By Aixin
When Jingyu was two months old, she was given to another family to grow up in. Her adoptive parents treated her as their own daughter and her two adopted brothers also loved her deeply. After she knew about the world, her adoptive mother let her know whose child she was. Although Jingyu knew that she was not her adoptive parents’ own child, she felt fortunate that her adoptive mother and family were kind to her. So she was determined that she would treat her adoptive parents with filial respect when she grew up. The adoptive parents liked Jingyu very much. And they often said to Jingyu: “I’ll make you my daughter-in-law when you are old enough.” But Jingyu didn’t pay any attention to these words as she was too young then.
When Jingyu was 16 years old, her adoptive mother wanted her to be engaged to her younger adopted brother Junjie. But Jingyu had treated Junjie as her own brother. How could a sister and a brother get married? Jingyu didn’t agree, but her adoptive mother cried and said that she didn’t expect Jingyu would be disobedient after she raised her for so long. Jingyu was at a loss. So she told Junjie about the situation. Junjie said: “You can pretend to comply with our mom’s request, and later I will take you to another place to work. Then you can look for a man you like and I can also look for a girl I like. When I get married, our mom will have no reason to ask you to marry me. We will be brother and sister forever and our mom won’t be sad. Won’t that satisfy each of us?” Finding what her brother said was reasonable, Jingyu complied with her mother’s request.
Afterwards, Junjie really went to work in another place together with Jingyu. One year later, Junjie returned home because of some affairs. Jingyu still stayed in the other place to work. Just at that time, Jingyu met a boy in her company called Tao. Every day, Tao would walk her home. A long time later, they both had a liking for each other. And Jingyu even agreed to marry Tao. With the Spring Festival drawing near, Jingyu went back home and told her adoptive mother all the things about Tao. But her adoptive mother strongly opposed her relationship with Tao. Besides, she begged Jingyu to marry Junjie. Jingyu had no choice but to turn to Junjie. However, Junjie also couldn’t accept the fact. He locked himself in his room and didn’t drink or eat. He even tried to commit suicide. Jingyu found his attempt in time and prevented him. Junjie cried and said: “I have long treated you as my girlfriend. Love is selfish. I know that I can’t prevent you from marrying Tao. Furthermore, I don’t want to force you to marry me. But I don’t want to live in misery either. So I can’t but end my life. Then you can live with Tao.” After hearing Junjie’s words, Jingyu was dumbfounded. Though she didn’t love Junjie, she didn’t want to see him living in misery. She couldn’t just sit there and watch her brother do the silly things! When her adoptive grandmother learned the news, she knelt down before Jingyu and begged her to marry Junjie. At that time Jingyu was in complete despair. She knew that she would not be happy even if she got married to the man she loved if something bad happened to her mother and brother because she left. In that case, she would have it on her conscience forever. Jingyu had no choice but to choose familial affection and give up love. In the end, she got married to Junjie. She cut connections with Tao in order to make Junjie relieved.
After marriage, Jingyu gave birth to a baby, and all the family were happy. But Jingyu wasn’t happy at all. She still couldn’t forget Tao. Jingyu often thought: “It is said, ‘All shall be well, and Jack shall have Jill.’ Why can’t I live together with Tao?” She thought that it was Junjie who destroyed her happiness. So she couldn’t accept Junjie however well he treated her. She thought that it was the biggest misery if she couldn’t live with the man she loved. Sometimes she felt so hurt that she wanted to kill herself. She thought only death could set her free completely. But when she thought of how her child was still so young, she couldn’t but give up the idea. She often cried to heaven: “God! I beg you to save me! Why am I living in such pain?” To relieve her pain, Jingyu often gave herself over to drinking in some places of entertainment. And she even took her close female friends home on purpose to have cold wars with her husband. They took each other as a passer-by. And their marriage was on the point of breaking down.
Just when Jingyu was feeling hurt and helpless, her friend preached the gospel of God to her and read God’s words to her: “Born into such a filthy land, man has been severely blighted by society, he has been influenced by feudal ethics, and he has been taught at ‘institutes of higher learning.’ The backward thinking, corrupt morality, mean view on life, despicable philosophy for living, utterly worthless existence, and depraved lifestyle and customs—all of these things have severely intruded upon man’s heart, and severely undermined and attacked his conscience. As a result, man is ever more distant from God, and ever more opposed to Him.” “People harbor many illusions about marriage before they experience it themselves, and all these illusions are quite beautiful. Women imagine that their other halves will be Prince Charming, and men imagine that they will marry Snow White. These fantasies go to show that every person has certain requirements for marriage, their own set of demands and standards. Though in this evil age people are constantly bombarded with distorted messages about marriage, which create even more additional requirements and give people all sorts of baggage and strange attitudes, any person who has experienced marriage knows that no matter how one understands it, no matter what one’s attitude toward it is, marriage is not a matter of individual choice.”
Through God’s words and her friend’s fellowship, Jingyu understood that the reason why she lived so painfully was because she was influenced by the theories “Love is above all,” “All shall be well, and Jack shall have Jill,” and by the perfect love stories in TV dramas, which caused her to harbor illusions about love. She regarded Tao as the perfect Prince Charming and thought that she would be happy if she could marry Tao, which always made her dissatisfied with her present life. She wanted to break away from Junjie and stay with Tao. She even gave herself over to drinking and had a cold-war attitude toward her husband in order to escape reality, which made both of them live in misery. Then, Jingyu felt relieved. In fact, the reason why she was so hurt was not because Junjie destroyed her happiness, but because she was influenced by the evil tendencies and thereby harbored illusions. That was the source of her pain. Jingyu lost herself in thought: “Nowadays, so many people, who are influenced by Satan’s tendencies, blindly believe that “Love is above all.” For this, they will devote their all and even commit suicide, which brings themselves and their family irreparable suffering and pain. All these tragedies are all caused by Satan’s evil tendencies. Without the leadership of God’s words, I wouldn’t see these clearly at all and wouldn’t be free from the pain.” Thinking of this, Jingyu was grateful to God in her heart.
