I had believed in the Lord with my parents since my childhood. Afterward, I saw the Bible says, “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God stays on him” (John 3:36). Rooted in my young heart, these words encouraged me to trust in the Lord Jesus all my life. After I came to America in 2012, I had been to several churches to have meetings off and on. Due to the pressure of work and difficulties of life, I was weary in body and mind and suffered from insomnia in the end. I saw traditional Chinese doctors and Western-trained doctors, treated myself with food therapy, and even did sports, racking my brains, but all to no avail. Instead, my illness became ever more advanced. I could sleep for four or five hours during a night before, but in the end my condition deteriorated to the point where I was unable to fall asleep all night. I had no other choice but to search the remedy for insomnia on the Internet, but it didn’t work. I became very bad-tempered and could not feel the Lord when praying, feeling like I was about to fall apart. At that time, I did not know why I had an itch for returning to New York to convalesce. Therefore, I took my child to New York despite the obstruction of my family. Miraculously, my insomnia healed without treatment after coming to New York.

In April 2017, I got acquainted with Sister Lucy by chance. Because we were both Christians, when getting along with each other, we hit it off and always had common topics. Though her appearance was unremarkable, she had insights when talking about belief in God. In addition, her fellowship, original and easy to understand, was the light that I had not heard in the church. I felt extremely grounded and enjoyable in my heart after listening to her fellowship, so I liked having gatherings with her and listening to her sharing.

At a meeting, the sister said the Lord Jesus has returned to flesh to do the judgment work of the last days. On hearing that, I instantly remembered the Eastern Lightning my pastors constantly talked about. Though I felt steady when I came into contact with her and God’s work in the last days she fellowshiped is based on the Bible and has fulfilled the work of “Judgment from the house of God,” which was prophesied in the Bible, I still had some apprehensions, thinking that I should be prudent in the coming of the Lord. Once, when browsing Facebook, I came across the gospel movie of The Church of Almighty God, Faith in God. At that time, the title attracted me. With curiosity, I finished watching the whole film at a stretch, in which the truth fellowshiped was clear and illuminating and the testimony of the protagonist was very truthful. Moreover, The Church of Almighty God had posted a lot of films on YouTube and each one of them drew my attention. I felt puzzled: The Church of Almighty God freely supplies us with the living water of life, from which we benefit a lot, but why do the pastors of all churches obstruct us from seeking and investigating it? No, I should be serious about the Lord’s coming again and better understand it. Later, through seeing the film Break Through the Snare, I understood: As a matter of fact, the pastors know the words of Almighty God have authority and power, but they fear that if believers recognize God’s voice and follow the Almighty God after reading His words, nobody’ll listen to their sermons and make offerings to them, and thus their status and livelihood will be in danger. Consequently, they hinder believers from coming into contact with The Church of Almighty God and reading the words of Almighty God under the guise of protecting them. Apparently, these pastors and elders are indeed the modern-day Pharisees! Then whenever I was free, I would watch various films of The Church of Almighty God, which allowed me to come to know all aspects of the truth such as the mystery of God’s name, the truth of incarnation, the truth concerning the Bible and so on. Especially in the book The Word Appears in the Flesh, the truth expressed by Almighty God is abundant and made me feel greatly satisfied in my spirit. Through a period of seeking and studying, I was of conviction that Almighty God is indeed the Lord Jesus returned. Accordingly, I decided to stay in New York and have meetings with my brothers and sisters.

