He Led Me To Go Abroad

"Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron" (Psalm 107:15-16).

When I was still in the Labor Farm, I once concluded my annual report as follows: "I believe I will return to my home in Shanghai when the time comes." Pretty soon a general meeting was held, the leading official remarked sternly: "Some of you have neither husbands nor children, or directly-related family members, yet you dream to return to Shanghai." (At that time, those big cities would not allow the 'bad' members of the reformed to register their households there.) "Open your eyes and look around. How many of those who came to the Labor Farm have returned? Have not all of them aged or died here? Settle down and be reformed here," he concluded. When I heard it I was down hearted. Obviously, the official was telling me that it was absolutely impossible for me to return to Shanghai. I thought to myself that if I could not even return to Shanghai, how could I think about going abroad? Did it mean that all of the land entrusted to us by the Lord was nonsense? Two days later, I was on a night shift in a barn of silkworm breeding. I was assigned to the basement, a heated room, to attend the breeding of silkworms. I was alone and sat beside a table. I noticed that there was a piece of "Reference," a newspaper circulated internally among the cadres, lying on the table. It had been left by the Liberation Army who came here for physical checkup during the daytime. I took it and read it. It was reported in one section that there was a strange phenomenon in Poland, East Europe. Many young people believed in Jesus, and they crowded the church on Christmas so much that the old could only stand on the street. There was a report submitted to the leading official saying: "Do not hinder us from believing in Jesus. We regard the word of God in the Bible much more precious than our pupils." As I read it, I could hardly hold my tears. The Lord used this to tell me: "Do not be despaired. You have been praying for East Europe for so many years, and how could it come to nothing? Is it too hard for God to take all of you to the entrusted land when the time comes?" Since then, I was not despaired any more, and I did not look to the environment but prayed everyday by faith. It was exactly at the end of 1978 after the fall of the Four Gangs, that I was released to return to Shanghai. However, my household was registered in the suburb of Sujou, because it was still not easy to transfer one's household to the big city at that time.