Almighty God Led Me Onto the Path of Obtaining Cleansing
Gangqiang, USA
In 2007, due to a lot of pressure in my life, I came to Singapore by myself to work to make a living. All year round, the climate in Singapore is very hot, so every day I would sweat profusely when I was working. It was so rough that I suffered an unspeakable amount, and on top of that it was an unfamiliar life without any relatives or friends, so I thought it to be boring and tedious.
One day in August, I received a gospel leaflet on my way home from work which read: “But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1Pe 5:10). Seeing these words gave me a warm feeling in my heart. Then a brother brought me to the church, and the brothers and sisters welcomed me cordially and served me delicious food. I had worked the better part of a year since leaving home, and the warmth of family and delicious home cooked food was something that I hadn’t enjoyed in such a long time. Since I was lonely and drifting aimlessly, hot tears immediately welled up in my eyes, and in that moment I had the feeling that I was back home. From then, the church was a place I need to go every Sunday.
One day in August, I received a gospel leaflet on my way home from work which read: “But the God of all grace, who has called us to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you have suffered a while, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you” (1Pe 5:10). Seeing these words gave me a warm feeling in my heart. Then a brother brought me to the church, and the brothers and sisters welcomed me cordially and served me delicious food. I had worked the better part of a year since leaving home, and the warmth of family and delicious home cooked food was something that I hadn’t enjoyed in such a long time. Since I was lonely and drifting aimlessly, hot tears immediately welled up in my eyes, and in that moment I had the feeling that I was back home. From then, the church was a place I need to go every Sunday.
I was baptized in December, and formally entered the path of believing in the Lord and of confessing and repenting for my sins. Once, in church, I heard the preacher reading from the chapter 18, verses 21-22 of Matthew: “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus said to him, I say not to you, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” After I heard this, I thought to myself: “How can the forgiveness and patience of the Lord Jesus be so great? His forgiveness for people is seventy times seven. If people were really able to achieve this, then there would be love and warmth among people!” I was very moved in my heart, and determined that I would go act in accordance with the Lord’s teachings.
In the three years since I began to believe in the Lord, I was pretty enthusiastic in going to meetings and listening to sermons. Later, my boss put me in charge of managing a construction site, so I put all my energy into my work and gradually stopped attending meetings. Afterward, at the introduction of a friend, I met a boss Mr. Li, and working together with him established a construction company. I was very happy, and made up my mind to put forth a big effort. At that time, I had gotten totally sucked into the vortex of money, and stopped going to church. To make the project succeed for people to praise my abilities, I had no love or patience for my workers and was often berating them, and even often brought the team leader to tears with my abuse. The workers all looked at me timidly, and would even run away to try to avoid me. Even people who had once been my good friends turned cold toward me and didn’t want to share the words in their heart with me anymore. It was so hard for my heart to take this treatment! The Lord Jesus taught that our forgiveness toward others should be seventy times seven. I didn’t even forgive once, so how could I even seem at all like a Christian? I knew what I did was wrong, and wanted to have a transformation in my heart, but all along I suffered from being directionless. When I was depressed, all I could do was pray to the Lord and say everything that was on my mind, and only then could I feel some sense of relief.
—This article from The Church of Almighty God,Gospel Testimonies , Perception of Life ,Almighty God Led Me Onto the Path of Obtaining Cleansing
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