Sister Du experienced times of luck and adversity just like everyone else in the past thirty years since she became a believer. However, she remains strong and firm in her faith. "God is omnipotent and His will is immeasurable, so we need to submit to, follow, and believe in Him," said Du.
The following is Sister Du's testimony.
I first encountered the faith at around 12 when I went to church with my mother.
Back then there were people preaching in my hometown, singing and dancing. I found that very amusing so I dragged my girlfriends to check it out. Only a few of them were willing to go with me. Having no clue about the preaching, I accepted the faith without hesitation.
It was the same with learning hymns. I remember they were songs of Sister Xiao Min, simple and catchy. Naturally it became my favorite thing. And my faith became stronger with the testimonies from the church.
The message of salvation poured down in the first two years. I was passionate from the inside out, going to meetings or learning hymns. My mother also believed at the time so she was very supportive and never stopped me from going to these events.
Unfortunately, she renounced the faith when I was fifteen. My father became sick with tuberculosis. He died despite my mother's tearful prayers, begging God to sustain him. She also had pastors pray for him. The vanity was too much for her. She failed to see why a loving God would let this happen. She thought God was cruel and my dad died because He didn't help.
After that, everything changed. Not only did she stop going to church, she forbade my sister and me from going.
Though physically bound due to my mom's objection, deep down I longed for God very much. I still sought His name in everything.
I never stopped believing while working in another city with my sister. Sometimes I would even go to church behind my mom's back. About four years after losing my dad, my mom walked out of the grief.
Many people in our village are Christians, and one of them is my devoted grandma. Because she and her friends often invited my mom to the fellowships, my mom felt rejuvenated again. she followed them to church and it reenergized her faith.
Over the years, I never give up no matter what the circumstances were. I pray to God for everything because it is not we who found God, but He found us first. His grace always stands by us.
My in-laws both worshipped idols. They sought fortune telling when they felt ill, such as palm-reading and séances. Only such things never worked. Seeing this, my faith in the true God grew stronger.
After my father-in-law died, I encouraged my mother-in-law to believe when she was sick. I said, "You need to believe in Jesus since those you worship can't save you." She wouldn't listen at first. Soon her condition worsened even with the treatments. I then invited the pastor of the church to pray for her. The pastor threw away and smashed the statue idols. She had no choice but to accept since her condition wasn't getting better. Surprisingly, she recovered soon after the idols were gone.
Now my whole family believes in the Lord and my husband also experienced the grace of God. He was working alone in the area of Jiangsu, a central east-coastal province of China, during the SARS outbreak in 2003. He asked for leave to come back and help with the harvest. However, he was stopped by the people guarding each block of the village and quarantined in a primary school for at least a week. (during vacation time) I prayed to God for help in my heart to take this matter under His control.
While I was still praying that night, my husband came back. When I asked him how come he got back, he responded: "I have no idea. The village officials went there and the others were still quarantined. But I came back first." I couldn't quite understand since his response was not that clear. Either way, I thanked God for bringing him back for the harvest.
Now, both my son and daughter have upright characters because of the faith. I remind them all the time that "We are the children of God. Everything we do must be based on the truth and we must not disgrace or bring shame on Him. The names of Christians should shine."
-Translated by Grace Hubl
