By Zhan Yi
My name is Zhan Yi and this year, I am 75 years old. I’m a Christian of the Church of Almighty God. Six months after I accepted the kingdom gospel of Almighty God, I suffered a very violent typhoon. I was in danger, but because of Almighty God’s protection, I turned from danger to safety. I truly experienced that it is God who controls the fate of us humans, that the life and death of everyone is in God’s hands and that Almighty God is the only salvation of us humans.
At 8 a.m. on October 4, 2015, I rested on the chair after breakfast. After a while, a gust of wind whistled through the door into my house. Only then did I remember that last night the weather forecast said today a Category 13-14 Typhoon Mujigae would make landfall in Zhanjiang City. At that time, I also heard some pedestrians on the road in front of my house saying in alarm, “I heard the typhoon this time is very violent. We should be extremely careful!” “Yes! I heard that it’ll be over force ten, at the very least. We should take special care!” Hearing these, I quickly rose, secured and bolted the doors and windows well. At the same time, I couldn’t help feeling worried: My old house locates on the roadside and there are only three tile-roofed houses on the opposite side of the road, which are unable to keep out the wind at all. Besides, there are two big coconut trees (the scenic trees which are about over 30 meters high) in front of my house. The tree trunks are so thick that two men with their arms stretched cannot encircle one. One is opposite my bedroom and the other is opposite my kitchen. In the past, many times when it was windy, the branches of the coconut trees fell down and destroyed the roof, so my house has been repaired many times. Because of this, I have pleaded with the government many a time to remove these two big trees to other places, but they all ignored me and said these two trees were too big to remove. Now the typhoon is coming. What if my house and the big coconut trees are damaged by the typhoon… Ay, I dared not think more. I could only pray to God silently, “O Almighty God, the typhoon is coming. Now I’m very worried that these two big trees will destroy my house. But God, I believe that everything is in Your hands and is ruled over and arranged by You. I’m willing to put all the things in Your hands.” After praying, my panic-stricken heart calmed down a little.
Around noon, the wind became stronger and stronger. For a moment, the sky fell into darkness, the wind blew around sand and stones, and it was raining and blowing hard. There was already no pedestrian on the road. My gate was only made up of two wooden doors with latches. It kept banging in the fierce wind, and I was even unable to control it. At that point, I felt very worried within: What should I do? If the door won’t close, the fierce wind will enter the room and blow off the roof tiles; if it adds the attack of the huge storm, then my house will be finished. I asked God to give me faith and power; at the same time, I found out a pair of pincers, some iron wires and a hoe handle, placed the hoe handle horizontally between the doorknobs against the doors, and tied the two doorknobs to the hoe handle with the iron wires, and then tightened hard the iron wires with the pincer. Finally, the door became somewhat stable.
At about 2 p.m., the wind and rain became stronger and fiercer than before. The two windows of the kitchen blew open, and in the bedroom, I heard them banging to and fro. I opened the bedroom door, wanting to have a look, but unexpectedly, I could hardly stand steadily in the wind, so I had to close it. After a while, through the crack in the door, I saw the two windows were ripped off by the wind. Through the bedroom window, I dimly saw the trees on the roadside rocking back and forth. Some of them did not topple, but their leaves were all blown away, only leaving the bare tree trunks. The fierce wind bellowed like a ferocious beast, blowing around sand, stones, tiles and branches, and a cracking sound was heard from time to time. Especially the two coconut trees in front of my house rocked even more violently. Their long leaves swept the roof unceasingly and the tiles fell down now and then. When I saw the coconut trees were toppling, I thought my house must be unable to survive. At that moment, I felt alarmed and could only continuously call out to God in my heart, “O Almighty God, may You help me. Now I don’t know what to do….” After the prayer, I recalled that there was a half-demolished one-story house next door, and it should be firmer than my house. Thus I decided to brave the storm to run to it. Unexpectedly, as soon as I opened my door, the strong winds accompanied by heavy rain beat against me, which made me unable to stand steadily. So I cowered in the corner, instantly feeling alone, desolate and helpless. Besides, I felt weak in my heart: Ay! Today I will probably lose my life. The more I thought about that, the more I felt sad and broken-hearted. I couldn’t help but cry. At this time, the roof was leaking and the floor was covered in a layer of mud and shattered tiles falling down from the roof. Besides, I heard the big coconut tree rustling, as if it would topple toward the bedroom and the whole house seemed as if it would collapse. In helplessness, I called my daughter in a hurry, but she had no choice but to comfort me with some words. I thought that I had given birth to three children in this life, but when I encountered disaster and death, none of them could help me out of my troubles.
