With the Grace of God I Found a True Home

By Xiaolin, United States

I Hate Dad—He Ruined Our Family

Crash … Bang …

“Dammit, say that one more time and I’ll make you sorry! …”

The clamor of fighting broke through the peaceful silence of the night, startling my sister and I awake. We realized our parents were fighting again. Since our mom found out that our dad was seeing another woman, she smiled less, and at any mention of him her eyes filled with discontent and sorrow. From then on they never stopped fighting—I couldn’t even remember how many times they had argued. When my sister and I ran into their room crying, we just saw dad reaching out to hit mom. Crying, I dragged at dad’s arm as hard as I could, but he was too strong and I couldn’t hold him back. That night, he broke two of her ribs. She couldn’t withstand such a life of suffering any longer, so after she healed she left home and got a job in another area.

I Found the True Light (Audio Essay)

I was born in a Catholic family. Since I was little, I attended Mass at church with my grandparents. Due to the influence of my environment and my belief in God, I learned to chant many different scriptures and practice various rituals.

God’s Blessings: I May Not Be Rich, but I’m Very Fortunate

By Bong, Philippines

I Want to Become Wealthy

“Principal, please give my child a chance and let him take the examination!” My mother’s eyes implored the principal as she spoke in a slightly trembling voice.

Keeping a straight face, the principal said, “No, the school has rules. A child can only take the examination when the exam fee has been paid!”

My mother looked ashamed and pleaded with the principal, saying, “Principal, I know this is very hard for you at the school too, but I have many children and we just about manage to get by. We really can’t afford the exam fee. How about I write the school an IOU, you let my son take the examination, and I’ll figure out a way to pay you back as soon as I can….”

The principal looked at my mother and thought for a moment. Looking as though he didn’t have much choice, he said, “OK, fine!”

The Years I Put Myself Out on Behalf of My Daughter

I was born in a small village in China, and grew up there living an ordinary, simple life. Because my family was poor, I had to go to work in a big city after finishing junior high school at the age of 16. At the age of 17, I met my ex-husband, who is 12 years older than me. At the time, the concern and care he showed for me was like the sheltering protection I got from my father and the fraternal love that my older brother showed me. I felt that I was very lucky to have met him, and I was very happy. One day, his mother came over especially to see me. I thought that she would be glad to see me, and so I was surprised when, on seeing that I was pretty and much younger than her son, she immediately suspected that I had some ulterior motive for dating him. Right in front of me, she said to her son: “Aren’t you afraid that she’s up to no good?” I felt very sad and upset to hear her say that, and was at a loss. My ex-husband replied in an angry tone of voice: “Mom, if you think you can split us up you can shove off!” I was stunned to hear him say this sort of stuff. He’d always seemed to be a gentle guy, and now he was getting furious at his mother in order to protect our relationship. I was very touched by this, and thought that it meant that his love for me was real and that I’d found true love. Later on, I married him and gave birth to a daughter, even though our parents were opposed to the idea. But, to my complete surprise, within a few short years he changed into a totally different person. He started drinking, whoring, and gambling, and in no time at all had blown through all of our savings and landed himself in debt as well. At my wit’s end, I gave our daughter to my mother-in-law to look after and went out to work to make money to pay off the debt. But no matter how hard I worked, no matter how much money I made, he would take it and gamble it away. We ended up arguing every day and finally I couldn’t take it anymore and moved out. I originally wanted to take our daughter with me and move away from that place where I’d known so much heartache, but my ex-husband didn’t allow it. He said that he’d only hand over our daughter if I gave him 200,000 RMB.

Walking Down the Bright Path of Life

                                       

                          

I used to be someone who would chase after the trends of the world, I wanted to abandon myself to a life of pleasure, and I just cared about the pleasures of the flesh. I would often go with my friends to KTV all night long, I would go for joyrides in the middle of the night, would go fishing out on the ocean, and travel all around in search of fine foods. I’d see others around me, and they too were all striving to eat well, wear nice things, and enjoy good things. I felt that these were the things that a man must work for in his life, that this is why a man must work hard to earn money, that this is the goal in life that everyone should have. Only with these things would life not be in vain. In order to obtain these things, I didn’t care what distance I had to travel, so I crossed the ocean to come to America, and after struggling for several years, I opened my own business. I had my own car and my own house. I was living the blessed life that I had dreamed about. Every day I would eat, drink and pursue pleasures until I was full and my heart was content. I thought that it was only by living in this way that life had any meaning, and that is until I received the work of Almighty God in the last days. Only after experiencing the judgment and chastisement of God did I become aware of what a truly significant life is, and then I set out walking down the bright path of life.