Sister W has been a member of a church in a southern city for a long time with nearly 15 years' walk with the Lord. Never having a child, she used to live with her husband. But in the spring of 2006, her husband died, leaving her a widow.
The family misfortune made W despondent and full of despair for life. Although her family relatives provided a great amount of help so that she could have a wealthy life, they still could not ease her inner pain. One day, W said she wanted to join the church. Her younger brother was surprised, but the other relatives thought it might be a good thing because the people in the church were very kind that they might help her out of the mood of gloom.
So, her family contacted Elder Zhang of Church D, and he immediately went to her home with other Christians to preach the gospel to her. W soon found comfort in God and decided to accept Christ. Sister L, responsible for the visiting ministry in W’s community, was enthusiastic about church ministry and full of love for believers after she retired.
Seeing that W needed comfort, Sister L always came to her house to talk with her about the faith. This relieved W of her loneliness and L taught her much about the faith. In addition to that, she saw that W, living alone, was physically weak at that time, so she would come to her house to do some housework whenever she was free, which greatly relieved W of her burdens. Once there was a typhoon in the city, L knew W would be afraid of it, so she came to W's home to accompany her, comforted her with the Lord's words, and helped her to prepare to withstand the typhoon.
In the past, W was introverted. Except for with her husband, relatives, and some classmates, she seldom went out and had few friends. However, under L's care, she changed completely and became cheerful. Apart from participating in church activities, she also traveled to various places with other believers. The joyful life finally helped her overcome the pain of her husband's death. Her relatives were very pleased and moved by the kindness of the visitation group.
After more than a year, W fully recovered. She saw that L was really a witness, so she also joined the visitation group. They visited the homes of believers every week to share their faith and care for those believers’ lives.
She saw how hard it was for co-workers to go out and visit, so she talked to a relative and asked him to lend one of his company's cars to visiting co-workers. Seeing the church's love, her younger brother, a non-Christian, readily agreed and commanded his company's driver to take co-workers to do visiting work every Tuesday afternoon.
L was also very concerned about W’s family members. Not only did she pray about it every day, but she also shared the gospel with her relatives when she met them. Therefore, W's nephew also began to think about the Christian faith and later became a believer under the guidance of his junior high school teacher. Now he is engaged in writing ministry and is a contributor to many church publications.
- Translated by Stephen Huang
