One day, after getting home from work, I wanted to read God’s words, but I couldn’t find the books of God’s words in the drawer I usually kept them in, nor could I find them in all cabinets. Then I became very anxious, thinking: “This is bad. The books must be thrown away by my husband. He is cautious to do anything, so he couldn’t throw them into a trash can, in order not to let me find them. If he took them to his company to discard, I will never find them.” Thinking about this, I was terribly sorry.
Several days later, when I accompanied my husband to get his driver’s license, I met a sister and I secretly told her that my books of God’s words were missing. She said, “Pray to and rely on God more. You’d better make a more careful search once again. God controls and dominates all things. It is in God’s hand whether or not your husband has thrown them away. Let us not define it by our imagination.” After returning home, I sent a message to another sister to tell about my losing the books, and she fellowshiped with me like that, too. I thought, “Since both of the sisters said so, I’m sure there must be God’s gracious will in it. Does God remind me through the sisters?” And then I thought of God’s words, “When they encounter some issue, they are able to call on Him sincerely. So, what is God doing there? When someone’s heart stirs, and they have this idea: ‘Oh God, I can’t do this myself, I don’t know how to do it, and I feel weak and negative,’ when these thoughts arise in them, does God not know about it? When these thoughts arise in man, are people’s hearts sincere? When they call on God sincerely in this way, does God assent to help them? Despite the fact that they may not have spoken a word, they show sincerity, and so God assents to help them” (“Young People Should See Through the Evil Trends of the World” in Records of Christ’s Talks). From God’s words, I saw God’s promise to us, and understood He is our reliance. When we encounter difficulties and don’t know what to do, only if we cry out to God sincerely will He enlighten and lead us, and help us through the adversities. Thanks to the enlightenment and guidance of God’s words, I had faith in God again, and found the way of practice. I thought: “For my losing the books of God’s words, if I attempt to find them by myself, I’m sure to fail, but God is almighty, and as long as I rely on and look to God, and practically go to look for them, I believe God will guide and help me.” Then I came before God and prayed to Him with my earnest heart, “Oh God, as to the matter that I can’t find the books of God’s words, in the beginning, I drew an inference from my own conception and imagination, and dealt with it relying on my own temperament. I didn’t put You first, nor did I realize everything is in Your control. Now I’d like to entrust it to You first and then I’ll look for them. It is within Your permission whether I can find them or not. May You guide me.”
After the prayer, before I started to search, I suddenly wanted to go to the storage room to fetch a pair of shoes. Who could have known that at the very moment I crouched over my shoes, I saw a white bag. Then a clear idea hit me: There should be the books of God’s words in it. So, I picked up the bag to have a look, and found all my books of God’s words. I was so surprised and pleased that I couldn’t help crying out, “Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God!” Not until then did I realize that the thought that I wanted to fetch shoes came from God and that it was God who led me to find the books. I clearly saw that all things are controlled by God and that people’s thoughts and ideas also are orchestrated by God. Then I hurriedly hugged the books back to my bedroom and placed them in order in my drawer. That evening, after he came back, my husband found the books he had hidden in the storage room were gone, and demanded me to hand them over, but this time I didn’t give in to him. Seeing my firm attitude, he said nothing more.
Later, in order to make it convenient for me to attend meetings, practice my spiritual devotionals and listen to the sermons, the sister provided a cellphone for me, with various books of God’s words in it. Once, as I changed my handbag, I carelessly left the cellphone home, and thus my husband once again found that I still attended gatherings with the sisters. He sent messages to question me, “Why do you still have contact with those sisters? Why do you still attend gatherings secretly?” Reading these messages, I was angry and worried, but I thought about my experiences over this time: Whenever my husband blocked and persecuted me, I always compromised and drew back or I was passive and weak. What I lacked most was to rely upon God and bear testimony for God. This time, I can’t give way to Satan any more. I’ll rely on and look to God to overcome Satan and stand witness to God. Then I thought of God’s words, “When you trust God as though He were the last straw that you clutch onto to save your life, when you hope God will help you, only then is your heart sincere. Though you may not have said much, your heart has already stirred. That is, you give your true heart, your sincere heart to God, and God listens. When God listens, He sees your difficulties, and He guides you, enlightens you and helps you” (“Young People Should See Through the Evil Trends of the World” in Records of Christ’s Talks).
So I prayed, “Oh God, today You have chosen me and allowed me to keep up with Your footsteps. If I don’t pursue diligently, but make compromise with the forces of Satan, I’ll lose the opportunity to be saved by You. Oh God, I’d like to entrust my difficulties to You. Whether my husband tells my families or the pastor about my belief in God, however he deals with me, I’ll be willing to obey. I’ll rely on God to stand witness for God and shame Satan.” After praying, my heart calmed down slowly. Picking up my phone, I texted him, “Yes, I indeed attended their meetings again. But I don’t want to talk to you about this today. Let’s have a chat in earnest tomorrow evening.” However, after that, my heart was still refined a little: Why was I always interfered with every time I wanted to pursue the truth? At that time, I thought of Job’s experiences, which the sisters had fellowshiped many times. God says, “And what did God do when Job was subjected to this torment? God observed, and watched, and awaited the outcome. As God observed and watched, how did He feel? He felt grief-stricken, of course” (“God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Thinking over God’s words, I considered Job’s experiences: Job revered God and shunned evil in his entire life, but Satan was not willing to let God get him, so it tempted him again and again, and used his wife to attack him by her derision. As Satan tempted Job, God was at Job’s side, and set strict boundaries for Satan to ensure Job’s safety. From these facts, I saw God loves humans and He doesn’t wish humans to always suffer. However, when God allowed Satan to tempt Job, it contained God’s good intention: He hoped to receive testimony from Job. I thought, “Is it the same as what I am facing? God has never left me and has led me to this day. He has created all these environments for me and hopes I will bear witness to Him to humiliate Satan. So, I must strive to stand testimony to Him and bring shame upon Satan.” By then I came to have faith in God again, and vowed that no matter what circumstances I faced next, I would obey God’s orchestration and arrangement, and never make a compromise with Satan.
