Chapter 8

Refined by Tribulations

"For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness" (Malachi 3:2-3).

God regards what the worker is as more important than what he can do. Because of His great love, He uses all kinds of tribulations to refine the instruments He chooses. In 1958, I fled from Beijing to Kwanzhou like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bow-string. I lived away from home with my poor uncle and aunt. Later, I drifted about and underwent hard experiences. Three years later, I returned to Shanghai. At this time, my younger sister was married and had a little girl. I lived with her whole family. Though it appeared that I had a more stable life, there was much dross in me spiritually that needed to be refined completely by the Lord using fire and a launderer's soap. I was arrested in 1964. At first, I was sentenced to five years in prison. Later, because I gave clothes and food to other inmates and asked them not to thank me but God, I was sentenced for three more years in prison. After I served the sentence, I was sent to the labor farm to be reformed until 1978. With the fall of the Gang of Four I was released to return home.