Not long after, the typhoon became even stronger than before and reached force 13-14. I saw the coconut trees swaying full, as if it was going to topple. In panic, I remembered: God is my support. God is the Ruler of all things. God is almighty! Therefore, I came before God hurriedly and prayed to Him, “O God, this tree is about to topple, but I have no place to hide. O God, I’m willing to put my life in Your hands. Though I have only believed in You for a few months and I understand nothing, much less do I know how to be in line with Your will, I know I have not yet been purified and I’m not worthy to gain Your care. Even if I will die in the disaster, this is Your righteousness. I’m only willing to obey You.” After the prayer, with a loud thump, the earth made a violent movement immediately, as if an earthquake happened. I thought that my house was about to collapse, so I instinctively crawled under the bed hurriedly. After a while, I found my house still remained, so I crawled out. I saw everything was still as before. When I looked outside, I found the big coconut tree which was directly opposite to my bedroom had toppled toward the road. At that moment, I felt very excited within. I thought that though I hadn’t believed in God for very long, my stature was small and I was weak, God was still protecting me with His almighty hand. I offered up my thanks and praised to God unceasingly.
The strong wind and the heavy rain outside still continuously blustered into my house. But now, with God as my support, I no longer felt weak because I had seen God’s deeds. Then, I used the broom to sweep the water out the house. At that time, I saw the other coconut tree opposite the kitchen also swaying very violently, as if it would be going to topple. I still felt a little panic, so I prayed to God again: “No matter whether the kitchen will be crashed, I’m willing to obey You. I trust that everything is in Your hands.” After the prayer, I saw the fierce wind blowing the big coconut tree toward the road violently. The coconut tree lurched sideways and then toppled toward the road with a loud bang. How wonderful it was! My house miraculously escaped the disaster. I knew it was God who protected and had mercy on me again. I couldn’t help but praise God loudly. Aside from this excitement, I called my daughter to tell her I was safe and bear witness that it was God who saved me. Hearing what I said, my daughter said happily, “Mom, the God you believe in is so good. I also give thanks to God! You should believe in God properly.”
At past 4 p.m., the typhoon veered toward the south and the wind and rain abated a bit. With a thankful heart, I came out of my house. The pedestrians who knew me all stopped and looked on my house. They said to me in amazement, “It was because of your husband’s spirit helping you that these two big coconut trees both toppled toward the road, not your house.” Hearing what they said, I corrected them right away, “You are wrong! My husband has died. He even couldn’t control himself. How could he help and protect me? It is God! Only God has the ability to save me!” They heard my words and said half understandingly, “It turns out that God helped you! The God you believe in is so great! He saved your life. If these two trees had toppled toward your house, you would certainly be unable to survive!” “Aunt Zhan, today you are really lucky to be alive!” I said excitedly, “Yes, it is God who gives me my life. It is absolutely true!”
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picture of The church of Almighty God
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The second day, my daughter and two sons came to visit me. Seeing these two coconut trees topple toward the road, they all felt very surprised. What made us feel more amazed was that in the force 14 typhoon, the decades of old house of mine didn’t lose anything except that some tiles were blown off and that two windows were destroyed while the tiles of the several tile-roofed houses behind my house were almost all blown off, which caused a heavy loss. Seeing this, one of my neighbors came to me and said, “Aunt, that’s great. The typhoon actually helped you push over the two big trees. I also feel happy for you!” I said excitedly, “These are all God’s deeds. Only God has the ability to help me remove these two trees.”
Later, I heard that the powerful typhoon swept across the whole Zhanjiang City, which made the whole city turn into a complete mess and caused a heavy loss. The decade-year-old big trees in front of the Port Authority building were toppled and three excavators parked in the harbor were blown into the sea. The transformer of the municipal electric generating station was destroyed. Some high-tension cables and wire poles were broken and some others fell down, which led to a cutoff of water and power in the whole city for a week. The government sent workers of various places to clean up the roads and streets and not until a week later did the main roads become normal gradually.
In this powerful typhoon, I deeply felt God’s love and mercy for me. Though I have only believed in Almighty God for a few months, I have received God’s great concern and protection and have seen God’s wonderful deeds in disaster. Thank God! Through the typhoon, God not only protected my life but toppled these two big coconut trees, eliminating my fear of danger that remains. Through this experience, I have really and practically seen that everything is in God’s hands, that the disasters are controlled and orchestrated by God, and that as long as we genuinely trust Him and look up to Him, He will surely protect us to overcome the assault and harm of all disasters. Meanwhile, I also have seen that in the face of disaster, we humans are so insignificant and incompetent. When the disaster befalls, nobody can help anybody else. Only God is our constant support and help! Just as God says, “I am mankind’s only salvation. I am mankind’s only hope and, even more, I am He on whom the existence of all mankind rests.” “How great are the deeds of Almighty God! How wondrous! How marvelous! … God’s love comes upon us every day and only Almighty God can save us; whether we meet misfortune or receive blessing is entirely due to Him, and we men have no way of deciding this. Those who wholeheartedly dedicate themselves to God will certainly be bestowed with great blessing, while those who seek to preserve their lives will suffer the loss of their lives, all things and all matters are in the hands of Almighty God.”
Source The Internet
Read more：Eastern Lightning
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