By Chengjing
I’m a Christian, who deals in breakfast. I built a cooking range in the backyard. At 5 p.m. on Sept. 24, 2016, I was busy getting ready to fry small fish. I poured about fifteen kilos of cooking oil into the wok of 70cm diameter, turned on the blower and then hastened to prepare other things. After a short while, I suddenly heard a bang from the backyard. Realizing something was wrong with the wok of oil, I rushed to the backyard and saw it on a roaring fire, with flames shooting into the ceiling. Immediately, there were thick black clouds of smoke billowing out from it. Oil buckets and water pipes near it were ignited by splashed flames. The light bulb hanging from the ceiling was on fire as well, and the fire was climbing along the electric wire with a “sputtering” sound. And a great cloud of smoke was flying up the ceiling. … At the scene, I was dumbfounded trembling in legs traitorously. I hurried to call my husband, but he said to me, “As long as you’re all right, nothing is serious. My leaders are in the hospital for an examination now. I’m tied up. Call the fire brigade quickly. …” Before he finished, I flung the phone on the ground angrily. At that moment, my tears instantly rolling down, I felt when the disaster befell me, even my closest relative couldn’t help me. Having no choice, I quickly picked up my phone and called the fire brigade, only to find it broken and unresponsive. I thought to myself: What should I do? Even if they arrive here, it will be at least half an hour later. Then it will be too late. Faced with the emergency, I burned with anxiety and thought: I have to put out the fire quickly. Otherwise, it will spread to the whole building. The consequence will be disastrous.
Seeing that the fire was burning increasingly strong and was going to spread to the other houses along the electric wire, I hastily carried a stool and wanted to turn off the switch. But the fire was so strong that I couldn’t approach it. Seeing that the fire would come to the second floor soon, I thought in my heart: There is a gas pipe by it. If the gas explodes, that will involve human life. I didn’t dare to think further. Watching the roaring fire, I felt as if the death was to come upon me in a second. Dread, helplessness and anxiety occupied my heart with bad thoughts passing through my mind continuously. I thought, “This day next year will probably be my death day. If I die, how shall my child live? …” Then tears burst out of my eyes.
At that time, I heard someone shouting at the gate, “Her house is on fire! Call the fire brigade, now.” Another one said fiercely, “My son is to get married the day after tomorrow. My balcony is filled with fireworks and firecrackers. If something terrible happens, they should take the responsibility. …” Without going outside, I knew there were many people gathering at the gate. I thought: Anyway, I can’t get others into trouble. I have to think quickly and put out the fire to minimize the losses. Then I saw a water tank on a roof and hurriedly ran to the roof. Out of nervousness and fear, I suddenly knelt on the step with trembling before mounting two steps. At that moment, God’s words popped into my mind, “Everything man possesses comes from the Creator and will return to Him some day not far in the future. This kind of person understands that the Creator arranges man’s birth and has sovereignty over man’s death, and that both life and death are predestined by the Creator’s authority” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). God’s words woke me up all at once: Yes, my life and everything come from God. My life and death are ruled by His hands. Why can’t I defer to the authority and sovereignty of the Creator? Ever since I believed in God, I have been busy making money every day, and I have never been truly considerate of His intentions or fulfilled my duty of a creation well. If my life ends in this way, won’t I miss God’s salvation? Thinking of this, I realized how precious life is. Kneeling on the step, I prayed to God, “O Almighty God! You are righteous and holy. You control all things in the universe. The calamity has befallen me. I’m willing to hand over everything to You and obey Your arrangement.” When I prayed to God with complete sincerity thus, I found that the “sputtering” sound fell and the smoke almost disappeared. Furthermore, my legs had strength again. I sped down the step and saw: The wok of oil was no longer on fire; the flames spreading to the second floor were out; the air conditioner upstairs was still smoking but seemed not to be dangerous; the gas pipe stood just a few steps away from the flames, blackened but safe. I took a deep breath and kept thanking God for His wonderful deed in my heart.
I saw the backyard in a complete mess. I could hardly imagine that the fire, which was roaring just now, was out silently in this way. It was really God’s authority and great power. I remembered these words of God, “Man was created by God, and that God rules and arranges everything about man is ordained by Heaven and acknowledged by earth; this is the responsibility of God” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II”). God’s motherly words comforted my heart. I couldn’t help but pray to Him in tears, “Oh Almighty God! Thanks be to You. You can’t bear to allow me to live under the bondage of money, and to be fooled to death by Satan. You bestowed Your salvation upon me in time, so that I can see clearly money is so insignificant and powerless in the face of disaster. It cannot save my life, but only make me more degenerate, further away from You. Also it can only afflict me, and finally makes me go to hell. O God, I see the authority of Your word and Your almightiness and sovereignty. At that critical moment, no one could save me. It was You who cared and protected me. Thank and praise You for Your mighty power!”
The fire thoroughly awakened my numb heart. From now on, I’m willing to do my best to pursue the truth. No matter how busy I am, I must diligently arm myself with the truth and put them into practice in order to satisfy God. Because I have truly experienced that His word has authority and power and is the supply of my life. He is my only reliance and redemption. I can’t leave Him.