I eagerly wanted to tell my family the excellent news, thinking: They’ve always been desperately longing for the Lord’s return. Now the Lord has returned, so they should be very happy to accept His work. Thereupon, I gave a call to my husband and then called my mother who was in mainland China. At first, they considered what I said made sense and felt like seeking and studying. So I let them read the book The Word Appears in the Flesh often, thinking to myself: As long as they read God’s words, they can recognize God’s voice from them and follow God’s footsteps. However, what I had not imagined was that, after my mother told my mother-in-law about my believing in Almighty God, as having believed the pastors’ words and been deceived by the rumors of the CCP, not only did my mother-in-law not seek, but on the contrary, she disturbed my mother and husband. After that, my husband began disturbing and obstructing me, and searched some negative information and videos concerning The Church of Almighty God and asked me to see. I said, “All of these are rumors and lies. We can’t heed and trust only one side. We need to read Almighty God’s words when seeking and examining God’s work….” He did not listen to whatever I said. Instead, he sent me some videos about the May 28 Macdonald Case and let me see. After finished watching that, I was at a complete loss: What’s going on exactly? How could this kind of thing happen? I hurried to come before God, praying, “O God, today I saw some videos about the May 28 Murder Case. I desire to figure out the truth of this thing. May You guide me.” After my prayer, my heart settled a little. Thinking that when I came into contact with the sisters of The Church of Almighty God, I felt their sincere, kindness, love and patience. In addition, all their commutations at meetings were about God’s words and the testimonies of their personal experiences. The facts and the videos were completely separate things. I thought: No! I should get to the bottom of this to be responsible for my family and myself.

When at a gathering, I made my confusion known to my brothers and sisters. Sister Liu opened the video Lifting the Veil: The Truth About the Evil Chinese Communist Party’s Show Trial and let me watch. After carefully watching it, I came to find the crime scene was riddled with doubts and that this manslaughter case was totally a case premeditated malevolently by the CCP police because even the several killers (psychotic perpetrators) in this case stated that they were not members of The Church of Almighty God. This case was simply a criminal case meticulously planned by the CCP government to defame The Church of Almighty God. The CCP is really a gang of murderous devils who kill without blinking an eye, too wicked and shameless!

The sister said, “In our church, preaching the gospel abides by principles: ‘First, only preach to people with good humanity who truly believe in God’s existence and willingly seek the true way in their hearts. Second, regardless of a person’s line of work, their level of education, or their sex or age, they can be preached to as long as they have good humanity and can accept the truth. … Fifth, with regard to leaders of all religious sets and denominations, they can be preached to as long as their reputations are not too bad and they can acknowledge the true way, accept the truth, and are guaranteed to not be wicked people.’ We, The Church of Almighty God, only preach to the people with good humanity who are true believers in God, are willing to seek the true way and can accept the truth. We don’t preach to those who are wicked and have poor humanity, so people like these several evil persons who committed murder are absolutely not the targets for the gospel.” Only at the moment did I see a little bit clearly the facts and truth of the May 28 Murder Case. In addition, whatever confusion and questions I had, the sister could commune the truth with me to resolve them. I felt my believing in God in such a church couldn’t be wrong.

The sister continued, “Through this homicide case, we see clearly the evil substance of the CCP. The CCP is the mastermind of this case. This case is the basis of public opinions engineered by the CCP for the cruel attack and suppression of The Church of Almighty God. The CCP held the public trial for several psychotic people, attempting to defame The Church of Almighty God to achieve its purpose of banning God’s work in the last days.” I said in indignation, “It’s really a thief shouting ‘Thief,’ and extremely base and shameless!” After I understood the root of the thing, my doubts disappeared and weight was off my mind.

At that time, I desired greatly to let my family know the truth. That evening, when my husband called me again, I told him, “I don’t believe by mistake. Almighty God is the Lord Jesus returned. The May 28 Homicide Case was planned meticulously by the CCP police to frame and shift the blame onto The Church of Almighty God. What the CCP said aren’t the facts. Don’t believe the rumors on the Internet.” He said impatiently, “Don’t believe all what others said.” I said, “The truth has been persecuted since ancient times. The CCP has been persecuting religious belief since in power. It has labeled the Bible a ‘book of cults.’ If we measure and delineate a church according to the CCP government’s words, isn’t this absurd? In my opinion, the more the CCP persecutes the way, the more it is the true one. The brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God with whom I have contacted aren’t like what the rumors say at all.” Then he hung up helplessly. After that, my mother gave me a call, “Daughter, you can’t always live in two places separately. Gradually, when your feelings become cold, your family will fall apart.” Her words made me feel bad and I was in low spirit. On one side was my family and on the other side was God. Both were very important to me, so it was hard for me to make a choice. I thought: In this evil times, extramarital love affair and the failure of long-distance marriage are common. I’ve managed my family through painstaking efforts and I have a lovely daughter. If my family really breaks up, what about my daughter? If we really divorce, what will my relatives and other people who know me think of me? For a moment I sank in painful refinement. I could only pour out the distress in my heart to God, “O Almighty God, now I’m very sad within. Confused by the rumors, my family obstruct me from believing in You. I’m worried that my family will fall apart. I don’t know what to do. God, may You help me….” After the prayer, my heart got quieter.

