By Xin Min
I am a Christian who believed in God in October 2012. Although I attended meetings and read God’s words, I had little true knowledge of the authority and power of God’s words. It was not until in an unexpected experience that I gained some understanding and knowledge of the authority and power of His words.
One early morning in October 2014, after my husband and I spread the harvested paddies to dry in the sun, I took a bucket of dirty clothes and went to a pond to wash them. Around the pond there was not a single person in view and only the grass along the shore was swaying in the breeze. I walked on the mossy boardwalk over the pond. Without watching my step, I slipped and fell into the water. I was thoroughly frightened and at a loss because I couldn’t swim. So I had to struggle wildly in the water, with the attempt to grab at something. The very moment my head shot out above the water, I still couldn’t see a single figure. All I could see was weed in the water. So I clutched the seaweed desperately. But when I gave it a slight pull, the seaweed immediately broke. Then I tried to touch the bottom of the pond with my feet, but the water was too deep, so I failed.
At this moment, I was terribly scared. Helplessness and fear came over me. I thought, “Will I lose my life this way? I’m still young and I don’t want to die now. So I cried out “Help! … Help!” with all my strength in the water. But no one could hear my voice. Just when I was in despair, God’s words occurred to my mind, “Almighty God, the Head of all things, wields His kingly power from His throne. … So long as you still have one breath, God will not let you die.” (“Chapter 6” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning). “God is almighty and He rules all things in the universe. And my life and death is in God’s hand too, I am willing to obey.” After my prayer, a miracle happened when my body was sinking: I suddenly felt that my body started to float upward. When my head came out of the water, I could feel very clear that a power was pushing me toward the shore. Just at that time, I saw there suddenly arose waves from the calm water. Pushed by the force of the waves, I reached somewhere not far from the shore until my feet could touch the bottom of the pond. In order to stand steady, I immediately took this opportunity to stretch out my arms and pull against the water, and I moved ahead. Finally, I could keep my feet. Then I hurriedly waded toward the shore. When I climbed, exhausted, onto the bank, I prayed to God at once, “God! It’s You who saved me from water. You’re so almighty. Had You not miraculously arranged the waves to rescue me from death, I would have lost my life. God! I thank and praise Your great love!”
After praying, I thought of God’s words, “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”). At this moment, I deeply realized: God is ruling and managing all things with His authority and power. Whether they are living or dead, in the eyes of God, they all exist or disappear according to the law ordained by Him. And as created beings, no matter what happens, only obeying and worshiping God is what we should do. I saw from my experience God’s faithfulness, the power, transcendence, and greatness of His words. And what’s more, I saw God’s words are the way by which man can rise from the dead, and that only His words can give us assistance whenever we need it.
I thought back to what had happened just now: When I was drowning and making my desperate struggle, it was God’s words that gave me strength and let me know God holds sovereignty over all things, and that my life is also in His hands. So my fearful and helpless heart could calm down. When I had submitted before God, His wondrous deed was revealed: I didn’t know how to swim, so, when I dropped into the water, I could do nothing but sink. However, God’s miraculous deed made my sinking body rise up and raised waves on the still water. Wave after wave pushed me to the shore. This is truly God’s miraculous salvation, so that I could escape death. I saw God’s work is practical and His deeds are so almighty and wonderful. I couldn’t help uttering thanks and praises to God from my heart.
Through this experience, a gratitude toward God rose from the bottom of my heart. I understood that God’s words are precisely the truth I should pursue. So I made a resolution inwardly to pursue the truth and expend for God with all my might, requiting God’s love by my actual actions.
