Everything God does contains His good will, this is true. Sometimes, something seems to be a bad thing on the surface, but God’s will is always hidden behind it. This is what I have learned through my experience. 2017 was the most painful and also the luckiest year of my life.

In 2017, just when I was tormented by illness and was in great pain, I fortunately encountered God’s salvation of the last days. Through attending gatherings and fellowshiping God’s words, I knew that God has expressed words to do the work of judging and cleansing people, and that judgment has already begun in God’s house. I was sure that Almighty God is the appearance of the Lord Jesus, so I came to accept Almighty God, and followed in the footsteps of the Lamb. After I accepted God’s work, my parched spirit obtained nourishment, and in my heart I enjoyed peace and joy. My husband saw my overall mental outlook had totally changed since I started believing in Almighty God, so he did not oppose my faith in God and allowed me to freely believe in God.

An Argument Caused by Rumors

However, good things never last. My husband was deceived by rumors and started trying to stop me from believing in God. Thus, there began a disturbance in my family.

One day, my husband said to me angrily: “Don’t associate with people from Eastern Lightning anymore. You have believed wrong. There are many adverse comments about them on the Internet, and some even say that they are after money.” Hearing that, I was very angry and said: “Why do you believe the rumors blindly without investigating God’s work? When I was with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God, they only fellowshiped about the truth with me, and never asked for donations. God’s words also say: ‘I do not want people’s notions or thoughts, much less your money or your possessions. What I want is your heart. Do you understand? This is My will; moreover, it is what I wish to obtain.’ The purpose of God expressing truth in the last days is to save us humans, so that we can break away from the corrupt satanic disposition and be saved by God. He doesn’t want our money or other material objects, and what He treasures is our true heart. If you are afraid my belief is mistaken, you should examine Almighty God’s work with me, to see whether the words that Almighty God expresses are the truth, whether they are the voice of God.” But he was completely unwilling to listen to what I said, and even threatened me, “If you contact the people of The Church of Almighty God again, I will cut off our Internet connection at home”

When I heard what he had said, I couldn’t help but become worried. I thought to myself: “He is always impetuous, and he’s as good as his word. If he does that, I will be unable to have meetings with brothers and sisters, nor to watch videos and movies produced by The Church of Almighty God. I have believed in the Lord for more than 20 years, and have finally welcomed the Lord Jesus’ return. Now there are still many truths that I don’t understand. If I can’t watch the videos or read God’s words, won’t I be left behind?” The more I thought about it, the more worried I felt. My head was full of the thoughts of what I should do without the Internet connection. My husband didn’t know the truth and just blindly believed the rumors, and now he even threatened me to cut off the Internet connection. He, who was my closest family, became the one that felt like a stranger to me and made me feel so sad. Believing in God is good. I didn’t understand why my husband stopped me. At this moment, I felt confused and did not know how to experience this environment. Then I opened Facebook on my phone and told Brother Liang about my present situation and difficulty. I said to him: “It is really not easy to walk the path of believing in God. If I continue attending gatherings online, my husband will cut off the Internet connection at home, so for now I can’t contact you. But I will not give up following God. I will watch videos by myself at home, and after a while when my husband cools down a bit, I will contact you again.” After sending the message, I was still very worried and unable to sleep. At the time, I remembered in a meeting brothers and sisters had fellowshiped that whatever we encountered, we should pray to God. Then I immediately prayed to God, and before long I was able to fall asleep.

