There, I saw some snobbish priests who greeted the rich and powerful with a smile but looked at those brothers and sisters who had no money or power with cold eyes. The church had lost its original purity, so I left there. Gradually, I spent less and less time drawing near to God. In my spare time, I often went to movies, played video games, and hung around with my friends or classmates.
As I grew older, I felt it meaningless living my life like that, and I wanted to find a girl to get married before I got a job. My first love was a dainty and lively girl with whom I fell into love at first sight. We were in a long-distance relationship for three years. I hoped that she would come to Japan and work with me, but she didn’t want to. My father didn’t want us to be together, either. I didn’t see any future between us, so we broke up unavoidably. I hoped I could find the one who would be with me the whole life in Japan.
Later, I was attracted to a Japanese girl who worked in a restaurant. I could see that she had a good impression of me, so I began to ask her out. But unexpectedly, I once quarreled with her friend for some little thing. She got angry and didn’t say anything to me anymore. I was so sad. I haven’t done anything wrong. Why does she ignore me? It’s all right to end this relationship. Maybe I would find a better one. I’m not inferior to others in looks and character. They can find an agreeable girlfriend; I’m sure I would also find one.
In 2015, I graduated. Not long afterward, I got a decent job. I thought that it was no problem for me to find a girlfriend since I had a good job. My friends introduced some girls to me after that, but none of them became my girlfriend for various reasons. I wondered why I had had so many ups and downs in my love life. I was a little frustrated. I even regretted breaking up with my first love.
To find a girlfriend as soon as possible, I joined a dating show named My Destiny With You which was organized by Chinese. I was matched with a girl in the show. The audience said we were the most suitable match. I thought that she was more elegant than other girls, though she was not the type of girl I once dated. She should be the one that I could get to know and communicate with. It was not bad to be with her. But when we started dating, she always complained that I didn’t choose her as my admiring girl in the show. Finally, our relationship ended just in one month.
The failures in finding a life partner really frustrated me. I began to use all kinds of reasons to comfort myself. I concluded that maybe it was because I was not very good with words, especially sweet words, that I suffered so many setbacks in love.
Although I had failed many times, I refused to accept my fate. I thought: Though I failed to find my Miss Right in society, maybe I could find her in the church. Believers in the Lord are more tolerant, patient, and thoughtful. So, I began to go to church again and asked a deacon to find a girlfriend for me. My brothers and sisters also voluntarily introduced some girls to me, but none of them became my girlfriend. It was either the girls didn’t like me or I didn’t like them. I still didn’t find my Miss Right.
It seemed that I had done all I could, but I still had no girlfriend. I was upset and wondered what was wrong with me. I thought that the occupation, appearance, and personality were not the reason why I didn’t find a girlfriend. I felt I seemed to have no chance of finding my life companion in Japan. An idea occurred to me that I would leave this sad place. Later, my grandmother gave me a phone call from the United States, asking me to go to the U.S. After I visited the U.S., I decided to leave Japan and move to the U.S. I thought: Perhaps my life would change in a new place. And maybe I would find the one in the U.S.
Just when I was preparing for moving to the U.S., someone preached me the gospel of the kingdom of the last days. And I accepted the work of Almighty God of the last days. Later in a meeting, I read a passage of words expressed by Almighty God, the title of which is “The Six Junctures in a Human Life.” When I read the words about the forth juncture—marriage, I was deeply impressed. Almighty God says: “1. One Has No Choice About Marriage: Marriage is a key event in any person’s life; it is the time when one starts truly to assume various kinds of responsibilities, begins gradually to fulfill various kinds of missions. People harbor many illusions about marriage before they experience it themselves, and all these illusions are beautiful. Women imagine that their other halves will be Prince Charming, and men imagine that they will marry Snow White. These fantasies go to show that every person has certain requirements for marriage, their own set of demands and standards. Though in this evil age people are constantly bombarded with distorted messages about marriage, which create even more additional requirements and give people all sorts of baggage and strange attitudes, any person who has experienced marriage knows that no matter how one understands it, no matter what one’s attitude toward it is, marriage is not a matter of individual choice” (“God Himself, the Unique III”).
The word of Almighty God is truly practical. I was full of fantasy about marriage, and often imagined my future wife, how we should start our family, what the life would be when we had children…. I believed in true love, even though many people said that marriage was the tomb of love. Some said, “I’ll find the one that I like.” Some said, “I want the one that likes me.” But I thought a good marriage should be based on mutual feelings. Although I hadn’t experienced marriage, I truly saw that marriage was not in my hand, and that it could not gained through my struggle. I suddenly realized that in marriage I had never depended on God, never prayed and sought God’s will—I was on a wrong way.
I continued reading and saw the words of Almighty God: “One encounters many people in one’s life, but no one knows who will become one’s partner in marriage. Though everyone has their own ideas and personal stances on the subject of marriage, no one can foresee who will finally become their true other half, and one’s own notions count for little. After meeting a person you like, you can pursue that person; but whether he or she is interested in you, whether he or she is able to become your partner, is not yours to decide. … Whether marriage itself brings happiness or pain, everyone’s mission in marriage is predestined by the Creator and will not change; everyone must fulfill it. And the individual fate that lies behind every marriage is unchanging; it was determined long in advance by the Creator. … A marriage is not the product of both members’ families, the circumstances in which they grew up, their appearances, their ages, their qualities, their talents, or any other factors; rather, it arises from a shared mission and a related fate. This is the origin of marriage, a product of human fate orchestrated and arranged by the Creator” (“God Himself, the Unique III”).
