By Xiaoyu, Finland
I am a Christian. There is a large river with a maximum depth of about a few dozen meters near my house. The old proverb goes, “Those living on a mountain live off the mountain; those living near the water live off the water.” Our whole family lives by fishing, so my father often needs to go fishing there.
One afternoon, my father went to the river to cast nets along with my younger brother, my brother-in-law, and a brother from our church. Later, the clear sky suddenly became overcast with clouds. The wind blew strongly with lightning and thunder and then a heavy rain fell. The road was completely waterlogged soon. Seeing this, my mother was so worried about my father and the others. She decided to go out to see whether they were safe. I said to her anxiously, “Shall I go with you?” She said, “No, I think it’s better for you to stay at home.” With that, she went out with an umbrella.
After a while, my younger brother returned. I asked him, “Why do you come home alone? Where are dad and the others?” He responded, “I have no idea. When we were casting nets in the river, suddenly, the waves rose. Seeing this, dad hurriedly asked my brother-in-law and me to throw the nets into the river and to row our boat to the shore right away. Then Dad and the brother from the church also threw their nets into the river and then rowed their boat toward the shore. When my brother-in-law and I reached the shore, their boat was only one meter away from it. However, the wind became stronger and stronger, pushing their boat ever further out to the river. I’m not sure what happened to them. Mom and our brother-in-law have gone to the riverbank to look for them.” After hearing his words, I felt worried about my father and the brother from the church. Seeing the violent storm along with thunder and lightning outside, I felt quite anxious, but I didn’t know what to do. At this moment, I thought of a passage of God’s word, “Almighty God, the Head of all things, wields His kingly power from His throne. He rules over the universe and all things, and He is in the act of guiding us on the whole earth. We shall at every moment be close to Him, and come before Him in quietness, never missing a single moment, and with lessons for us to learn at all times. Everything, from the surrounding environment to people, affairs, and things, all exist by permission of His throne. Do not on any account let grievances arise in your heart, or God will not bestow His grace upon you.”
God’s words enlightened me: Yes, who I believe in is the God who rules over everything in the universe. The situations we encounter are allowed by God and the safety of my father and the brother from the church is in God’s hands too. I should rely on God and look up to Him to experience His wonderful deeds. With this in mind, I said to my brother, “Don’t we believe in God? God is almighty and is our rock. Let’s pray to God.” Then my brother and I knelt on the bed and I prayed to God, “O God! Now my father and the brother from the church are in danger. We don’t know how they are doing. We are very afraid and have no idea what to do. You are the Almighty. All things are in Your hands. O God! We’re willing to entrust my father and the brother from the church to You. Amen!” After the prayer, I was no longer so afraid and anxious in my heart.
It was nearly 10 p.m. and my father was still not back. I was very anxious and worried about my father. When my brothers and sisters nearby learned of this matter, they came to my house and consoled me, “Don’t worry. Pray to God, for He is our rock….” At that moment, I remembered God’s words, “I am your strong tower, I am your shelter, and I am your backup. Moreover, I am your Almighty One; I am your all! Everything is in My hands.” Yes, God is our rock, our refuge. If I am filled with worry, how can I have a place for God in my heart? What will happen to them and whether they will live or die are all in God’s hands. What is there to be worried about? After understanding this, I cried out to God secretly in my heart, willing to entrust them to Him and obey His orchestration and arrangement. Eventually, my heart calmed down.
As the minutes ticked away, our hearts were still hanging. After a while, my father, mother and brother-in-law all came back. Only after seeing my father was I relieved. The brothers and sisters said, “Ah, you have finally returned. Good to have you back. It’s so dangerous! Why didn’t you come back to the shore together with them?” My father said, “While we were casting nets, the wind created small waves in the river and the sky in the northwest had clouded over. At the sight of this, I realized that a storm would come, so I hurriedly asked my son and son–in–law to row for shore. When they reached the shore, my mind was at ease. However, I did not expect that when we almost reached the shore, the wind would become stronger and stronger. No matter how we rowed, we were swept further away from the shore. At this point, I had a clear thought in my mind: Our boat has to move forward along the waves or else it will be overwhelmed by the waves and we will be finished. The waves were very high. Each of them was at least 3 meters high. Since our boat is small, it would be tipped over by the waves once we failed to control the direction. Although our boat moved forward along the waves, it still took in a lot of water each time when a wave beat against it. The brother from the church had to constantly bail water out of the boat. While rowing, I suddenly thought a rope tied to an oar was going to break soon, and if it broke, our boat would surely be tipped over by the waves. If that were to happen, we would not survive. So, the brother and I kept praying and calling out to God. We were willing to place our safety in God’s hands.”