The next evening, when I arrived home from work, my husband had been waiting for me. After I sat down, he said, “Can you stop believing in Almighty God?” Then he again mentioned the negative information about The Church of Almighty God he had read on the Internet. I said, “No, I can’t. Do you really know about The Church of Almighty God? All the information you’ve read on the Internet is groundless rumors made up by the CCP to discredit, smear and condemn The Church of Almighty God. They are not true at all. The CCP is an atheist party and it extremely hates the truth and God. In order to deceive people, it furiously makes up and spreads various rumors, vainly attempting to blind all people so as to make them resist God and finally be destroyed together with it. This is the CCP’s sinister motive. I believe in God and I’ve done nothing bad, nor have I cheated on you. In my belief in God, I am walking the right path of life and I’m determined to continue down this path. I’ve thought it over. You can call the pastor and the preacher and let them criticize me on the pulpit and then expel me from the church. You can also telephone my parents to make them besiege and persecute me. But anyhow, I won’t change my decision. Today I have accepted God’s work in the last days, and through reading God’s words and experiencing the environments created by God, I’ve become completely certain that Almighty God is the second coming of the Lord Jesus. Thus I must cling to what I have chosen.” My husband said, “You’re betraying the Lord, do you know? The Lord has given you so much grace; how can you betray Him?” I said, “Just because I have enjoyed so much grace of the Lord Jesus, when I heard the news of the return of the Lord, I certainly should investigate it and accept it. As for my believing in Almighty God, I am not betraying the Lord, but I’m following the Lamb’s footsteps, because Almighty God and the Lord Jesus are the same God. Now Almighty God has come, and uttered His new words, expressing God’s work and God’s will to us clearly. I have heard the voice of God, so I’ll pursue harder and attend more meetings to repay God’s love for me.” In the end, my husband said, “Well. Do as you like. I thought to tell the pastor and let him persuade you; I also planned to call your parents but I was afraid to get your parents angry and ill. From now on, you can believe in God in whatever way as you like. I’ll stay out of it.”
Hearing my husband say he wouldn’t restrain my belief in Almighty God anymore, I was terribly glad. I knew it was God’s arrangement, because my husband’s thoughts and ideas were in God’s hand; it was exactly because of God’s sovereignty that my husband could say such words and it was God that opened up a way out for me. I saw in my experiences that what God wanted was my true heart. When I depended on God, looked up to Him sincerely, and resolved to sacrifice everything to satisfy Him, I saw His deeds. God is always guiding and helping me quietly. I thought of the words of God, “Whenever Satan corrupts man or engages in unbridled harm, God does not stand idly by, neither does He brush aside or turn a blind eye to those He has chosen. All that Satan does is perfectly clear and understood by God. No matter what Satan does, no matter what trend it causes to arise, God knows all that Satan is trying to do, and God does not give up on those He has chosen. Instead, without attracting any attention, secretly, silently, God does everything that is necessary” (“God Himself, the Unique VI” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Pondering God’s words, I was deeply moved. I recalled my own experiences during that time. When Satan took advantage of my husband to interfere with me, persecute me and restrict me from going to meetings, God used brothers and sisters to communicate with me about His words to help me see through Satan’s deception and come out of my negativity. When my husband hid the books of God’s words and obstructed my belief in God, I truly relied on God and looked up to Him and then I saw His wonderful deeds. When I made up my mind to stand on God’s side, wanting to give up everything to follow God, Satan retreated in humiliation. From this, I really saw that God is beside me and that He arranges environments for me according to my stature, not placing an unbearable burden on me. In the past when I didn’t give my heart to God, I always cared about the physical relatives, depended on my ways to solve problems and compromised to Satan. As a result, I was viciously attacked by Satan, and tormented with unspeakable suffering. But when I truly relied upon God and resolved to make all sacrifices, God opened the way for me. Through these experiences, I got some real understanding of God’s almightiness and sovereignty, had some real knowledge of my own rebellious disposition and was able to discern Satan’s deceitful schemes. Thanks be to God.
From this period of experiences, I’ve gained a lot. During this process, I was weak and negative, but with the guidance of God’s words and the help and support of the sisters, I came to have the faith to overcome Satan’s temptations and attacks and walked to today. In my practical experiences, I’ve tasted God’s love, that He’s leading me all the time, and that He has never given up on me and has always been watching by my side. When I gave my true heart to Him, I saw His marvelous deeds, and emerged from troubles. From now on, I’m willing to experience more of God’s work, and pursue to attain true knowledge of God. All the glory be to Almighty God!
Source from: find the shepherd
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