Amid the Experience I Saw God’s Deeds

The next morning, I switched on my cell phone, seeing Brother Liang had sent many God’s words to me. I saw God’s words: “In every step of work that God does within people, externally it appears to be interactions between people, as if born of human arrangements or from human interference. But behind the scenes, every step of work, and everything that happens, is a wager made by Satan before God, and requires people to stand firm in their testimony to God.” “It is very simple now: Look upon Me with your heart, and your spirit will immediately grow strong. You will have a path to practice, and I will guide your every step. My word shall be revealed to you at all times and in all places. No matter where or when, or how adverse the environment is, I will make you see clearly, and My heart shall be revealed to you if you look to Me with yours; in this manner, you will run down the road ahead and never lose your way.” God’s words allowed everything to become clear to me. Looking at it on the outside, it is my husband threatening me and preventing me from following God, but behind the scenes, it is Satan’s trickery. Satan uses the threat and persecution of my husband to prevent me from examining the work of God, wanting to make me lose God’s salvation. If I am intimidated by my husband’s words, then I am tricked by Satan’s schemes and will lose testimony. Once I understood God’s will, I felt a great strength inside me and was willing to look to God and rely on God to experience His work. Therefore, I prayed to Him: “Oh, God! My husband believes rumors and prevents me from following You. I know he is an impetuous person, so I am afraid he will cut off the Internet connection at home. Oh, God! May You lead me to experience this environment.”

Later, I saw the following words of God: “Of everything that occurs in the universe, there is nothing in which I do not have the final say. Is there anything that is not in My hands? Whatever I say is done, and who among human beings can change My mind?” God’s words gave me confidence and strength to practice truth. Yes! Everything is in God’s hands and is arranged by Him. Whether the Internet connection at my home will be cut off or not is not decided by him. Without God’s permission, he is unable to do that. Therefore, I contacted the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God that day. When my husband saw me attending a meeting, he did not look well. I said to him: “I am taking the right path of life by believing in God, while you believe rumors and do not seek and investigate God’s work. We make different choices, but you can’t stop me from believing in God. I have my own freedom to believe in God. Please respect my decision.” After hearing that, he was still very angry. But I was no longer afraid of him or restricted by him because I knew everything is in God’s hands. The fantastic thing was that from then on, he did not mention cutting off the Internet connection again.

Thank God! Through this experience, I saw God’s deeds. My heart was full of gratitude for God, and my confidence in following God became even greater. I had originally thought after my husband saw my resolution to believe in God, he would not persecute me anymore, but would let me believe in God freely. However, before too long, another disturbance began in my family.

After I accepted God’s work of the last days, through attending gatherings with brothers and sisters for a period of time, I understood more and more truth and began to fulfill my duty as a created being. During that time, my husband often searched for negative information on the Internet and made me look at it. Every time this happened, I would fellowship about the truth with him. However, not only did he not listen to me, but he also often gave me attitude. But through praying to God and relying on God, I was not restricted by him.

Do Believers in God Really Not Care About Their Families?

On a stormy night, the lightning made me lose the Internet connection at home. I was very anxious: Without the Internet connection, I will be unable to attend gatherings. Then I immediately quieted my heart and prayed to God and let Him lead. After a while, my husband came back from work ahead of time because in the shop where he worked there was no electricity. When he knew the Internet did not work, he said to me with a defiant expression and a strange intonation: “Are you anxious now? This is arranged by the Lord Jesus, which indicates that you should not attend gatherings.” On hearing these words, I said: “Failing to get access to the Internet in such weather is normal. Is not your shop also without electric power? Don’t make blind assertions. Besides, attending gatherings and reading God’s words is Christians’ duty, and it is in accord with the Lord’s will. How could the Lord prevent the thing that He praises?” My husband was angry after hearing my words. He said: “You do nothing else but attend gatherings and fulfill your duty. It is no wonder that some people online say you believers in Almighty God do not care about families. Look at you. You don’t do housework properly nor help our child with his homework. I can’t stand you!” I felt aggrieved, so I argued with him: “How can you say that I do not do the housework? God teaches us to live out a normal humanity. If I did not do the housework, then who is the one who tidied up our house? Who made meals for you, and who took care of our child, sent him to school and picked him up?” However, my husband not only did not listen to me, but also angrily said that what I had done was not good enough. At this time, I suddenly realized that it was a trick of Satan, so I stopped arguing with him and immediately prayed to God: “O God! How should I experience this environment? Please lead me and give me Your wisdom.”

