By Chentu
Introduction: In our real lives, we often encounter many difficulties and problems. When this happens, some people choose to rely on themselves to solve them, some choose to rely on their relatives and friends, some choose to rely on their power. … Then what does the protagonist of this article, Xiaorui, do in the face of difficulty?
After accepting God’s gospel, Xiaorui verbally acknowledged that God rules over everything and all things are held in God’s hands, but she always thought that in real life, people could rely on God for big issues, but they had to rely on themselves in small ones, because God was so supreme that He didn’t take care of matters of daily life. Thus she seldom looked to and relied on God in ordinary times. That was until she had got through the difficulty of selling her house …
The New House Had Been Built, and the Old One Was Hard to Sell
In March 2013, Xiaorui’s husband bought a piece of land by the side of the road in order to build a new house. Yet they didn’t have enough money for building materials, so they wanted to buy the materials on credit, and after the new house was finished, they would sell the old one to repay the debts. Surprisingly, the owners of the building materials stores agreed to give them credit. Seeing that things went smoothly and thinking that they would have a new house made Xiaorui feel so happy.
Half a year later, their new house was finished, leaving them with debts of over 100,000 yuan, but they hadn’t got the old house sold. Xiaorui couldn’t help thinking worriedly, “At that time we promised the owners of the building materials stores that as soon as we built the new house, we would sell the old one to pay off the debts. Now the new house has been built; if the old one can’t be sold, we’ll be unable to pay back the money—what are we to do?” She also thought of how, several days ago, the manager of the precast slabs factory telephoned to push her to pay the debt in an unfriendly tone of voice. Xiaorui then thought to herself, “If we can’t sell our old house and repay the debts, the creditors will certainly come to ask for the money when the Spring Festival approaches. It’ll be hard to handle the matter then. No! I must quickly find a way to sell the house and pay back the debts.”
Racking Her Brains on How to Sell the House
Worried about the sale of her house, Xiaorui wore a troubled look the whole day. Sometimes she was so upset that she paced back and forth in the room; sometimes she sat in a chair, her head in her hand, while racking her brains to figure something out; she was so worried that she even couldn’t eat or sleep. Her whole mind was occupied with thoughts of how to sell the house. She talked about it with the brothers and sisters in gatherings, with her relatives during visits to them, with the acquaintances whom she met, with the tradesmen on the street. … In a word, she asked anyone she could think of or meet to help her find buyers. She hoped to sell the house as quickly as possible so that her heart might be at rest soon.
Finally, one day, a man came to look at the house. Xiaorui was quite happy, thinking, “I must try my best to say the nice things about my house so that he will buy it.” She immediately introduced him to the advantages of her house—how wide the place was, how comfortable and convenient living here was, and so on and so forth. However, the buyer was put off by its small size, and said that he was going to talk it over with his family, and would give Xiaorui a call if they had decided to buy it. Hearing that, her heart sank, feeling that there was little hope of his buying the house, and after several days he really didn’t return, nor did he call her. Xiaorui knew clearly that her hopes for selling him the house were dashed. She, so anxious, muttered to herself, “Now we still haven’t sold the house, what should we do with so many debts? We’ve asked around for a long time before finally finding the buyer for our house, but he just took a look at the place and then left, and hasn’t called me. What can I do?” Her face was full of worry.
Day after day passed, and no one else came to see the house. Xiaorui was agitated about this, and had argued with her husband many times. Her husband was also worried and depressed about the sale of the house, often smoking and sighing. Seeing how he was suffering upset Xiaorui as well, but what mattered most to her now was how to sell the house, and wherever she went, she would talk about it with others and ask for their favors.
One day, another potential buyer came to view the house. Xiaorui thought to herself, “This time I must grab this opportunity and sell him the house.” Then she invited him to stay for a meal, wining and dining him at home, and said many things about how nice her house was. At the time, the buyer promised to buy it and said that he would pay the deposit in a few days. Xiaorui felt a huge sense of relief hearing his words—a great weight was finally lifted off her chest. However, several days later, when he came back, he didn’t make the down payment, but said that the price was too high for him and that he would only pay 100,000 yuan. Thinking that the price he offered was too low, Xiaorui didn’t agree. In the end, they didn’t reach an agreement. The sale of the house became an anxiety to her again, and she worried about it every day, to the point that she even couldn’t quiet her heart in gatherings and was also influenced in fulfilling her duty. During this period, the brothers and sisters often fellowshiped with her, and had her entrust this matter to God’s hands and look to and rely on God. Xiaorui, however, always thought that in the matter of selling her house, she must rely on herself and ask others for help and that it was not realistic to rely on God. Therefore, she kept relying on her own effort to look for buyers. But what she’d never expected was that after such a long time, she still failed to sell the house. Seeing that the creditors had come to demand payment of the debts, Xiaorui felt distressed and helpless.
