeds and His wise work, and also tasted God’s almightiness, that God orchestrates everything. What’s more, I have sensed God’s urgent desire of rescuing mankind. And through my practical experiences, the gospel targets have become certain about God’s work of the last days, which is just the embodiment of God’s wise deed. All the glory be to the practical God! Amen!