God’s word enlightened me. I have met several girls in Japan. I thought when I met them that she was the one, but things never worked out. Suffering several setbacks, I assumed that I would not find my partner in Japan and that maybe things would change if I left this place. I believed I would find a life partner with my capability and conditions, but my marriage is actually predestined by the Creator. It doesn’t matter what my conditions are, for it is God that dictates my marriage. If I continue to look for external causes and plan by myself, I will still be opposing God’s sovereignty, and in the end I will gain nothing but growing vexation and pain. Because God says: “Since the creation of the world I have begun to predestine and select this group of people, namely, you today. Your temperament, caliber, appearance, stature, family in which you were born, your job and your marriage, the entirety of you, even the color of your hair and your skin, and the time of your birth were all arranged by My hands. Even the things you do and the people you meet every single day are arranged by My hands, not to mention the fact that bringing you into My presence today is actually My arrangement. Do not throw yourself into disorder; you should proceed calmly” (“The Seventy-fourth Utterance”). God has already predestined and arranged my life, including my partner, my future, and my destination. I don’t need to be bothered anymore. I should obey God’s sovereignty and arrangement.
At that moment, I gained some knowledge of God’s sovereignty and arrangement, but I had handed in my resignation to the company and promised my relatives in the U.S. that I would go to America. I had got a job in America, too. Everything was going as I had planned.
One day, I read the words of Almighty God: “So when people recognize God’s sovereignty over human fate, the smart ones choose to know it and accept it, to bid farewell to the painful days when they tried to build a good life with their own two hands, instead of continuing to struggle against fate and pursue their so-called life goals in their own manner” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). These words gave me an idea that I should not go to the U.S. It was because of the failure in love that I wanted to leave Japan for the U.S. I hoped that my life would change in the U.S. and that I would find the one. But now I have understood that my marriage is in God’s hand, not mine.
However, when I had to make a choice, I was still struggling and hesitant: Should I stay in Japan or go to the U.S? I couldn’t decide, so I told my trouble to my brothers and sisters. They told me, “Pray and seek God in everything. Let God take charge of your life.” Later, I understood God’s will through praying and made the final decision.
On the third day after I prayed to God, I heard Sister Ma share her experience. There was a sister living in Italy who was filled with regret that she couldn’t witness the last days’ work of Almighty God—the returned Lord Jesus—to an Italian Christian who yearned for and sought the truth because she didn’t learn Italian well. Sister Ma said she was touched by the essay about the sister’s experience and regretted that she couldn’t preach the gospel to Japanese people because she had paid little attention to learning Japanese. She felt guilty and indebted to God. Listening to her communication, I felt shame and indebted to God, too. I understood Japanese, but I had never thought about staying in Japan to preach the gospel to Japanese people. All I thought was to seek a good marriage in the U.S. I wasted what God had prepared in me (referring to the knowledge of Japanese).
At that time, I couldn’t help thinking of God’s words: “Are you aware of the burden you shoulder, your commission, and your responsibility? Where is your historic sense of mission? How will you serve as a good master for the next age? Do you have a great sense of masterhood? … How many people are waiting for you to be their shepherd? Is your task a heavy one? They are poor, pitiable, blind, and at a loss, wailing in the darkness, ‘Where is the way?’ … They have long been sealed off by the ruthless ropes and the history that is frozen in place. Who has ever heard the sound of their wailing? Who has ever seen their miserable visage? Have you ever thought how grieved and anxious God’s heart is? How can He bear to see the innocent mankind He created with His own hands suffering such torment? After all, mankind are the unfortunates that have been poisoned. Though they have survived to this day, who would have thought that they have long been poisoned by the evil one? Have you forgotten that you are one of the victims? Out of your love for God, are you not willing to strive to save those who have survived? Are you not willing to use all your effort to repay the God who loves mankind like His own flesh and blood?” (“How Should You Attend to Your Future Mission”).
God has been grieved and anxious for the innocent people since they were corrupted by Satan. Today, God has come to save those who are in grave trouble. More people are needed to preach the gospel so that those still living in darkness can return before God. The Japanese people have been busy all their lives for survival. Some are still working even in their seventies or eighties. Many old people, with no one taking care of them, die alone in their houses without being noticed until their bodies begin to stink. Some young people commit suicide by throwing themselves under a train because they can’t stand the great pressure from work…. Isn’t it brothers’ and sisters’ preaching that brought me before God so that I received the salvation? The work of Almighty God today is a crucial part and the last stage of work in His management plan. Only those who accept the work of Almighty God have the opportunity to be saved and enter the kingdom of God. I followed my grandmother to be a Catholic from childhood and now I’ve welcomed the return of the Lord. I am so blessed. But I never think about doing something for God. I told myself: Never be an ungrateful man! Never live for a good marriage! I’ll live for God so as to not live this life in vain. Then I decided to stay in Japan instead of going to the U.S.
From then on, I spent all my spare time reading God’s word, listening to the communications and hymns of God’s word as well as watching gospel movies. I got together with my brothers and sisters every week. Gradually, I began to cooperate with my brothers and sisters in preaching the gospel to witness for God.
Thinking back to what I have experienced along the way, I’m grateful to Almighty God. He has made me know that one’s marriage is in God’s hand and cannot be changed by one’s efforts or conditions. What kind of life partner one will meet, who one will love, and who will love him, all have long been predestined by God. Now, I have made a correct decision about marriage—obeying God’s sovereignty and arrangement, and proceeding calmly. No matter whether God has prepared a good life companion for me or not, I will never complain nor struggle, but will obey and wait for God’s arrangement. All I want now is to contribute my effort to spreading the gospel of the kingdom of God and pursue to live out a life of meaning. Thanks be to Almighty God! All the authority, glory, and praise be to Almighty God forever and ever! Amen!
Recommended:
Where does Eastern Lightning come from?
No comments:
Post a Comment