By Jiang Yun
In the four years since I have been married, I hadn’t borne a child. Later, with great difficulty I bore a son. We all saw him as the apple of our eye and surrounded him, for fear that once we were careless, he would be injured. In 2013, my parents and I believed in God. So, we always committed my son into God’s hands and asked God to keep him. Even when he was still a toddler, I would often tell him about belief in God and how to pray to God. But since I hadn’t focused on practicing and experiencing God’s words all along, I didn’t have much true faith in God. Not until one day—when my son was in the danger of losing his life but was miraculously kept by God—did I truly see God’s almightiness and confirm my faith in God.
At about 4 p.m. of August 27, 2016, I went with my rising 5-year-old son Diandian to the vegetable plot to find my parents. When we got there, I saw a stinky ditch beside the plot. Due to land expropriations, its inlets and outlets were tightly sealed. Floating on it were many bottles of farm chemicals, giving off a horrible smell. Before long, my parents finished their work. My father said to me, “Sit on the electric tricycle first. I’m going to fetch something.” So I seated my son onto it and instinctively pulled it with my hand. At this moment, my mother said to me, “Come and open the sack. These peanuts are given by so-and-so. Let’s pack them up.” I loosened my hand and turned around to hold the sack. Much beyond my expectation, just at that moment, my mother found the electric tricycle was driven away by my son at a high speed, and let out a frightened yell, “Diandian is on the electric tricycle.” Following her voice, I hurriedly turned around and saw: The electric tricycle was on the move, and when my mother ran after it to the ditch, the whole of it had already turned over into the smelly ditch.
Instantly I rushed there, but couldn’t see my son. My heart soon rose up to my throat. I anxiously looked around for him. My mother said in desperation, “Stop looking. The child was on the electric tricycle. He should be pressed under it. …” Hearing her words, I rushed into the ditch at once, followed by my mother and father. Its water was extremely smelly; the water wasn’t deep and only reached to my groin, but the mire at the bottom reached to my knee. Across the one-meter-wide ditch was the electric tricycle that was one side down. It formed a triangle with the ditch and was stuck between the dikes, leaving no space for one to set foot in. Seeing all this, my heart was in extreme pain as if being torn; I felt that my son had a slim chance of survival. We still spared no effort to look for my son in the only opening. We had tried to move away the electric tricycle with all our might, but it wouldn’t budge an inch. The more I thought that my son’s whole body was in the mire—an airless environment, the more despaired I became.
My mother said continuously, “God, I beg You to save my grandson.” In pain and helplessness, I also desperately called out to God within, “God, You are almighty and are the Creator of the heavens and earth and all things. You can cause something to come from nothing, or something to become nothing. I believe You. Please help me. …” Later, I wanted to dial the emergency number 120, and also wanted to call 119 to lift the electric tricycle. But the uncultivated ground around was absolutely unapproachable for a crane. And even if a crane could reach here, it would be too late. What should I do? More than ten minutes had passed while no trace of my son was found. At that moment, I saw my despairing father was ready to go ashore. Great tears dropped unceasingly and I shook my head frantically toward him. I kept saying to him in my heart: Don’t go ashore, father. Even if my son is dead, we must find his body. You can’t go ashore. … He read my mind and kept on searching in the mire. My father, a once strong man in my heart, at that moment was despairing like a kid and called in tears, “God! God! Please help me. …”
I called out in my heart incessantly to God, “God, I’m only a tiny created being. In today’s environment, I can only look up to You and rely on You. I believe You are the God and I commit the life and death of my child into Your hands. …” At this moment, I thought of the hymn of God’s words, “In your experience, no matter what refinement you undergo through God’s words, what God requires of mankind, in brief, is their faith and their love for Him. What He perfects by working in this way is people’s faith, love, and aspirations. God does the work of perfection on people, and they cannot see it, cannot feel it; under such circumstances, your faith is required. People’s faith is required when something cannot be seen by the naked eye, and your faith is required when you cannot let go of your own notions. When you do not have clarity about God’s work, what is required of you is to have faith and to take a firm stance and stand witness. When Job reached this point, God appeared to him and spoke to him. That is, it is only from within your faith that you will be able to see God, and when you have faith God will perfect you” (“Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement”). God’s words gave me faith and strength, as well as the way to practice—I should have faith in God when encountering things that I couldn’t see through or that didn’t accord with my opinions. Today, God was to perfect my faith. My child was bestowed by God and his life and death were also in God’s hands. Today, whatever the outcome, I must have faith in God and must not complain against Him. I must stand witness for God and obey His orchestration and arrangement. One time and again I recalled God’s words, and one time and again I asked Him to give me strength and keep my heart, so that I wouldn’t do irrational things.
The seconds passed by and my father was still grabbing in the ditch madly and randomly. About half an hour later, I suddenly saw that he was pulling from the ditch a dark thing with many waterweeds on it. It was dark already, so I couldn’t see clearly whether it was my child, nor could I believe that. When my father put my son onto the shore, I was really desperate, nearly losing control of myself. I rubbed my eyes and stared still at my muddy child: Blood was flowing from somewhere in his body. Faced with such a scene, I was distressed and despaired to think that he couldn’t possibly have breath. I dared not face the fact. My father sank down on the ground, and said repeatedly, “God, You’re the almighty doctor. My grandson’s life is in Your hands. God, please save him. Now only You can save him. …” I was in agony and prayed silently, “O God! May You give me faith and strength, and keep me from complaining about You. It seems that my child has no hope of survival. But I can’t deny You just because I lose him; I can’t be irrational. Anyway, I’m willing to follow You to the end.” About a minute later, my son suddenly gave a slight cough, bringing up some water and mire. At this scene, tears of excitement burst from my eyes. Because I saw hope in my desperation, I thanked God in my heart without a stop.
