Wang Huilin, who became a Christian in 2002 after suffering from depression, gained victory through the Lord in the difficult workplace.
In part I, she recalled how God helped her recover from depression and gained a firm foothold in the workplace. In this part, we will see how she broke through a bottleneck in the following challenging days.
IV. The difficult year of 2013
The hardest days in her work were in 2013. Wang found it unbearable to recall those days now. Think about it. If you had poor performance near the end of the year, what would it feel like? At that time, her 18-year-old son was preparing for the college entrance examination, but she only got paid a little bit every month Besides, the company had regulations that employees with poor performance as a result of not signing a single contract for the whole year would be automatically removed in the following year.
In 2013, she kept working on time every morning, attending various meetings and then going to find customers. Each time, she had the hope of signing the policy contracts, but just ended up dragging her tired body home. Such unproductive days made her suffer, and her work enthusiasm was fading away.
The New Year was approaching. When she thought of the upcoming removal after the festival, she felt like there was a mountain on her mind pressing against her day by day. The fear of unemployment was lingering on her heart. Even though no one said anything about it, she felt that she couldn’t persist. As time went on, the accumulated external and internal pressure made her breathless. In the face of the cruel reality, she felt frustrated and helpless. At home, her husband never complained about her and her son locked himself in the room, doing his homework quietly, but the two were afraid that an inappropriate word would make her sad. The love for her made her feel ashamed and uneasy.
At work, her colleagues began to be aloof from her. Although the leader didn't criticize her, he repeatedly stressed at the working meeting that those who don't have an insurance policy contract all year round would be removed after the year-end assessment. She knew it was criticism without naming her name, which made her feel ashamed. Her colleagues' being aloof from her made her feel disheartened as if she was on a lonely desert island. She intended to quit the job and find another one, but she didn't dare to make the move because she had difficulty in finding jobs suitable for her conditions. More importantly, she had been skilled in business skills and adapted to her working environment after a few years of work. If she found another job, she would take another two or three years to adapt to it. Besides, the work was flexible in hours, so she could go to church to rehearse hymns on Mondays and Wednesdays and get on stage to sing and praise God on Sundays.
The new year was approaching, with just over a month ahead. If she still had not signed a contract, she would have to leave. Wang didn’t dare to think about how she would handle it. She found it hard to eat well in the day and could not sleep well at night. Those suffering days made her waste away. Every morning when she woke up, she could find many hairs falling out onto the pillow.
These were tough days! Without any progress, she thought of relying on God in every possible way. Only the heavenly Father would not abandon his children who are in deep trouble. Only with God could her present situation be reversed. From that day on, she got up early every morning and came to the living room softly when her husband and children were still sleeping. After reading a Bible passage about Exodus, she began to pray. She asked God to have mercy on her, help her, and let her get through the most difficult year of 2013!
At that silent dawn, when she read the Bible, she would feel the loving Father stroking her head gently, and saying lovingly, "Don't be afraid, my child. As I am with you, you will definitely get through the difficulties." When she prayed, she felt the dove of the Holy Spirit fall on her shoulder, and her strength was multiplied to go to work again. When she went out to work against the rising sun every day, she worked hard all day with high spirits. Although she still did not sign a contract, she was no longer depressed but was full of joyful sunshine. In the period near the year-end, she kept knocking on strangers' doors or calling customers. Firmly believing that the Lord was there with her, and she would definitely get out of this difficulty by his virtue.
Wonderful things happened again. God finally heard her prayer. On one day less than 20 days before the year-end, she suddenly received a phone call from an old customer. The customer told her that he wanted to sign an insurance policy for his child. She was overjoyed and hurried to his home, and successfully signed the only insurance policy for the whole year. When Wang saw her husband and son, she held them and cried.
"Lord, you helped me in the most difficult time in my career. Lord, you held out your hands full of nail marks and saved my hard-won job", she murmured in her mind.
V. The Lord reconciled herself with her enemy colleagues.
With her short temper, sometimes she couldn’t help but lose her temper in the company about those things she did not like. But she also suffered vicious attacks and slander. She confronted colleagues when she was wronged. But the result was even worse. An elder colleague was particularly jealous of her, which made her uncomfortable. In this case, she asked God's instruction. When she turned to God, He told her that He is the avenger who knows all her sufferings. God told her to love her enemies and accept each other, always be patient and tolerant, and never let evil prevail over good, always be gentle and love herself. When she knelt down to pray, her heart was opened again and became calm and peaceful.
In the real workplace, although she could change others, she could change herself first. God had given her many lessons so that she could grow in certain areas of her life. Although the work was stressful and hard, she knew that work is given by God, and God gives all kinds of work to his children.
With God's instruction, she stopped asking others to change themselves. Instead, she first changed herself according to biblical teaching and forced herself to calm down after something happened, and checked what she did wrong against the Bible's words. Then according to the situation, she would patiently explore ways to solve the problem. For example, she stopped haggling over trivial matters with the elder colleague, gave precedence to her, and never criticized her to her face if it was her fault. She would talk to her in private in later, more suitable circumstances and let her know what was wrong. In this way, they got along with each other, and they became good partners at work.
At the end of the interview, Wang said, "I sincerely thank God! It is God who made me learn something unique in the work. It is also God who helped me in my most difficult time. God says, 'And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;' (Phil. 1: 9). God bless our work, and we should also be the blessings of others, the joy of others, and the mirror of Jesus Christ to illuminate the people around us. In one word, only by relying on the Lord can we win in the ups and downs of the workplace. Give all the fruits of our work to the heavenly father, and become a beautiful witness, honor God, and benefit people. Amen!"
When the interview was over, someone knocked at the door, saying that it was time for Wang to direct practicing hymns. Then a beautiful singing voice came out with the beautifully jingling melody and the loud and inspiring singing.
(The writer of this article is a special contributor to Gospel Times in Northwest China.)
- Translated by Oliver Zuo