My father continued, “Afterward, seeing that the wind would soon blow our boat into the main channel, I was very scared, thinking: ‘Once we are blown to the main channel, we won’t be able to control the direction of the boat. If this happens, our boat will certainly be tipped over by the waves and we would die.’ In such a dangerous situation, we could do nothing except keeping calling out to God in our hearts. Just at that time, the wind and the waves became much calmer and as a result, we were able to control the direction of the boat. However, as it was so dark, we could not see anything and we had no idea which way to row. Later, we spotted a small light on the shore, so we rowed toward it. As we approached the shore, I heard someone calling my name. We finally reached the shore and rushed back home.”
My heart was in my throat as I listened to my father describing his dangerous story. I thought: 3-metre-high waves rose one after another. If a wave had tipped the boat over, or the rope tied to the oar had broken, the consequences would be catastrophic. Were it not for God’s protection, they would have been dead. With this in mind, I could not help but give thanks to God. I knew this was God treating us with grace and care. Then my brother-in-law said, “I have never seen such great waves. When I returned to the shore, I saw from a distance that you two looked like two ants on a leaf floating on the water. You got further and further away from the shore until you were out of sight.” My mother said, “I worried very much about you on the shore and thought what if something were to happen to you? Afterward, only by crying out to God unceasingly in my heart did I feel relieved.” At this time, everyone said, “This is all due to God’s protection!” My father said, “In that situation, we couldn’t do anything except pray to God and ask Him to save us.”
Later, I saw this passage of God’s word: “His deeds are omnipresent, His power is omnipresent, His wisdom is omnipresent, and His authority is omnipresent. Each of these laws and rules is the embodiment of His deeds, and each one reveals His wisdom and authority. Who can exempt themselves from His sovereignty? And who can discharge themselves from His designs? All things exist beneath His gaze, and moreover, all things live under His sovereignty. His deeds and His power leave mankind with no choice but to acknowledge the fact that He really does exist and holds sovereignty over all things. Nothing apart from Him can command the universe, much less endlessly provide for this mankind. Regardless of whether you are able to recognize God’s deeds, and regardless of whether you believe in the existence of God, there is no doubt that your fate is determined by God, and there is no doubt that God will always hold sovereignty over all things. His existence and authority are not predicated upon whether or not they are recognized and comprehended by man. Only He knows man’s past, present, and future, and only He can determine the fate of mankind.” God is the Ruler of the universe and all things. Everything, including our fate and our life and death, is controlled by God’s hands. From this experience, I further confirmed in my heart that God’s authority is indeed everywhere at all times. I also practically understood that God is our sole reliance when we encounter danger. It was because of God’s wondrous protection that my father and the brother could escape from danger, and it was God who gave my father a second life.
The next day, we heard that two neighboring villagers were also fishing in the river at that time when the wind and the waves rose. They died because of the stormy waves. Knowing this accident, many people said resignedly, “From now on, when the winds begin to pick up, we must stop fishing and quickly go back to the shore….” Seeing that my father had returned safely, some said, “Their family are believers in God. It’s their God who protected their family. See, it is so good to believe in God!” Hearing these words, I could not help but feel overwhelmed with emotion. If we did not come before God, we would not at all have any reliance and the feeling of peace when disasters come upon us. Only God can deliver us from danger and bestow peace on us. During our experiences, only by calling upon God and relying on Him with a true heart were we able to experience His great power and His protection and know that God is at our side accompanying us through sufferings and hardships. Thanks be to God!
