By Zhou Qing, Shandong Province
I have suffered the miseries of this life to the fullest. I hadn’t been married many years before my husband passed away, and from that point on the heavy burden of caring for the family fell squarely upon my shoulders. Having a young child, I lived a hard life. I was always a target for the derision and contempt of others; weak and helpless, I washed my face with my tears every day, feeling as though life in this world was just too hard. Just when I was wallowing in the depths of pessimism and despair, a sister shared the gospel of Almighty God’s work of the last days with me. My heart was filled with warmth when I read these words from Almighty God: “When you are weary and when you begin to feel something of the bleak desolation of this world, do not be lost, do not cry. Almighty God, the Watcher, will embrace your arrival at any time” (“The Sighing of the Almighty” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). God called to me like a loving mother and I felt like I’d finally found my home, found my support, and found the resting place for my spirit. From then on, I read God’s words every day, and I came to learn that God is the source of all life, that God rules the fate of every person, and that Almighty God is mankind’s one and only support and salvation. So that I might come to understand more truths, I actively attended church meetings and, in The Church of Almighty God, I witnessed the brothers and sisters all being simple and open with each other. When I was with them I felt at ease, I felt a great sense of release in my heart, and I enjoyed a happiness and joy I’d never felt before in the world. I therefore became filled with confidence and hope for my future. I began to perform my duty in the church in order to repay God’s love. To my surprise, however, the CCP government simply doesn’t allow anyone to believe in the true God or follow the right path, and I was subjected to brutal and inhuman capture and persecution at the hands of the CCP government simply because of my faith.
One afternoon in December 2009, I was doing some laundry at home, when all of a sudden five or six plainclothes policemen burst into my courtyard. One of them yelled, “We are from the Criminal Police Brigade specially tasked with cracking down on believers in Almighty God!” Before I could regain my composure, they began turning everything in my house upside down like a gang of robbers. They rummaged through my house, both inside and outside, and confiscated some books about belief in God, a DVD player, and two CD players that they found. They then escorted me to a police car and took me to the police station. On the way there, I thought about how the brothers and sisters had described being arrested and cruelly tortured by the wicked police, and my heart leaped into my throat; I was so afraid. In dire straits, I urgently prayed to God: “O Almighty God! I feel so weak right now. The thought of being tortured leaves me so afraid. Please give me faith and strength and drive away my fear.” After praying, I thought of two passages of God’s words: “Those in power may seem vicious from the outside, but do not be afraid, for this is because you have little faith. As long as your faith grows, nothing will be too difficult” (“Chapter 75” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “In all of My plans, the great red dragon is My foil, My enemy, and also My servant; as such, I have never relaxed My ‘requirements’ of it” (“Chapter 29” of God’s Words to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh). As I contemplated God’s words, it occurred to me that I was afraid of the cruel tortures of Satan because I did not possess true faith in God. “Satan is in fact a foil which renders service to God’s work,” I thought. “No matter how savage and cruel it is, it is still in God’s hands, and it has no choice but to obey God’s orchestrations and arrangements. What’s more, the more savage and cruel Satan is, the more I have to rely on my faith to bear witness for God. At this crucial moment, I absolutely cannot be cowed by Satan’s despotic power, but instead must lean on the faith and strength God gives me to defeat Satan.” Thinking this, I no longer felt so afraid.
Read the full text: https://www.holyspiritspeaks.org/testimonies/gods-love-is-boundless/
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