After praying, I remembered when I gathered with brothers and sisters, they once fellowshiped this aspect of the truth. Then, I said to my husband: “The Lord Jesus said: ‘If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple’ (Luke 14:26). ‘And he that takes not his cross, and follows after me, is not worthy of me’ (Matthew 10:38). From these verses we can see: The Lord Jesus taught that our love for Him should be stronger than our love for our families. To love God is to put God’s commission and the work of the church first. God’s work requires the coordination of people. If we believers all focus on our own families and our own interests, are such people the ones who love God? Are they the ones who obey the Lord Jesus’s teachings, or are they the ones who have conscience? The generations of saints—Peter and Matthew—willingly abandoned everything to follow the Lord Jesus and preach the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. That is a kind and righteous act. Now, God has become incarnate again and carried out His new work. We ought to follow the example of ancient saints in sacrificing everything to expend ourselves for God, and devoting ourselves entirely to satisfy God. This is what a true Christian should do. For we are all creatures of God and everything of us is bestowed by Him. Fulfilling our duty to repay God’s love is justified and praised by God. Why do you condemn that?” After I finished saying this, he looked grave and stopped arguing with me.

Understanding God’s Will I Felt Liberated

Later, I went back to my bedroom, and I felt very unhappy. I thought: “Since my husband heard the rumors, he has frequently persecuted me and given me attitude. Believing in God is good, but how come my husband does not understand me?” At the thought of this, I felt a little upset and I switched on my phone. I was surprised to find out that the Internet at home could be used. Then, I quickly got online and contacted brothers and sisters, and told them my confusion. A sister read some words of God to me: “The road to the kingdom is not so smooth; nothing is that simple! You want blessings to come to you easily, do you not? Today, everyone will have bitter trials to face. Without such trials, the loving heart you have for Me will not grow stronger and you will not have true love for Me. Even if these trials consist merely of minor circumstances, everyone must pass through them; it’s just that the difficulty of the trials will vary from one person to another.” Then she fellowshiped: “No matter what difficulties we encounter, whether it be the persecution and obstruction from our family or suffering the slander, as long as we seek the truth and experience God’s work, we will find that they are the things that God uses to perfect us. At this stage of God’s work in the last days, God uses all kinds of circumstances that are not in line with our own notions to perfect us. He creates the practical circumstances to expose our true statures and test our resolutions to believe in Him and follow Him, and at the same time, He uses His words to supply and water us, allowing us to understand truth. This is the way God uses to perfect us and make us see God’s wonderful deeds in our own practical experiences.”

Through the sister’s fellowship, I gained some knowledge of God’s work. It turned out that God used this environment to perfect my faith in following Him. Thinking of that time when my husband prevented me from believing in God, I was weak and upset and even lost my faith in God. But in this experience I understood God’s will, my relationship with God became more and more normal, and I was able to come before God more often to look to Him and rely on Him. After understanding God’s heart, I had a way to practice: Whatever befalls me, I should be quiet before God and seek the truth.

Afterward, my husband still often criticized me, but I no longer argued with him based on my hot blood. Instead, I learned to come before God and seek the truth. Gradually, I found that he criticized me less and less frequently. One morning, we were having breakfast with my mother. I wanted to share the harvest I gained after I accepted God’s work of the last days with my mother, but when I told her about that, I was criticized by her. She said: “Do not contact The Church of Almighty God anymore …” At this moment, my husband interrupted my mother by saying: “Since she has believed in Almighty God, she really has changed a lot. She is happier than before, and now she not only does housework, but also takes care of our child. Besides, she doesn’t play mobile phone games anymore. If we don’t allow her to believe in Almighty God, she will pursue worldly trends again.” Hearing what my husband said, my heart was filled with gratitude toward God. I knew all of these were God’s acts. Thanks and praises be to Almighty God!

Concluding Remarks

In this spiritual battle, I was once negative and weak, but God gave me guidance the whole time, allowing me to stand testimony for Him in this situation, and gain discernment of Satan’s tricks as well as gain some understanding about God’s wisdom. I deeply felt that the path to entering the kingdom of heaven is a bumpy road with many tribulations, but this is a necessary path for us believers to grow in life.