One night I put my phone down on the table, not expecting that my husband would pick it up and look through it — he saw my chat record with the sister. He said to me very angrily, “You’re still in contact with them, and you chat with them for two hours at a time.” He then bombarded me with more negative propaganda that was online, and started monitoring me through a variety of means. I couldn’t get in touch with the sister on my phone anymore. And so this is how I lost my church life again and couldn’t get any help from the sister. After that, my husband started sending me rumors he found online day in and day out, and he also hassled me and prevented me from having any contact with brothers and sisters. Faced with my husband’s oppression and obstruction, I became utterly miserable, and I couldn’t help but start feeling weak again. I thought, “Why is my husband so opposed to me believing in Almighty God? I only want to believe in God, why is it so hard? When will I be able to practice my faith without being hassled so much? Is this going to be my life from now on?” At that thought I absolutely could not hold back the tears — I felt particularly lonely and helpless. I didn’t know where to go from there. I can’t even count how many times I cried over that. In my misery, all I could do was pray to God, “God! I don’t know what to do in the face of my husband’s constraints or how I should get through this, but I believe that whatever the situation, it contains Your benevolent will. I ask You to guide me and give me the faith to get through this.”
Miraculously, just as I finished my prayer, I received two passages of God’s word from the sister, “Satan is at war with God, trailing along behind Him. Its objective is to demolish all the work God wants to do, to occupy and control those whom God wants, to completely extinguish those whom God wants. If they are not extinguished, then they come to Satan’s possession to be used by it — this is its objective” (“God Himself, the Unique IV” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “You must have My courage within you and you must have principles when facing relatives who do not believe. But for My sake, you must also not yield to any of the dark forces. Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way; do not allow the conspiracies of Satan to take hold. Put all your efforts into placing your heart before Me and I shall comfort you and give you peace and happiness in your heart” (“Chapter 10” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh). By pondering God’s words, I gained some discernment over Satan’s evil intentions. God works to save mankind while Satan racks its brains to destroy God’s work and vie with God for people, so it spreads all sorts of rumors on the Internet to mislead and deceive people. It also uses our families to hinder and harass us so that we can’t come before God to receive salvation. My husband had been blinded and deceived by the rumors spread by Satan because he didn’t know the truth, which is the only reason he was stubbornly standing in the way of my faith. Satan had also seized upon my own weakness to shackle and harm me. Satan knew that my fatal weakness was emotions, so it was attacking me through my feelings for my husband, getting me to give up on following God because of my concern for my fleshly attachments and desire to preserve family harmony, and thus abandon the true way and lose my chance at God’s salvation. Satan is truly despicable! At the same time, I felt God comforting me with His words, encouraging me not to surrender to the dark forces of Satan. God was also giving me a path of practice. God said, “Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way.” In such an environment, how could I cooperate with God and use wisdom to get to gatherings? I remembered that last time my husband had used my phone to track me, so I was no longer able to go to the sister’s house for gatherings, plus I couldn’t use my phone to meet with her either, but I could go meet her at one of the seating areas in the mall. If my husband asked again, I could say I was going shopping. So, with God’s guidance, I was able to meet with her again. Once she came to understand my difficulties, she gave me fellowship on God’s words and she comforted and encouraged me. After understanding the truth, my negativity was quickly dispelled.
One day, I got home from work and wanted to read God’s words; I went through every single drawer and cabinet where I usually kept my book, but to no avail. I was incredibly anxious and thought, “This is it. My husband must have thrown away my book. He’s a really cautious person, so he definitely wouldn’t have thrown it into a trash can where I might find it. If he got rid of it at his office I’ll never find it.” The thought made me miserable, and I didn’t know what to do.