I bent down and pulled the hems of my clothes to tenderly wipe the mire on his face. At the same time, I called in a low voice, “Diandian, Diandian….” When I wiped his face clean and confirmed that he was still alive, my father said with feelings, “God, thank You! Only You can save man.” At the moment, I thought of another passage of God’s words saying, “God has the authority to have a person die, to have his spirit leave his body and return to Hades, or wherever else it should go. The timing of a person’s death, and the place they will go after death—these are determined by God. He can make these decisions anytime and anywhere, unconstrained by humans, events, objects, space, or geography. If He wants to do it, He can do it, because all things and living beings are under His rule, and all things are born, live, and perish by His word and His authority. He can resurrect a dead man, and this too is something He can do anytime, anywhere. This is the authority that only the Creator possesses” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III”). Before, I didn’t believe these words of God too much. But at this moment, I heartily felt God’s almightiness and confirmed from my heart that, God’s words are the truth—this is absolutely true. Think about it: For such a small child who was stuck in the mire for so long a time, according to the conventional wisdom, he must be dead. But when I called and looked to God, my child miraculously came to life. This was something that could only be achieved by God, and only God possesses such authority.
Under the urge of my father, my mother and I rode the electric scooter to send my son to the hospital. On the way, he kept crying and shouting, “Mum, I’m hurting. I can’t stand it.” Listening to his cries of pain, I was very anxious, afraid that he might have internal injuries, and wanted to reach the hospital quickly. At this moment, my mother reminded me to rely on God and look up to Him. Hearing her words, I was a little calmed, thinking: Yeah. I have already seen God’s almightiness and my son has already been alive miraculously. How can I still worry about him? True faith can stand the test of time and the examination of the truth. I can’t lose faith just because my child cries. I should have faith in God and shouldn’t have any doubt. My mother said to my son, “Diandian, don’t be afraid. Granny can’t save you. Your mum can’t, either. Only God can save you. You can call in a whisper, ‘God, save me.’” My child stopped crying, and sobbed, “I see. Just now when I was almost dying in the ditch, I remembered mum said that when I had difficulties, I could call to God. So I said, ‘God, save me. Please don’t let me die. Because if I died, my mum would be sad, my grandparents would, too. I will listen to You in the future.’ And then I didn’t feel pain. I only waited for you to save me. I didn’t ache just now. I’m aching now, so I’m crying.” After he said these words, my mother and I couldn’t hold back our tears any longer. We both shed tears, not knowing how we can thank God enough. We rode toward the hospital as we prayed. My son also called to God all the way. Gradually, he stopped crying and fussing, and didn’t scream out in pain.
When we reached the hospital, a doctor in the emergency room received us. After knowing about my son’s condition, he quickly dealt with the wound. When my son was washed clean, I saw that there was only a thumbnail-sized piece of skin on the top of his head was broken. The doctor said, “Now other doctors are all off duty. Come to have an X-ray examination tomorrow. Judging from his condition, it isn’t serious. Wait to examine whether there is infection or other conditions tomorrow.” When people gathering around the room heard that my son had been pressed in the ditch for half an hour by an electric tricycle for loading, they all felt it was incredible. But when they saw the mire covered on my son’s clothes, they had to be convinced that it was a reality. The doctor said, “Strange enough. Pressed by a big electric tricycle, people usually die or become disabled. Your child is so small yet only gets some trivial hurts. What happened to him is really a miracle.” People around us all talked at once, “Ah, your child is really lucky and blessed by Heaven.” Hearing these words, I wanted to tell them loudly, “It’s because we believe in God and we have God’s keeping. Only God can keep and protect us. Come to believe in God, you all.” I really wanted to testify to them how we experienced God’s keeping and saw His deeds. But in this atheistic country, where people had no freedom of religious belief and anyone who witnessed God in public places would be seized at any moment, I couldn’t but bury these words deep in my heart.
After we went back home, I told the condition of my son to my father. He was also excited, saying, “Thank God! Thank God!” Having experienced all this, my son was tired and fell asleep peacefully. My parents and I fellowshiped together about what had happened to my son. We recounted God’s wondrous deeds with gratitude to God filling our heart. I said, “Father, mother, we must believe in God and perform our duties properly to repay God’s love for us in the future.” They both nodded their heads in succession. The next day, we went to the hospital to have my son examined. Since the injury on his head had already been scabby, he was only put on a drip. After that, we went home.
Now my child is six years old. He often watched the videos of God’s family. And he often said to my husband and me, “But for God, I had died long before. I also want to believe in God!” I asked him, “Why?” He answered me with sincerity, “Because God can save people. When you call to Him, He will listen.” Seeing that my son could have such knowledge, I was especially thankful to God.
From this matter, I have experienced that our life or death is ruled by God, and that only God has such a unique authority: causing something to come from nothing, or something to become nothing. I also have had some understanding of the truth that God’s words are the truth, the way, and the life. Moreover, I have seen that God expresses words and uses words to accomplish everything in the last days and that those who believe God’s words after hearing them are blessed. In this experience, because of faith, my child was kept by God; because of faith, my whole family members have truly seen that God is real and practical by our side, and that God’s authority transcends everything. All the glory be to God!
