Editor's Note: Three sisters shared their salvation testimonies at the Thanksgiving Testimony Meeting in Urumqi in October. The article was posted on Urumqi WeChat "Jianghe." The following is the testimony from Sister Ling.
I am Sister Ling and I was born in a small village in Henan Zhoukou. The village was small and poor with a bad reputation. It was even reported on TV that many people in the village caught diseases for selling their blood, including AIDS, and they died young. However, we believed in God and with God's grace and protection we didn't join those people.
When I was in primary school there were people gathered together in the village. We children were very curious and we would go and listen to them, but we couldn't understand. My father was declared to be terminally ill at 47. When my mother and the six children learned that, we felt like the sky was falling. Our family cried in each other's arms and sadness was like a shadow over our heads. We were in such a desperate position, but we could seek no help. At that desperate time, the people from the gathering encouraged my mother to seek help from God by praying. My mother believed in God, and we were like the people falling in a river that finally grabbed a straw hoping that God would save my father.
My dad still passed away after a few months and the whole family was very sad and disappointed. We lost our father, the backbone of our family, and none of us knew how to continue with our lives. But the merciful God had my mom's heart. With prayer from the brothers and sisters in the church for our family, and their help and care, we saw the love and warmth of God. God kept my mom's heart, even though God didn't cure my father. She didn't leave God. Instead, she has been following God firmly and relying on Him. Thank God for His mercy and kind love, when God saw how difficult it was for my mom to take care of six children, he reached out his loving hands. He chose us one by one to return to His warm embrace and raised us in his kind love. We grew up in the church of God with supports and help.
In 1991, I had my first child and it was a girl. Back then the "prefer boys over girls" concept was very serious in my hometown. The neighbors talked about me, and even my relatives and friends mocked and looked down on me. I was sad and angry at those who gossiped and distorted the truth. I was also strong, so I decided to live my own life without minding the slanderous gossip. But I'd always wanted a son. I got pregnant again a few years later, and I wished that it would be a boy. I had already converted back then, so I prayed every day asking God for a boy. I went to the hospital for the ultrasound examination at 8 months. I asked the doctor with a whisper if it was boy or girl, and when the doctor told me it was a girl my heart felt sad. I couldn't understand. Why couldn't I be pregnant with a boy? Why didn't God listen to my prayer?
When the family members learned it was a girl, they urged me to have an abortion. Even though they called themselves Christians, they still believed in the old concepts more than the will of God. Abortions mean killing and it was forbidden in God's commandments. It was a pity to give up an eight-month fetus and I couldn't accept that. I was distressed, but God made me strong. I decided to have her because she was a blessing from God. I prayed for my child hoping she will come to this world safely. I was truly blessed because after I gave birth the doctor came and told me it was a boy. I was confused thinking the doctor lied to me to cheer me up. But when the doctor left I opened the child's wrapping and confirmed it was a boy! I couldn't describe how happy and excited I was, and I was too happy to sleep that night.
We moved from our hometown to Xinjiang for two decades and now live a quiet life. Even though we endured lots of hardship, God is always with us. Last year, there was a series of incidents in my family, but with God's protection, He changed danger into safety. We opened up a breakfast shop last year and we meant to run the small shop well and live a peaceful life. But who knew our 8th-grade son would cause unexpected issues saying he wanted to quit school. Even though he converted, he didn't go to fellowship, pray, or read the Bible. His spiritual life was very young, and being a teenager he was also very rebellious and couldn't control himself in other matters. We didn't guide him toward God, and it got us into that situation.
The brothers and sisters in our fellowship had been praying for him since 7th grade and he stayed in school until 8th grade. He said he couldn't stand school anymore. He was restless all day like an ant on a hot pan. His dad saw him so unhappy and told him to quit school. Yet he didn't agree, and I wondered how he could live without an education when it was close to the Gaokao (National College Entrance Examination)? I Thank God for His preparation and the prayer from the believers in the fellowship, my brother is a schoolteacher in our hometown and the school authorities agreed to let my son continue his study in that school. We finally felt at ease and were very grateful.
During the one year's study, my son had intense conflicts with his uncle and his mood was not stable. But God took care of the problems one by one and gave back our peace. This year, my son took the Gaokao and got into college. Our whole family is very grateful and our faith is strengthened. God does what is promised and nothing is impossible with Him.
My husband fell sick from overworking for our family and got kidney disease. At first, there was some swelling in his legs, but our daughter thought he only gained weight from eating. I came back from my hometown and saw that his face, eyes, and legs were all swollen and he didn't look right. At the time, he was too scared to know what to do. Looking at him I was worried that he might leave us. We went to the hospital for a checkup the next day. Since he didn't have social insurance in Xinjiang, we went back to our hometown to save money. My husband was admitted to the hospital the minute he got off the plane because the doctor said his condition was critical. Our whole family prayed to God with faith hoping that almighty God would cure and save him so he didn't have to leave us. My brother went from Shenzhen to comfort us. The first thing he did when he saw us was to hold our hands and pray for my husband. We all knew that we were powerless before sickness. Only by fully relying on God and placing everything in his hands would we have peace and joy. Only by relying on him would my husband have a chance. We were at the hospital for more than six months and I clung to God in those sleepless nights. I prayed to God telling him my worries and hopes. I thanked God for His continuing comforts that I had peace in my heart. The brothers and sisters were also praying for my husband from thousands of miles away, but in God's love our hearts were connected. This made me feel the warmth of God's family and gave me strength to overcome my own weakness. In the village and county, whenever I saw believers I would ask them to pray for my husband. God continued to heal my husband and he was discharged when his condition was under control, so we returned to the church in Xinjiang. From this experience, my husband learned the importance of following God. In the past, he was busy making money on Sundays, and now he goes to church to worship God on Sundays.
Thank God for bringing the four of our family, my mother, and my siblings to Him, as well as giving us the present and eternal blessings. Thinking back on the life of the past decades, my and my siblings' families are greatly blessed by God. We can not imagine what our lives would be in the environment of my hometown if it weren't for God's care and protection. Even though we still have many shortcomings, we lack faith, and we fail God in many ways, we ask God to help us grow our spiritual lives so we can work for Him and glorify Him with wonderful testimonies.