I went along with my husband to his driver’s license exam a few days later and saw one of the sisters there. I covertly let her know that my book of God’s words had disappeared. She told me to pray more, rely on God, and make another thorough search. God controls and rules all things, she told me, so whether my husband had thrown it away was in God’s hands, and I shouldn’t let my imagination run wild and be quick to judge. I messaged another sister about it when I got home, who said the same thing to me. Having received the same fellowship from two different sisters, I believed that God’s good intentions must be behind this. Was God using the sisters to remind me? I then thought of a passage from God’s words, “Almighty God dominates all things and events! So long as our hearts look up to Him at all times and we enter into the spirit and associate with Him, then He will show us all the things we seek and His will is sure to be revealed to us; our hearts will then be in joy and peace, steady with perfect clarity” (“Chapter 7” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh). I understood from God’s words that God is always there for people to lean on and find succor. When we encounter trouble and have no way out, as long as we genuinely call out to God, He will enlighten and guide us, and help us through our difficulties. Thanks to the enlightenment and guidance of God’s words, my faith in God was strengthened yet again, and I regained a path of practice. I also understood that as for the matter of losing my book of God’s words, I would never find it if I relied only on my own efforts. God is all-powerful, and as long as I relied on and looked up to God, and then cooperated with Him in a practical way to go look for it, I trusted that God would guide and help me. So, I came before God and sincerely prayed, “God! I can’t find my book of Your words. At first, I relied on my own notions and imaginings to guess what might have happened, and I just reacted according to my own impulses. I didn’t put You above all, and I didn’t realize that everything is under Your control. Now I wish to look up to You and entrust this matter to You, and then cooperate with You in my next search. Whether I will find the book or not, this will happen with Your permission. I ask for Your guidance.”
After praying I had a sudden desire to go to the storage room for a pair of shoes. To my surprise, as I was kneeling down to pick them up, I came across a white bag, and a very clear thought suddenly sprang into my mind: The book of God’s words is in this bag. I picked it up and looked, and it was true! Both surprised and delighted, I couldn’t help but shout, “Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God!” I only then realized that it was God guiding me to find the book. I really saw that everything is under God’s rule, that God even arranges people’s thoughts and ideas, and that nothing is impossible when we lean on God and look up to Him. I lost no time getting the book back to the bedroom and carefully placed them in my drawer. That evening when my husband came back, he discovered that I had found the book of God’s words hidden in the storage room and demanded that I hand it over. This time, I truly relied on God and asked Him to give me confidence and strength. I refused to compromise further with him. Seeing my determination, he didn’t press any further.
The sister later gave me a mobile phone just for listening to sermons that also had lots of God’s words downloaded on it; this was to make it easier for me to attend gatherings and do my devotionals. Once when I was switching between bags, I left that phone at home out of carelessness, and my husband found out that I was going to gatherings again. He messaged me demanding to know, “Why are you still in contact with them? Why are you sneaking around to go to gatherings?” I was both angry and concerned when I saw these messages, but then I called to mind my experiences over the past period of time, how every time my husband tried to stand in my way or oppress me, I always compromised, retreated, or I felt negative and weak, and that what I lacked most was the ability to rely on God and testify for God. I knew that this time I couldn’t yield to Satan. I would rely on God, look to God, overcome Satan through faith, and stand witness for God. I thought of God’s words, “No matter where or when, or how adverse the environment is, I will show you clearly and My heart shall be revealed to you if you look to Me with your heart; this way you will run down the road ahead and never lose your way” (“Chapter 13” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh). So, I prayed to God, “God! You have now chosen me and allowed me to follow Your footsteps. If I don’t pursue with all my strength, if I bow to Satan’s forces, I will lose my chance at salvation. Oh God, I wish to entrust my current difficulties to You. Even if my husband tells my family or the pastor about my faith in Almighty God, or whatever else he may do to me, I will submit to You. This time, I will rely on You to stand witness for You and humiliate Satan.”
After praying I gradually began to feel much calmer. I picked up my phone and sent him a response. “Yes, I’m attending gatherings again. Let’s sit down and have a real talk about this tomorrow evening.” Once I had sent the message, I still felt that I was being refined: Why is it that each time I want to seriously pursue the truth, I am disrupted? Job’s experience, which the sisters had fellowshiped about with me many times, then came to mind. And I also thought of what God said, “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). I weighed God’s words, and thought over Job’s experience. He spent his whole life fearing God and shunning evil, but Satan wasn’t content to let God gain Job, and so tempted him many times. But while Satan was tempting Job, God was observing and watching everything, and God gave Satan a strict limit: Satan could not take Job’s life, thereby ensuring Job’s safety. I could see that God cherishes people, does not want us to suffer, and doesn’t want to see us fall under Satan’s influence and be harmed by Satan. In addition, God’s benevolent will was within Him allowing Satan to tempt Job. God hoped to gain testimony from Job and to perfect Job’s faith and obedience to God. Wasn’t that precisely the situation I had found myself in? Although Satan tempted me time and again, God never left me, and had guided me until then. God arranged those circumstances in the hope that I would grow in life, stand witness for Him, and humiliate Satan, so I knew that time I had to struggle to stand witness for God and humiliate Satan. I once again felt more faith in God and was determined to submit to what God had arranged, to stand on God’s side, and never again compromise with Satan.