Living in Confusion, Guided by God’s words
Once when practicing spiritual devotion, Xiaorui saw God’s words say, “Perhaps you are a president, a scientist, a pastor, or an elder, but no matter how high your office, if you rely on your knowledge and ability in your undertakings, then you shall always be a failure and shall always be bereft of the blessings of God, because God accepts nothing that you do, and He does not grant that your undertaking is a righteous one, or accept that you are working for the benefit of mankind. He will say that everything you do is done to use the knowledge and strength of mankind to thrust the protection of God away from man, and that it is done to deny the blessings of God. He will say that you are leading mankind toward darkness, toward death, and toward the start of a limitless existence in which man has lost God and His blessing.” God’s words which carried authority and power shocked Xiaorui: Yes! The heavens, earth, and all things including mankind were created by God and any and all things are within God’s rule. No matter what business a person is in, and no matter how high his position is and how talented he is, if he doesn’t rely on God but relies on his brain and human methods to do things, he shall never gain the blessings of God. Through reflection, Xiaorui realized that she’d always had a view in her heart—God didn’t deal with matters of daily life, so it was not realistic to rely on God in these things and she must rely on herself. Therefore, regardless what matter she encountered, rather than relying on God, she always depended on herself. When it came to the matter of selling her house, Xiaorui tried various ways to find buyers—asking for others’ favors, and inviting the potential buyer to have a meal at her home, but she still didn’t get her house sold in the end. In the face of the facts, Xiaorui had to admit that regardless whether a matter she encountered was big or small, if she didn’t look to and depend on God, but relied on her arrogant disposition to resolve it, she could go nowhere. Only then did she finally realize that her previous point was so absurd and not in line with God’s will.
Xiaorui saw more of God’s words then, “When confronting real-life problems, how should you know and understand God’s authority and His sovereignty? When you are faced with these problems and do not know how to understand, handle, and experience them, what attitude should you adopt to demonstrate your intention to submit, your desire to submit, and the reality of your submission to God’s sovereignty and arrangements? First you must learn to wait; then you must learn to seek; then you must learn to submit. … All things under God’s arrangements and sovereignty obey natural laws, and if you resolve to let God arrange and dictate everything for you, you should learn to wait, you should learn to seek, and you should learn to submit. This is the attitude every person who wants to submit to God’s authority must adopt, the basic quality every person who wants to accept God’s sovereignty and arrangements must possess. To hold such an attitude, to possess such a quality, you must work harder. This is the only way you can enter into the true reality.”
God’s words pointed out the direction for Xiaorui—when encountering difficulties and problems in life, she should have an attitude of waiting, seeking and obedience, and must not do things relying on herself. Whether her house would be sold and how much it would go for were within God’s hands and up to God. Though now she needed money desperately, she should pray to God and rely on Him, have reason and a heart of waiting and submission, and see how God would arrange things and guide her. She should also believe that God has His own timing in all things He does. Xiaorui then thought of Job: He believed that everything he had was from God, and how many possessions he had was also determined by God. He never made plans or arrangements but entrusted everything to God and just obeyed Him. That is why when Job faced Satan’s attacks and temptations—losing all his possessions and sons and daughters—he was still able to praise God’s name and stand witness for Him. Rely on GodAfter understanding God’s will, Xiaorui was no longer worried and upset about the issue of her house being sold, and was willing to obey God’s arrangements; at the same time, she also focused on quieting her heart before God, spending more time in reading God’s words and pondering more over how to fulfill her duty well. By doing so, her heart felt much more at ease and peaceful.
By Relying on God, Buyers Came
Unexpectedly, one day, a little over one month, while Xiaorui was making lunch at home, two strangers came to buy her house, and said that they were referred by someone else. That surprised Xiaorui a great deal, and also made her very excited—in the past she had racked her brains to think of ways to get her house sold but no one had come to buy it; now the buyers took the initiative to come to her. Xiaorui was almost moved to tears. She offered up a prayer of gratitude in the heart, “Oh God, thank You! I know that it is You who has arranged for them to help me relieve my anxiety. I’ve asked so many people to do me a favor, but receive no news from them; now the buyers are referred by a person who I haven’t asked for help. I’m really surprised. I’ll give thanks to You no matter whether the house will sell or not, because I have personally experienced Your authority and deeds. I see that all things are under Your control. That’s so wonderful!”
The next day, the buyers paid 20,000 yuan as a down payment, and the house sold for 110,000 yuan altogether, which was 10,000 yuan higher than the price the former buyer had offered. Xiaorui had never dreamt of this. Later, her husband’s brother told her, “Those two persons were going to buy my house at first. Who would have known that Mr. Wu would recommend your house to them.” Hearing his words, Xiaorui thanked God from her heart. In the past she did this or that on her own, just wanting to sell her house early, but her house still wasn’t sold though she had been at her wits’ end. However, when she submitted to and relied on God with a true heart, she witnessed God’s deeds. Xiaorui saw that God was so real and vivid and was right by her side, ruling over and arranging everything for her. She came to have a genuine personal understanding of and true faith in God’s words: “The authority by which God rules all things, and the power of God, show to all things that God is present everywhere and at all times. When you have witnessed the ubiquity of the authority and power of God, you will see that God is present everywhere and at all times. The authority and power of God are unconstrained by time, geography, space, or any person, event or thing. The breadth of God’s authority and power surpasses the imagination of man; it is unfathomable to man, unimaginable to man, and shall never be completely known by man.”
Through this experience, Xiaorui gained some true knowledge of God’s authority and the fact of His rule over everything; what she had believed before—she must rely on herself to arrange and deal with everything in life because God didn’t take care of these small things—this mistaken perspective was also turned around. Meanwhile, Xiaorui also understood why she hadn’t been able to get her house sold. It turned out that behind this matter there was God’s intention. The repeated failures showed her that though she was a believer in God, she hadn’t trusted in Him and had had no true faith; she had done everything according to her own will, so she hadn’t been able to gain God’s blessings. Only when she turned her view around and relied on God did she finally see that all is dominated in God’s hands. Xiaorui genuinely felt that only God is most trustworthy and is the most powerful support for man.