Not long after, my husband returned to New York. I took out the book of The Stroll Opened by the Lamb, turned to the piece of God’s words “The Savior Has Already Returned Upon a ‘White Cloud,’” let him read it and said to him, “Almighty God’s words have already revealed all the mysteries of the Bible. The Lord Jesus whom we’ve been longing for has returned. Read God’s words.” He just went through the motions in reading two pages and then put aside the book. Then he said unhappily, “I heard that the believers in Almighty God don’t want their families. I won’t believe and I hope you don’t do that either.” His reply let me down, so I wanted to say no more. I went to attend meetings as before, so he was displeased with me and gave me attitude. Once he even had a stand-up row with me, threatening that he would divorce me if I continued believing in Almighty God. After that, seeing I still kept on gathering, he left home in a fit of anger and did not get in touch with me for several days. Afterward, even if he called me, he just coldly said what he needed to say and then hung up. Then I was really afraid that he would divorce me. I wondered why it was so hard to believe in the true God. So, I came before God in tears, praying, “God, I know this is the true way, but I’m really distressed that I can’t gain my family’s understanding. May You give me confidence to experience, lead and guide me.”

At a meeting, I poured out my confusion and pain. Sister Liu slapped me on the back, comforting, “Sister, it’s normal for us to be weak and feel bad when we encounter such a thing. But as long as we rely on God, there is nothing that we can’t overcome. God’s words can solve all of our problems.” Then she let me read several passages of God’s words, “You must possess My courage within you, and you must have principles when it comes to facing relatives who do not believe. For My sake, however, you also must not yield to any dark forces. Rely on My wisdom to walk the perfect way; do not allow any of Satan’s conspiracies to take hold. Put all your efforts into placing your heart before Me, and I shall comfort you and bring you peace and happiness.” After reading the words, I became steady in my heart: Yes, what the environment and trial perfect is my faith in God. I can’t betray God. The sister fellowhiped, “As a matter of fact, the environment you encounter today is a war in the spiritual realm and is that Satan is making a bet with God. Moreover, Satan uses our relatives to disturb our relationship with God to make us weak and passive, as well as lose faith in God. This is Satan’s trick. However, it’s permitted by God that Satan’s temptation comes upon us. Also, God is using this environment to test whether our faith is true or not.” I looked at her in surprise and said, “This is a battle in spiritual realm?”

The sister said in earnest, “Yes Let’s read a passage of God’s words and then we’ll understand it better. Almighty God says, ‘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. Take when Job was tried, for example: Behind the scenes, Satan was making a bet with God, and what happened to Job was the deeds of men and the interference of men. Behind every step of work that God does in you is Satan’s wager with God—behind it all is a battle.’”

Then she fellowshiped, “God’s words allow us to see the developments of the spiritual world. We’ll not be manipulated by Satan anymore or live under the influence of Satan after we accept God’s work in the last days and gain His salvation. Satan isn’t resigned to failure, so it employs various schemes and even uses our relatives to disturb and obstruct us from coming before God, attempting to make us stray from God, once more return to its camp and perish with it in the end, which is Satan’s evil intention. What’s more, God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots. God appropriates Satan’s tests to let us learn to distinguish Satan’s tricks and see through Satan’s evil substance and meanwhile to try and perfect our faith in Him and to perfect our knowledge of Him. Actually, it’s not smooth sailing that every one of us follows God. The more we follow the true God, the more tests we have to experience. Just as when Job came across Satan’s temptations, he stood witness at last for holding onto his faith in God. At the same time, Satan failed in complete humiliation. If not for Satan’s temptations, could Job’s righteousness have been displayed? Trials are God’s blessings. When Satan’s temptations befall us, as long as we pray more to God and seek His will, as well as stand on the side of God to see through Satan’s schemes and don’t follow it, then Satan will fail.”