The next evening when I got home from work, my husband was already there waiting for me. When I sat down, he said, “Can you give up your faith in Almighty God?” He then began talking about all sorts of negative propaganda about The Church of Almighty God that he had seen online. My response was, “No, I can’t. What do you really know about The Church of Almighty God? Everything you’ve seen online are just rumors fabricated by the CCP government to defame, libel, and condemn The Church of Almighty God. None of it is true. The CCP is an atheistic political party that particularly loathes the truth and God, so it does its utmost to fabricate and spread all kinds of rumors to mislead people. It vainly hopes to deceive people into resisting God and ultimately being destroyed along with it. That is the CCP government’s sinister intention. But I haven’t done anything wrong by believing in God, nor have I done anything to let you down. My path of faith is the right path in life, and I have decided to continue on it. I’ve given it enough thought, and I’ve decided that you can go ahead and call the pastor and the preachers, and let them condemn me in their sermons and then expel me from the church. You can also call my parents and have them lay into me and oppress me. But no matter what you do, I won’t change my mind. I have now accepted God’s work of the last days, and through reading God’s words and going through the situations arranged by God, I have become certain that Almighty God is the returned Lord Jesus. I will stand by my choice no matter what.” My husband said, “You do realize that you’re betraying the Lord, right? The Lord has given you so much grace. How could you betray Him?” I said, “Believing in Almighty God is not betraying the Lord; it is following the footsteps of the Lamb, because Almighty God and the Lord Jesus are the same God. It is precisely because I have enjoyed so much of the Lord Jesus’ grace that when I heard the news that the Lord Jesus has now returned, I knew I should investigate it, and then I accepted it. The Lord Jesus has now returned in the flesh to utter new words, and to explain everything about God’s work and will. I have heard God’s voice, so I should work even harder in my pursuit, go to more gatherings, and repay God’s love for me.” Eventually my husband said, “Fine, forget it! Do what you want! I was going to tell the pastor and get him to convince you to come back to the church, and I was going to call your parents too, but I was afraid they’d be so upset they’d fall ill. Believe whatever you want from now on — I won’t get involved.”
I was elated to hear my husband say that he would no longer stand in the way of my faith in Almighty God. I knew that this was God’s guidance and that my husband’s heart and mind were also in God’s hands. Such words leaving his mouth were entirely because of God’s rule; it was God who had opened the way for me. I saw through this experience that God wants my heart, and when I truly rely on Him, look to Him, and risk everything to satisfy Him, I see God’s deeds, and that He has always been silently guiding and helping me. I thought of God’s words: “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). As I pondered these words I felt really moved. I thought back over what I had experienced that period of time — when Satan used my husband to disrupt and oppress me to keep me from going to gatherings, God allowed me to see through Satan’s tricks and come out from my negativity through the brothers’ and sisters’ fellowship on God’s words; when my husband hid my book of God’s words and tried to stop me from believing in God, I genuinely relied on God and looked to Him, and then I witnessed God’s wondrous deeds; once I resolved to stand with God and became willing to risk everything to follow God, Satan was humiliated and retreated. Through my experiences I saw that God really is on my side, and that He sets things up for me in accordance with my stature. God did not give me a burden I was not able to bear. I thought of how in the past, before truly giving my heart to God, I was always preoccupied with the affections of the flesh, I relied on human means to cope with problems, and didn’t dare to forsake Satan. As a result, Satan exploited my weakest point, taking advantage and attacking me time and time again, tormenting me to no end. But when I truly relied on God and became willing to put everything on the line, God opened up a way for me, and Satan was humiliated in defeat, left with no recourse. After going through all of this I gained true understanding of God’s almightiness and sovereignty, as well as my own rebellious disposition. My faith in and obedience to God grew, I gained discernment over Satan’s schemes, and I saw Satan’s evil and despicable nature. A true hatred of Satan arose within me. It was all thanks to God’s guidance and enlightenment that I was able to come to understand all of this. I am truly grateful to God!
I reaped a great harvest from what I experienced over that period of time. Over the course of it I experienced weakness and negativity, but the guidance of God’s words and the support and help of my sisters gave me the faith to overcome Satan’s temptations and attacks, and to continue on until the present day. I have seen God’s love through my practical experiences, and that God has been leading me and has never once strayed from my side through everything. When we truly give our hearts to God, look to God, and rely on God, we can see His wondrous deeds and emerge from our suffering. From this day forward, I wish only to experience more of God’s work and seek true knowledge of God!
Source From: The Church of Almighty God
