By Xinsheng, China
My wife and I are both over 80 this year and live on a hillside in the mountains. After believing in God, with His grace and protection, we two elderly folks are in good health. To repay God’s love, we perform the duty of safeguarding the books of God’s words. To prevent the books from getting damp, I put them on a board 150 centimeters above the ground.
At the end of July 2014, it had been raining lightly for over ten days. In the beginning, it just sprinkled without water accumulating on the ground, but at around 9 a.m. on August 7, it started to rain heavily. Just half an hour later, water started to accumulate on the ground and flow through the cracks in the corners of the wall into our house. At that moment, I felt very nervous, thinking, “What should I do? If it continues like this, my house will be unsafe.” Upset and restless, I walked back and forth in the room. “My own life is worthless, but the books of God’s words can’t be damaged. What can I do?” Staring at the books of God’s words, I was at a loss, not knowing what to do. Later, I had no choice but to find some basins and buckets for my wife and I to bail water out. Right at that time my nephew came to help us. (The persistent rain caused the roof to leak, so he came to repair it for us.) The water outside, however, kept flowing into our house and a while later the accumulated water inside was already about 10 centimeters deep. In light of such a situation, I felt more anxious within, not knowing what to do. At this point, God’s words suddenly occurred to me, “I am your rock of strength, so rely on Me!” “Right! God is our strong rock and our only reliance. How could I forget God?” God’s words made my heart calm down and I prayed to God silently, “Oh God! It’s raining heavily outside and the water in our house keeps rising. There are many books of God’s words in our house, but we two elderly folks can’t move them or find other places to keep them. Now I can only entrust them to You. May You care for and protect these books.” More than half an hour later, the water inside was around 20 centimeters deep. At about 11 a.m., with a grey sky, it began pouring heavily, which was very frightening. Not long after, the water from the front and back mountains started to flow toward our house. Faced with this situation, I became especially nervous, “If it goes on raining this way, my mud house is certain to collapse. In that case, the books of God’s words will certainly be damaged.” I dared not keep thinking like this and could only call on God urgently in my heart and entrust these books to God.
The storm continued violently and the water kept flowing into our house so that the water inside was rising higher and higher and not long after it was over 40 centimeters deep; the shoes, basins, tables, and chairs—all these things in our house floated, and the water was soon over our knees. At that moment, looking at the books of God’s words, my wife and I became so panicked and frightened that we were shivering all over. Then my nephew said to us, “You can’t stay inside any longer; the mud house will collapse at any time. In that case, you’ll lose your lives. Hurry up! Take your money and something valuable and then run up onto the mountain.” Hearing his words, I felt more upset with my heart in turmoil, thinking, “What if the house really collapses? My wife and I are both 80, so we can’t run away even if we want to. What’s more, these books of God’s words are still in our house, so how could we leave them behind?” At this point, I thought of God’s words, “Of everything that occurs in the universe, there is nothing in which I do not have the final say. Is there anything that is not in My hands? Whatever I say is done….” “Yes! Isn’t everything in the universe in God’s hands? Whether or not the house will collapse is also in God’s hands and decided by God.” At this thought, I said to my nephew, “Where else can we go? We are too old to run, so we won’t leave.” Hearing this, my nephew was stunned and stopped bailing. Seeing that we didn’t leave, he didn’t dare to leave either; but fearing that the house would collapse at any time, he could only stand outside under the eaves watching us.
Later, it rained more heavily, and the water in my house kept rising. Seeing this, I once again felt nervous and could only keep calling to God in my heart. Then I remembered God’s words, “Faith is like a single log bridge: Those who cling abjectly to life will have difficulty in crossing it.” God’s words gave me strength. I understood that God used this circumstance to perfect my faith in Him. My life and death are in God’s hands, so I should rely on God even if I had to give my life. Thinking of this, regardless of danger I waded through the water to the threshing ground 20 meters away from our house, and then knelt down on the ground, praying to God loudly, “Oh God! There are Your good intentions in this matter. Whether I live or die is in Your hands. I’m willing to obey You no matter what You do. But the books of God’s words are still in our house, and I’m pretty worried that they will be damaged. Oh God, now I can do nothing but entrust them to Your hands.”
When I was kneeling down on the ground and constantly calling to God, my nephew kept shouting, “Come back, uncle! Why are you kneeling down there? The rain is so heavy, and you’ll catch a cold.” At that time, I didn’t care about what he said and just kept praying to God, and my wife also knelt down in water under the eaves to pray to God. After praying for more than an hour, all of a sudden, I heard three continuous thunderclaps, followed by a thud from behind our house. When I went to have a look, I found that six meters away from my house a tung tree was toppled by the water rushing down from the mountain, leaving a 160-centimeter-diameter hole in the ground; so the water all began to flow into the hole. I clearly knew that it was because God had listened to my prayer. I kept giving thanks to God in my heart: God is so almighty! If the water had constantly flowed into the house, it would certainly have collapsed. I also discovered a ditch around 3 meters wide had formed in front of our house, and the water now flowed through the ditch to the foot of the mountain.
