By Zong Mei
In May 2012, I accepted the kingdom gospel of God. Although I believed in God, I only considered believing in God as a religious belief, and felt that it was all right for me to believe and confess just in my heart. When the brothers and sisters told me that the believers in God should read God’s words and attend meetings, I thought: It really takes time to attend meetings. I have to make money to support my family. … Although they said that it would not take much time to meet to worship God, I still refused. However, God did not remember my disobedience and abandon me. As I was in danger, He still cared for and protected me in secret, silently waiting for me to return.
One day, my husband and I drove out of town by our delivery car to deliver goods as usual. For saving tolls, we drove there and back along the national road (the mountain road). On the way home after we delivered the goods, my husband glanced at the gas gauge and noticed that our car was using the gas too quickly. After checking it, he found that there were minor problems with the engine. Considering that there was still some distance to get home and no garage around us, we decided to drive home and then have the car repaired. For the sake of safety, my husband drove slowly, and every half an hour, he stopped the car and checked it. In this way, our car was moving at a crawl to the direction of our house.
However, when we drove to the boundary between two provinces at 3 or 4 p.m., my husband suddenly shouted, “Oh, no! The car’s out of control. The brakes aren’t working!” I was shocked at his words, grasped the handle subconsciously, lifted my eyes and looked out the window. Our car was going downhill, and a mountain was on one side of us and a deep river on the other. Then I looked at my husband. He was pale with fear, his hands were clenching the steering wheel, and his right foot kept stamping on the brake. But however hard he pressed on it, the car showed no sign of stopping. In the rear-view mirror, I saw black smoke belching from behind the car. All of a sudden the car bumped and careered down the road. Through the windshield, I saw the oncoming vehicles traveling uphill toward us one after another. At that very time, my husband and I looked at each other, and we saw the horror of death from the other’s eyes. Immediately, horror, fear, and helplessness washed over us. Facing the sudden attack of death, we felt too powerless to do anything.
Just as we resigned ourselves to our fate and waited for death to come, the words that a sister had said to me entered my head: “Whenever and however we encounter difficulties, we just cry out to God. He will surely listen to our cry.” At that moment, on the verge of despair, I seemed to have clutched at straws. I quickly closed my eyes and repeatedly cried, “God! Help me!” To my surprise, after my cry to God, the car stopped miraculously when reaching the next intersection. We were not yet recovered from the shock though the car stopped. At that time I did not know anything except to sit in the car stupidly. It was quite a while before I came to life. As I thought of the scene that had just happened, I still shook with fear. After I calmed down, I gave my gratitude and praises to God in my heart. If God had not stretched out His merciful and saving hand to us when we were in danger, I thought my husband and I could hardly have escaped death.
Next, we faced a new test: We could no longer drive the car. How could we go back? My husband called the mechanic in our hometown and told him what had happened to our car. The mechanic said: “Maybe the key part in the engine doesn’t work. It must be repaired before you drive, otherwise it will be very dangerous.” Because of the long journey, the mechanic was unwilling to come. My husband made three or four calls and said many good words, but still no one was willing to come to repair our car. It was getting dark. A gust of cold wind blew on my face. I involuntarily shivered with cold. I wrapped myself tight in my coat and thought: If nobody else is willing to repair our car, undoubtedly we’ll stay in the car all night. Then what shall we do tomorrow? We were in a dilemma again. So, I cried out to God unceasingly in my heart: “Oh God, our car has broken down. We can’t drive home. Please help us go through the difficulty.”
Amazingly, a moment afterward, my husband received a call from the mechanic. He said he would repair our car and he also reassured us and told us not to worry. I was clear that it was not because the mechanic was good but because of the wonderful deeds of God. At that time, I was touched by God’s love again, feeling as if a wave of warmth was flowing into my heart. All my words could not describe my gratitude for God, but I only kept thanking God. At 10 p.m. the mechanics arrived. It was near 2 a.m. when the car was repaired. We asked them to go back first, but unexpectedly, they said: “Since it’s late anyway, we don’t care about the time. You drive ahead, and we follow behind your car. If finding any problem, we’ll handle it at once.” When we drove to another section of the road, the mechanic phoned us to pull over quickly and he said that sparks flew off from under our car now and then. After the examination, they found that there was a problem with a connection in the wires, which had sparked. It was really too dangerous. Once more I saw God’s love and protection for me.
God’s word says: “Almighty God, the practical God! You are our impregnable fortress. You are our refuge. We huddle under Your wings, and calamity cannot reach us. Such is Your divine protection and care.” That dangerous experience made me feel deeply that only God is man’s only reliance and refuge. Moreover, it also made me have some understanding of my life: When death is drawing near, money and fame appear so fragile and vulnerable. God’s love for me is really too great! If not for God’s care and protection, my husband and I would probably have perished in this accident. We have been struggling, going around, and laboring for so many years, only wishing to make a lot of money and live a good life, but we have never got our wishes. On this journey, we almost lost our lives. If we had died, what use would it be even if we had earned more money? Would it not be a waste of effort and all for nothing in the end? The fame, status, and money have blinded my eyes and heart and corrupted me so deeply that I can’t discern between good and evil, refusing God’s hand of salvation. Had I not experienced God’s wonderful protection this time, I would still have been blinded, unable to free myself. I’ve felt that only when people come before God, can they receive His care and protection and obtain real peace and happiness. If we live in the world while departing from God and losing His protection, then we will lead a precarious life that disasters will come upon us at any time and any place.
God’s word says: “Those who live outside My word, fleeing the suffering of trial, are they all not drifting through the world? They are akin to autumn leaves fluttering here and there, with no place to rest, much less My words of consolation. Although My chastisement and refinement do not follow them, are they not beggars drifting from place to place, wandering the streets outside the kingdom of heaven? Is the world really your place of rest? Can you really, by avoiding My chastisement, attain the faintest smile of gratification from the world? Can you truly use your fleeting enjoyment to cover up the emptiness in your heart, the emptiness that cannot be concealed? You might be able to fool everyone in your family, but you can never fool Me. Because your faith is too meager, you are still, to this day, powerless to find any of the delights life has to offer. I urge you: better to sincerely spend half your life for My sake than your whole life in mediocrity and busywork for the flesh, enduring all the suffering a man can hardly bear. What purpose does it serve to treasure yourself so much and flee from My chastisement? What purpose does it serve to hide yourself from My momentary chastisement only to reap an eternity of embarrassment, an eternity of chastisement? I do not, in fact, bend anyone to My will. If someone is truly willing to submit to all My plans, I would not treat them poorly.”
In the colorful materialistic world today, each of us devotes ourselves to money and fame. When God’s salvation in the last days comes upon us, we don’t know God’s earnest intentions of working to save man, nor do we understand that it is precious to pursue and gain the truth, much less do we see clearly that Satan is using money and fame to tempt us, so we become immersed in the evil trends of the world and can’t extricate ourselves, but desperately seek to gain money while considering our lives insignificant. And I was once one of them. However, through this experience, I have personally tasted that when death approaches us, those things like money, fame, and status are worthless, but only God is our real reliance and salvation. All the glory be to God!
