Though Jie’s (a Christian woman) hometown is far away from mine, she has become like one of my family members in Christ since I knew her five years ago. Despite the fact that many people come to Christ because of serious illnesses or God’s special calling, Jie did not experience great difficulties or special events as God led her by grace to become a Christian.
In 1999, she worked as an assistant teacher in a private kindergarten in Beijing, where she was influenced by the true love of devout Christians around her. Once, a kid in the kindergarten had a serious accident falling from a high place and every staff member in the kindergarten became worried about the kid caring for him alone though their jobs might be affected by the accident. What touched her most was the true love of a godly Christian woman, the mother of her colleague who came to pray for the child on her own initiative many times after she learned about the accident. Witnessing the love of Christians, Jie started to have a good impression of Christians.
Believing that Christians were good and trustworthy men, she later developed an inexplicable affection for and trust in Christians when choosing her spouse. In the beginning, it felt difficult for her to accept the man that was introduced by her friend, who became her husband later because of distance. Afterward, when she found the man by chance reading the Bible, somehow her worries about this long-distance marriage suddenly disappearaed since she believed Christians were trustworthy based on her own experience. Later, she went to church, attended worship services, and read the Bible on her own initiative, truly becoming a Christian.
After getting married, she moved to Jiangsu province and actively attended worship services at the church near her home. Though some church staff tried to encourage her to go to seminary, she often responded negatively, believing that it was too early for her to study theology. In 2011, her second-born child got bronchopneumonia through a sudden serious cold and fever and had difficulty breathing. When she brought her child to the hospital preparing to pay the bill, she found out that the money she had brought, just enough for the hospitalization, had been stolen. In despair, she cried out to the Lord for help, and God answered her prayer, giving her a way out. Later her child recovered well. Afterward, some church staff encouraged her to go to seminary again, but she could not make the decision easily because she had many worries mainly about her family and her children. She did not know who could take care of her children and family during her four-year absence from seminary. Her husband’s weak body was one of her concerns too. It was not until her mother-in-law, a devout Christian who always gave her guidance in faith, encouraged her to study theology with the following words: “Don't worry, we will take care of the family and kids". Then she decided to go to seminary. Today, she has completed her study in seminary. By God's grace, her children have grown up healthily, her eldest son has passed the entrance exam to university, and her husband is well!
After graduation from seminary, for some reasons, she was not able to become a full-time minister in the church and she could not even find a church to serve, she was still thankful for God’s guidance.
Her attitude is that wherever God leads her, there she will go. She firmly believes that God is her savior and wherever she is, it is enough for her to fulfill her own responsibilities.
- Translated by Alvin Zhou