Seeing this scene, I was very excited, feeling that God was by my side all the time. When we were in despair and had nowhere to go, it was God who opened up a way out for us: There were places for the water to drain away. This was God’s pity for me. In the past, I was very ignorant: I was just satisfied with having a literal and doctrinal understanding of God’s words, and never put God’s words into practice as the truth. So, when encountering a matter, be it related to my personal life or my duty in the church, I would deal with it by my own means. But now I personally saw that all things and matters are in God’s hands and that disasters are even more orchestrated by God. God is indeed a real and vivid God. When relying on God with a sincere heart, I saw God’s deeds and experienced that all things in the world shift according to God’s thoughts. Just as God’s words say, “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.”
Later the storm gradually eased off and the water stopped flowing into the house. However, when seeing that the water, over 60 centimeters deep, still remained in the house, I again felt pretty worried because if the mud house was soaked in water for a long time, it was still unsafe. So, my wife and I hastened to bail out the water with basins; but the water was so deep that we really didn’t know when we could drain it all out. Anxious and upset, I ceaselessly cried out to God within, “Oh God, if the water inside can’t be drained away in time, the mud house will collapse at any time after being soaked in water for a long time. Oh God, although the rain has eased up, the books of God’s words are still at risk of being damaged. May You open up a way out for us.” Not long after my prayer, I heard the sound of water flowing. I went to have a look and found that the rushing water made a hole as big as a basin in the root cellar of a side room (outside the cellar is a precipitous slope and the cellar is paved with fragments of stone), so the water was flowing away through the root cellar. At this point, it hit me that I could poke a hole in the corner so that the water could flow away more quickly. At this thought, I hurriedly found an iron bar and then pried out two stones (the footing of the house was made of stones), so the water soon flowed away through the holes, and then the ground was laid bare. Seeing this, I finally felt grounded and kept thanking God in my heart. This was all God’s wondrous deeds. Then my nephew said to me, “Uncle, Auntie, the God you believe in is really good. At that time, it was pouring outside and the water kept flowing into the house and was over 60 centimeters deep. In light of such a situation, I was very frightened. However, since you didn’t leave, I had to stay with you. Fearing that I would be crushed to death if the house collapsed, I then went out and stood under the eaves. At that time, both of you were kneeling down in the water, looking up to the sky and praying. Wondrously, a while later, the storm was gradually letting up. The surging water from the back mountain toppled the tung tree and then a hole formed, so the water started to flow into the hole instead of the house. I have lived for more than 50 years, but haven’t seen such a miracle. And more surprisingly, both of you are 80 years old, but after having knelt down in the water for over one hour, you didn’t catch a cold and still had energy to bail. This is really wonderful.” Hearing his words, my wife and I both said smilingly, “Right! This is all because of God’s protection. Thank God!”
Then, someone outside shouted that the two houses next to mine both fell down, after which came cries of the neighbors. Hearing this, I thought, “I’ve lived in this mud house since I was little and now it’s very old. The houses next to mine lie in a higher position, so the water there always flows toward our house. But now their houses have fallen down while mine hasn’t. This is really God’s great power.”
After the storm, the secretary and the leader of our village came to our house. Seeing that we and our house were all safe and sound, they said with a smile, “You two are so lucky. It was Heaven that helped you!” Then, after they went behind our house and saw the hole, they said, “The ditch behind your house has been blocked by mud and sand rushing down from the mountain. Thanks to the hole, the water could flow away; otherwise, your house would certainly have fallen down.” Later they went to the door and were surprised to find the 3 meters wide ditch. The secretary said in amazement, “It really was Heaven that helped you. Although my houses were not flooded because of their high position, the two new brick houses were damaged by a tree that was blown down. But your mud house is actually undamaged. It is Heaven who has protected you!” Hearing his words, I kept thanking God in my heart. Because of our belief in God, and our reliance on Him, both us and our house were all protected by God. Those unbelievers had nothing to rely on and could do nothing in the face of disasters. This made me more convinced of God’s words, “I am mankind’s only salvation. I am mankind’s only hope and, even more, I am He on whom the existence of all mankind rests.”
God is the Sovereign of all existence and the lives of all things originate from God. It is God who nourishes and supplies us; it is God who cares and protects us at all times. If we humans leave God, we will suffer catastrophe. Only when we come before God, rely on God, and worship God with our true hearts can we have a good fate and destination. Having experienced this storm, I truly felt that in the face of disasters we humans are tiny and unable to withstand the slightest of blows. The government officials can’t save us, nor can our relatives and friends. Only God is our Redeemer and our shelter. God warns us through disasters that He cherishes man’s righteous actions and despises man’s evil deeds. Take Lot as an example. He was willing to offer up his two daughters in exchange to protect the two angels. Because of his righteous actions, his family gained God’s salvation when God destroyed Sodom. Similarly, in the last days when disasters are happening frequently, we should not only believe in God but should also prepare all kinds of good deeds. Only thus can we be protected by God in disasters.
So I made up my mind: On my future path of belief in God, I must rely on God more, entrust myself to His hands, and let Him control and have dominion over me; I must read God’s words more and perform my duty well to comfort His heart. All the glory be to God!
