Christian Testimonies | Seeing God’s Hand in the Hardships of Selling and Buying a Home (Part 1)

Ma Ling

Part 1

Deep in the night when all was quiet, Ma Ling stood in silence by the window thinking about a conversation she had had with a church leader that day.

The leader, Sister Bai, said: “Sister Ma, one of the people taken in the most recent wave of arrests of brothers and sisters by the CCP government was a sister who used to stay at your home. We’re afraid that the police will track her movements through video surveillance recordings, and in that case you would certainly be implicated. The duty that you’re currently performing would be impacted too. I don’t know if you have any particular plans.”

Ma Ling pondered this for a moment, then responded resolutely, “I’ll sell my home! The CCP government has always tried to follow every clue to arrest more Christians. If I don’t move, the CCP police could burst in at any moment.”

Ma Ling well knew that believing in God and performing her duty in China, a country with an atheist party in power, meant being subject to the CCP police’s persecution and arrest and even the danger of losing her life; and that Christians’ homes had not been their own for a long time, and wherever they went, they couldn’t stay long—her home would have to be sold sooner or later. She knew that selling it was her best course of action at the time, but she still owed tens of thousands of yuan on her mortgage. After the divorce from her husband she could not get her residence booklet from him, so she hadn’t been able to get the deed for the property. Without the property deed, there was no way to sell the apartment. The memory from several months prior of being sent off by an employee because the documents for her property deed weren’t complete surfaced in Ma Ling’s mind and she couldn’t help but let out a sigh. She was feeling a bit anxious. The more she thought about it, the more difficult she felt it was and the more unsettled she felt. All she could do was pray to God: “Oh God! Some brothers and sisters from the church have been arrested and my home is in danger. I want to buy a different place to continue performing my duty but I can’t get the property deed, so I have no way to sell this apartment. O God! Faced with this difficulty, I don’t know what to do next. Oh God, may You guide me, and if Your will is that I sell this apartment, may You open up a path….”

After praying, Ma Ling thought of these words from God: “If you believe in the dominion of God, then you must believe that the things that happen every day, be they good or bad, don’t happen accidentally. It is not that someone doesn’t get on with you or opposes you on purpose; it is actually all arranged and orchestrated by God. … Through obeying, seeking, praying more, retreating to your spirit and coming before God then, unbeknownst to you, a change will happen in your inner condition. During this period, the reality of the truth is being wrought in you” (“To Attain the Truth, You Must Learn From the People, Matters, and Things Around You” in Records of Christ’s Talks). After thinking of this passage, Ma Ling’s agitated heart settled a bit. She realized that the things we encounter in our lives every day, both big and small, are within God’s rule and arrangements, and that as God had allowed her brothers and sisters to be arrested, her home becoming entangled also had God’s good intentions within it, and there had to be a truth she needed to enter into. She thought that this particular environment would force her to rely on and look to God more, and whether or not she was able to sell her home, she was willing to leave the entire matter in God’s hands, to experience God’s work and understand His almightiness and sovereignty through this. After understanding God’s will, Ma Ling determined she would try to get her property deed first thing in the morning.

The next day she still felt nervous when arriving at the Deed and Title Transferring Office. Pacing back and forth outside of the main hall, she continually prayed to God: “Oh God! I am handing the issue of applying for the property deed over to You, and look to You for it. No matter what happens today I believe that behind it is Your will. O God, I only ask You to keep watch over my heart so that no matter what the outcome, I will be able to quiet myself before You, learn to submit to the environment I am in, not complain, and not blame You.”

After praying Ma Ling clenched her fists a bit—she pushed open the door to the main hall and strode in. Clutching a stack of paperwork, she lined up at the deed applications window. Seeing the long line stretching out in front of her, she felt a little worried: “I wasn’t able to get the deed when I came before; will I get it this time? Isn’t not having my residence booklet a real problem?” In her heart she called out to God over and over to give her faith, and soon God’s words surfaced in her mind: “Any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Mulling these words over, Ma Ling gradually gained some faith and strength. She thought: “That’s right! Any and all things are within God’s rule. God can make that which did not exist, exist; He can make that which did exist, not exist. Isn’t the thinking of the employee also within God’s hands? It is ultimately up to God whether or not I can get the property deed, and I believe that with God nothing is impossible. Even if I really can’t get the deed, I’m certain that behind this are His good intentions and I must learn to obey His sovereignty and arrangements.”

Just then an employee asked Ma Ling, “Excuse me, what can we help you with today?”

She replied, “I’m here to get the deed for my apartment.”

The employee took the packet of documents she was holding and carefully looked through them page by page, then asked, “Do you have your residence booklet and marriage license?”

Ma Ling replied honestly: “I can’t bring my residence booklet with me. Is there anything at all that can be done?” Saying this, she clenched her fists a bit and silently called out to God nonstop, afraid that the employee would slam her folder of documents closed, as had happened in the past, and tell her to come back when she had everything.

To Ma Ling’s surprise, the employee paused for a moment and then said: “First go make photocopies of these documents, then find someone to help you get a photo of your residence booklet. You’ll also need to get a copy of your mortgage from the bank and a certificate of your marital status from the Civil Affairs Bureau.”

When Ma Ling heard this, her tension finally dissipated and she gave sincere thanks to God for His guidance. It looked like things were falling into place.

Ma Ling thought of a way to quickly get a photo of her residence booklet, and she even got a copy of her mortgage from the bank without going through the usual approval process. By 4:30 that afternoon she arrived at the Civil Affairs Bureau and got a certificate of her marital status in hand, without a hitch.

Seeing it was nearly 5:00 pm, closing time, Ma Ling rushed to the main hall in one go with all of her documents in hand. She hurriedly handed everything over to the employee. After looking through those documents, the employee smiled and said to her: “We have everything we need. Wait for us to get in touch with you then come back to pick up your deed.”

Hearing this, Ma Ling was both surprised and excited. She hardly dared believe that over the course of just one short afternoon her property deed had been taken care of! Generally a copy of the mortgage on her apartment from the bank needed to be applied for in advance and took two weeks to get, but she was unexpectedly able to get it on the spot. On top of that, the employees at the Deed and Title Transferring Office when she had come before weren’t willing to deal with her case. She hadn’t imagined that not only would that employee have a much better attitude this time, but would also inform her of her best course of action. All of this was God opening up a pathway for her—it was God’s guidance! Ma Ling then gained a genuine personal understanding of God’s words: “Any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules over all things.” She really felt that all things are within God’s orchestrations and are doing service for God’s work, and that this is a reflection of God’s authority.

To be continue…

Source From: Gospel of The Descent of The Kingdom

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