gospel | The Years I Put Myself Out on Behalf of My Daughter ||

While I was still pondering over this my mother said to me: “Let’s watch the gospel movie Caught the Last Train together. Dearest, we are now in the age of the last days and Almighty God’s work of the last days is God’s final stage of the work of saving mankind. What’s more, we are now into the final countdown, the last train is about to leave the station, so you’ve really got to make an effort to investigate all this. Your sister and I have been trying to preach the gospel to you for the last few years, but you’ve been too busy making money and so haven’t bothered to seek or investigate the true way. But look what all your hustle and bustle has brought you : great pain and suffering and nothing to show for it. All this is the bitter fruit of not accepting God’s salvation but instead living under Satan’s domain and being corrupted by Satan. It’s only by coming before God and accepting God’s salvation that there will be any hope at all in your life!” After hearing that, I started to watch the movie earnestly. In the movie there was a lot of talk about God’s work, and I don’t know why but I was able to understand it all even though I’d never had much time for faith in God. What moved me most was listening to the protagonist describing the process of how he had gone from resisting God’s work to accepting the gospel. His reflections and knowledge really resonated with me, and moved me to shed tears of regret. I really felt that I was a rebellious child, just like the protagonist. Time and time again I had refused God’s salvation of the last days and continued to trust only myself as I tasted all of the bitterness that the world offered to me. I’d never enjoyed a moment of true peace and joy, and now I truly regretted that I hadn’t accepted God’s work of the last days at an earlier date. Watching the movie was like waking up to this truth, and I decided there and then that I would be on the last train, that I would follow and rely on Almighty God and not just rely on my own two hands to fight my way through. Because I now knew that I was a creature of God and that God was controlling every aspect of my life. Only God has the power to change my destiny and I’m now willing to come before God, and accept Almighty God as my Lord and as my God!

Not long after returning to Japan, I entered into life in The Church of Almighty God. When I saw on the church’s website and from watching their videos that there were already so many brothers and sisters in Japan and around the world, I was stunned. I really hadn’t expected to see that there were so many believers in Almighty God, and that many other nations such as Canada, the U.S.A., South Korea, etc. all had branches of The Church of Almighty God. The gospel of God’s kingdom was clearly spreading to all four corners of the globe, and this knowledge made me even more certain that I’d gotten on board “the last train.” I was so grateful to God for not treating me based on my disobedience, for giving me a number of opportunities to save me, and for bringing me back to God’s house. I don’t know how I was so deserving of God’s grace, and so I promised myself that I would find the resolve and determination to henceforth follow Almighty God without faltering.

