12 In Experience I Saw God’s Keeping
by Yongxin
(from Yibin City, Sichuan Province)
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| In Experience I Saw God’s Keeping |
We had never believed in God before. In 2005, uplifted by God, my husband, my father-in-law, my uncle, and I accepted God’s work of the last days. Soon afterward, God’s family arranged for me to perform the duty of keeping the books.
One day in March, 2006, about one o’clock after lunch, it snowed heavily. My husband, my daughter, and I were husking corns as we warmed ourselves by a fire. Suddenly we heard someone shout outside, “Your house is on fire. Come quickly to put out the fire!” We hurriedly ran out and saw that the roofs of the kitchen and pigpens were already on fire. As three unbelievers helped us fight the fire, they shouted, “Come quickly to fight the fire!” Hearing the shout, 30 to 40 people from two neighboring production teams came to help us at once. I heard someone say, “Don’t they believe in God? Why do they suffer a fire? Now their house is on fire. See whether they’ll continue to believe in God.” At that time, I didn’t care what they were saying. Seeing that the fire was burning fast and the wild wind with raging flames was heading toward the house where we lived, I was very anxious, because there were the books of God’s family and our grain were in the house. In desperation, I could only cry out to God ceaselessly, “O God! May You care for the books of God’s family and our grain and keep them from catching fire.” After my prayer, something marvelous happened. The wind suddenly altered its direction. Only then did I feel somewhat peaceful, realizing that everything in my house was kept. Hearing those who fought the fire talk about the worth of the burnt things, we remembered that our two pigs were still in the pigpen. My husband hurried to rescue them. He had just entered the pigpen when something burning suddenly dropped down and blocked the door. At the sight of the scene, I had my heart in my mouth and called upon God desperately, begging God to care for and keep him. The unbelievers were all worried about my husband’s safety. However, under their watchful eyes, he safely pushed out of the fire the two pigs weighing more than 50 kilograms. Then I calmed down. The fire lasted about one hour or more and a kitchen and two pigpens were burnt, which caused the loss of about over four thousand yuan.
We knew afterward that the fire was caused by children playing with fire. Then, I thought of God’s words, “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements, or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men, and the interference of men. Behind every step that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle. … When God and Satan do battle in the spiritual realm, how should you satisfy God, and how should you stand firm in your testimony to Him? You should know that everything that happens to you is a great trial and the time when God needs you to bear testimony. … If you can win the admiration of your brothers and sisters, your family members, and everyone around you; if, one day, the unbelievers come, and admire all that you say and do, and see that all that God does is wonderful, then you will have borne testimony.” I understood this: Today my house was burnt. Outwardly it was caused by children playing with fire, but actually in the spiritual realm Satan made a wager with God. Satan wanted to use this matter to make me complain against God, betray God, and deny God. At that time, the unbelievers said, “Their house is on fire. See if they’ll continue to believe in God.” It is Satan’s temptation coming upon me. If I complain against God and judge God along with the unbelievers, I will lose the testimony. After understanding God’s will, I prayed to God, “O God! What comes upon me today is Your trial to me and is Satan’s temptation. May You give me faith and strength and keep me from making complaints in this matter, so that I can stand the testimony for You before Satan. I believe that all matters and all things are in Your hand and my destiny is even more in Your hand. I’m willing to submit to Your sovereignty and arrangement.”
That evening, my whole family had a meeting and read God’s word as usual. I asked my husband, “All of your timbers were burnt. Did you complain against God?” He answered, “I have nothing to complain about. When I went to the pigpen to rescue the pigs, all of you were worried about my life, fearing that something might happen to me. But I was not afraid at all and came out safely in the end. Wasn’t that God’s keeping? Without God’s keeping, everything we have might be burnt and my life might be lost. Since we can survive, we should thank God for His care and keeping and thank God for His love.” It’s true. In that experience, I did see that God was caring for and keeping us. When my house was on fire, we couldn’t have put out the fire by our own strength if God hadn’t sent a few dozen people to fight the fire. When the wild wind with flames headed toward the house fiercely, the books of God’s family, our grain, and our house would have been burnt completely if God hadn’t changed the wind direction with His mighty power. When my husband went to rescue the pigs in the fire, my husband might have been burnt to death in such great fire and could not have come out unhurt if God hadn’t kept him. The more we fellowshiped, the more we saw God’s mighty power and great love. We not only made no complaints, but were full of infinite gratitude to God in our heart instead.
In that experience, I saw God’s almightiness and wonderful deeds with my own eyes and felt God’s amiableness and loveliness. Although my family conditions were a little worse after the fire, it didn’t change my heart to follow God. No matter what others say, I firmly believe that whatever God does, it is for saving and perfecting man. I know that I couldn’t possibly have stood the testimony by my own stature. In that trial, I could have stood the testimony and put Satan to shame, and it was the result produced by God’s work. From now on, I’m willing to read more of God’s word, equip myself with more truths, and stand testimony for God with my real stature in all kinds of trials. May all the glory be to Almighty God!
Source: A Hundred Questions and Answers on Investigating the True Way
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