Later, Jingyu read God’s words: “Under the Creator’s sovereignty, two unrelated people with related fates gradually enter into a single marriage and become, miraculously, a family: ‘two locusts clinging to the same rope.’ So, when one enters into a marriage, one’s journey in life will influence and touch upon one’s other half, and likewise one’s partner’s journey in life will influence and touch upon one’s own fate in life. In other words, human fates are interconnected, and no one can complete one’s mission in life or perform one’s role in complete independence from others. One’s birth has a bearing on a huge chain of relationships; growing up also involves a complex chain of relationships; and similarly, a marriage inevitably exists and is maintained within a vast and complex web of human connections, involving every member of that web and influencing the fate of everyone who is a part of it. A marriage is not the product of both members’ families, the circumstances in which they grew up, their appearances, their ages, their qualities, their talents, or any other factors; rather, it arises from a shared mission and a related fate. This is the origin of marriage, a product of human fate orchestrated and arranged by the Creator.” From God’s words, Jingyu truly understood that her marriage and her family were meticulously arranged by God, and predestined by God. Jingyu originally thought that it was because of her family members that she was forced to marry Junjie. But now she understood that it was because of a shared mission and a related fate that they got married. At the same time, she also felt there was the good will of God in such arrangement. Although she didn’t love Junjie, Junjie cared for her with all his heart and soul. In such an evil and licentious age, she treated him so badly, while he didn’t betray her but instead he looked after her with great care and didn’t even demand her to do any housework. Jingyu realized that she couldn’t tell chalk from cheese. She was always trying to cast off God’s orchestrations and arrangements, which didn’t only brought her great pain, but also hurt Junjie and their family. And she never thought about Junjie’s pain and feelings. Jingyu felt ashamed and uneasy because she hurt the man who loved her deeply.
Later, Jingyu didn’t give herself over to drinking any longer. Also, she stopped taking her close female friends home to slight Junjie. Instead, she tried to accept Junjie. In daily life, when she talked with Junjie, she didn’t act as if she had swallowed gunpowder like before, but rather she could calmly talk with him, make allowances for him and show some concern for him. When Junjie found that she was changing, he couldn’t adapt himself to her change for a moment. He didn’t expect his wife would change so much. He was very happy. Little by little, their home was no longer in the state of “cold wars”, and there was some warmth and harmony in their home. Even so, sometimes Jingyu would still feel ashamed when she thought of Tao. Later, Jingyu got in touch with Tao by chance and learned that he had got married and now had a daughter. Jingyu felt relieved when she learned that he lived well.
Later, Jingyu preached the gospel of God to Junjie and Tao, hoping that both of them could accept God’s salvation. But Tao always said that he was too busy to attend meetings, which meant that he didn’t want to believe in God sincerely. Once, Tao said that he would come to work in Jingyu’s city and wanted to keep an adulterous relationship with Jingyu. When she thought that she was a believer in God, and that God hates and detests promiscuity most, Jingyu firmly refused him, saying: “Absolutely not. Both of us have our own family. We shouldn’t do that!” But Tao said: “Now who minds that? Doesn’t everyone do that in this age? You are so silly. Why not seize the day for pleasure, for life is short?” Tao’s words deeply disappointed Jingyu. She didn’t expect that Tao didn’t respect marriage at all. She thought that if she had got married to Tao, how could he care for her with all his heart and soul since since he lived according to the viewpoint “Why not seize the day for pleasure, for life is short?” Jingyu felt fortunate that she didn’t marry Tao. Since then, Jingyu didn’t keep in touch with Tao. After Junjie accepted God’s work, he sought the truth hard. He often practiced spiritual devotion and read God’s words together with Jingyu. Both of them supported each other. When they met something, they could open up to fellowship, and then practice according to God’s words. Afterwards, Jingyu served as a leader in the church; Junjie supported her so much. They shared a common language and their misunderstanding disappeared too.
One night, Jingyu and Junjie read a passage of God’s words together: “When one does not have God, when one cannot see Him, when one cannot clearly recognize God’s sovereignty, every day is meaningless, worthless, miserable. Wherever one is, whatever one’s job is, one’s means of living and the pursuit of one’s goals bring one nothing but endless heartbreak and suffering without relief, such that one cannot bear to look back on one’s past. Only when one accepts the Creator’s sovereignty, submits to His orchestrations and arrangements, and seeks true human life will one gradually begin to break free from all heartbreak and suffering, and to be rid of all the emptiness of life.” “Some people may not have realized these things. But when you truly know, when you truly come to recognize that God has sovereignty over human fate, when you truly understand that everything God has planned for you and decided for you is a great benefit and protection, then you feel your pain begin to lighten, and your whole being becomes relaxed, free, liberated.”
After reading God’s words, Jingyu said to Junjie: “Our marriage was meticulously arranged by God. But I didn’t know God’s sovereignty, and in the past I never knew God’s good will, which not only brought me pain, but also hurt you. Thank God for setting us free from the pain. We might have gotten divorced if we didn’t believe in God.” Junjie said: “Yes! Thank God for saving us. All is under His sovereignty. If God hadn’t arranged our life like this, we wouldn’t have come before Him. What God arranged for us is the best. From now on, we should seek the truth and worship God properly!” Before Jingyu answered his words, their son came up, saying: “Mum, Dad, you finally made up.” Then Jingyu and Junjie looked at each other and couldn’t help laughing …