Later, after leading a church life and reading God’s words for some time, I came to understand just how much effort goes into God’s salvation of each person. I also understood better the harmful effects of Satan’s corruption on people. I read these words of God: “Most people live in the foul place of Satan, and suffer its derision; it teases them this way and that till they are half alive, enduring every vicissitude, every hardship in the human world. After toying with them, Satan puts an end to their destiny. And so people go through their whole lives in a daze of confusion, never once enjoying the good things that God has prepared for them, but instead being damaged by Satan and left in tatters. Today they have become so enervated and listless that they simply have no inclination to take notice of God’s work” (“Work and Entry (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “A person cannot choose the people or factors under whose edification and influence he or she grows up. One cannot choose what knowledge or skills one acquires, what habits one forms. One has no say in who one’s parents and relatives are, what kind of environment one grows up in; one’s relationships with the people, events, and things in one’s surroundings, and how they influence one’s development, are all beyond one’s control. Who decides these things, then? Who arranges them? Since people have no choice in the matter, since they cannot decide these things for themselves, and since they obviously do not take shape naturally, it goes without saying that the formation of all this rests in the hands of the Creator. Just as the Creator arranges the particular circumstances of every person’s birth, He also arranges the specific circumstances under which one grows up, needless to say. If a person’s birth brings changes to the people, events, and things around him or her, then that person’s growth and development will necessarily affect them as well. For example, some people are born into poor families, but grow up surrounded by wealth; others are born into affluent families but cause their families’ fortunes to decline, such that they grow up in poor environments. No one’s birth is governed by a fixed rule, and no one grows up under an inevitable, fixed set of circumstances. These are not things that a person can imagine or control; they are the products of one’s fate, and are determined by one’s fate. Of course, the bottom line is that they are predestined for a person’s fate by the Creator, they are determined by the Creator’s sovereignty over, and His plans for, that person’s fate” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Thank God! God’s words are spoken so practically. The fate of every living person is in God’s hands. The circumstances of our births and growth to maturity, every part of our destiny in life, are all beyond our control. It’s like when I thought I’d found true love with my ex-husband and that we’d be happy together for a life time, and then, within a few short years, my life became unbearably painful and bitter. In order to get my daughter back, I’d devoted my whole being to making money, thinking that I could rely on my own diligence to improve my daughter’s destiny. I’d believed that since my ex-husband was prone to drinking, whoring, and gambling, my daughter would inevitably be influenced by him, and that it was my duty to give her a better home environment and a better education. I wanted her to be learned and cultured so that she’d be able to make something of herself when she grew up. But even though I’d agreed to my ex-husband’s unreasonable demands time and time again, I still hadn’t gotten my daughter back and hadn’t been able to improve the way she was developing into an adult. My daughter is now 15 years old, but she hasn’t picked up any of my ex-husband’s bad habits, and in fact is getting more sensible by the day. Reality has given me all the proof I need to know that no one can change their own destiny, parents can’t change the destinies of their offspring, and the circumstances under which we live don’t play a deciding role either. The destiny of every living person is arranged and controlled by God. Reading these words helped me to see that all those years of relying on myself and putting myself out on behalf of my daughter was just Satan playing with me and making me suffer. Once I recognized God’s arrangements and control in mankind’s fate, then it was like a weight was lifted from my heart. I no longer hated my ex-husband, and I realized that getting my daughter back, her future, and whether or not she’d be able to come and live in Japan were all in God’s hands. I would hand my daughter over to God to let Him decide what to do with her.

I would never have expected that no sooner had my way of looking at things changed a little than the circumstances surrounding me also began to change. My daughter and I became a lot closer: She stopped wanting money from me and began to show concern for my welfare; I also started chatting more with her and telling her how I really felt. On the occasions when I did give her money she would say: “I’m still a child, so don’t give me too much money as I don’t have enough self-discipline. When I’ve spent the money and need more I’ll tell you. Take care of your health, and don’t worry about me because I’m old enough to take care of myself.” To me, my daughter’s understanding attitude was the most fortunate thing I could have, and I knew that this was God warming me with His love. God knows that my daughter is the one thing I will always be concerned about, and I thank God for taking pity on me and looking out for me. This was also the period when I preached the gospel to my husband, and he too came to understand God’s work of the last days, happily accepted it, and started his church life. Now, due to God’s leadership and guidance, we lead happy and fortunate lives. I’m just so grateful to Almighty God for saving me! A hymn that has made a particularly deep impression on me is “Oh God, oh dearest God”: “Oh God, oh God, oh dearest God! I have grown up on the words of life that You have fed me. You have taught me to walk and how to experience Your words. Your mercy and protection enables me to walk on the path to the kingdom. Oh God, oh God, oh dearest God! You have saved me from the mundane world and brought me home, brought me to God’s house. Oh God, oh God, oh dearest God! You’re so concerned about my life and want me to quickly grow up and achieve transformation in life disposition so that I can faithfully fulfill my duties and satisfy You. Oh God, oh God, oh dearest God! Your love impels me to follow You forever. Oh God, oh God, oh dearest God! Your love impels me to follow You forever, and serve You for all of my life, serve You for all of my life.”