The sister’s fellowships made me suddenly enlightened. It turned out that Satan used my fleshy emotions and weakness to attack me. Its base purpose was to let me become demoralized, withdraw, alienate God, and lose God’s salvation of the last days. Whereas through such an environment, God’s will was to let me equip myself with and understand the truth. At the same time, that was God’s test of me, seeing whether I could stand testimony for Him under Satan’s forces of darkness. God’s words gave me strength, so that I had the confidence to experience such an environment. Thank God!

The sister fellowshiped, “Encountering our family’s opposition, we shouldn’t rely on our temper to dispute but should learn to pray to and rely on God and then to fellowship about the truth with them so as to make them distinguish Satan’s rumors and meanwhile to lead them to walk the right path. This is our responsibility.”

Afterward, I saw God’s words, “When you encounter difficulties, hurry up and pray to God: ‘O God! I wish to satisfy You, I wish to endure the final hardship to satisfy Your heart, and regardless of how great the setbacks I encounter, still I must satisfy You. Even if I have to give up my whole life, still I must satisfy You!’ With this resolve, when you pray thus, you will be able to stand firm in your testimony.” God’s words made me feel very warm. I felt that God was beside me, supplying and leading me all the time. God’s love is so real! Then I wasn’t affected by my family but led the church life normally. Furthermore, I could fellowship with my husband calmly.

One day, my husband said in anger, “Why are you so stubborn? It’s said online that the believers in Almighty God don’t want their families.” I replied, “Dear, we all know 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). The Lord Jesus required that we should love Him more than we love our family. Doesn’t loving God mean that we should place His commission above all else and place the work of the church at the first place? We all know that God’s work needs man to cooperate with Him. If we’re concerned for our own family and give top priority to our own interests, are we counted as people who love God? Can we be considered someone with conscience who obeys the teachings of the Lord Jesus? So many saints throughout the ages forsook their families and jobs for God’s work, and some of them even sacrificed their lives for God. Why did they do so? Peter could leave his parents and offered their youth to follow the Lord Jesus to preach everywhere. Why did he do that? God’s work requires man’s cooperation. If not for the sacrifices of all saints, how could we Chinese have come before God? Moreover, do you know the factual truth? You have a clear head and insights, but why do you selectively listen and believe? Do you know why the brothers and sisters can’t go home? It’s because the CCP is too evil. It frenziedly persecutes and arrests the brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God, and then drives them close to death. Now Almighty God’s words, the films and MVs of The Church of Almighty God, and the experience articles of the brothers and sisters are all made public to the whole world. Why didn’t you investigate before you said something?” Finally, he knew he was in the wrong and said, “If you want to believe in Almighty God, do as you wish.”

Thank God! When I relied on God in the heart and was not affected by Satan’s dark influences, standing witness for God, my husband did not persecute me from believing in Almighty God. Later, when he came home from other state, seeing that I still had meetings and spread the gospel, he did not control me and seldom gave me attitude. After my believing in Almighty God, I became open and cheerful did not lose temper, and got along better with my child than before. Seeing the change in me, he no more obstructed me from believing in Almighty God. My family finally restored its peace. But the difference was: I’ve returned to God’s house and live a life in His presence. I enjoy His words every day and my heart is especially steadfast and peaceful.

During this war in the spiritual world, I cried, suffered and was confused about God. However, after this experience, I could discern Satan’s schemes and had some knowledge of God’s almightiness and wisdom. I came to deeply understand: The path to enter the kingdom of heaven is bumpy. We need to experience God’s trials, Satan’s disturbance and temptations, and taste joys and sorrows. This is the course that we have to experience during our growing in life. In the following various environments, I am willing to rely on God to stand witness for God. May all the glory be to Almighty God!