My mother was born in a very rich family in old Beijing. My grandfather was president of the Beijing Train Station. He also ran a very successful realty business. They had more than twenty maids in their family. My grandmother was also from a rich family, though she never went to school. She gave birth to six children. My mother had an older brother, a sister and three younger brothers. This was a large Catholic family. When my mother was eight years old, my grandfather abruptly died of heart attack. At that time my grandmother had been pregnant for eight months. She was extremely sad upon hearing the news, but the Lord in her heart strengthened her and she wanted to live on with courage. The early death of my grandfather significantly weakened the family. Most of his wealth was divided up among his five brothers and sisters. Only a few less expensive houses were left to my grandmother. One month after my grandfather died, she gave birth to her youngest son, and her oldest child was only fifteen years old. It was not hard to imagine what kind of life it was for an illiterate widow with a bunch of young kids. Life was relatively manageable in the beginning as they were able to live on a little bit savings, jewelry and other valuables. A couple of years later, they started to taste a bitter and poor life. My forty-year-old grandmother looked more like a fifty-year-old woman.

Poverty, however, didn't alter her faith. She often brought her fatherless kids to church to worship the Lord. She prayed to God about her weakness, sadness, anxiety and needs. The Lord listened to her prayers. Not only did He grant her spiritual strength, He also cared for her life and her family. Brothers and sisters in the church often donated money and food to her and enabled her to go through the most difficult years of her life. My mother, along with her brothers and sister, all had a chance to receive free education from a church-sponsored school. Praise the Lord, out of this family came three graduates of renowned colleges. Also praise the Lord, although my grandmother never married again and she had a large family burden to carry, she was always joyful, courageous and faithful enough to face all she had to deal with in life. She never complained; she was always thankful. Last year she headed for her heavenly home at the age of 93. She had many children and grandchildren, many of whom had had great achievements. It was indeed a family full of God's blessings.

My mother went to church with my grandmother when she was little. In church she was able to feel the warmth, and from the arms of the Lord she was able to taste joy. And that experience was unforgettable to her. Poverty did not allow her to continue her education, and before she could finish her middle school, she had to join the Art Troupe of a military school and went to the Korean War. She met my father there and they got married. In those years of military life, my mother was not able to publicly worship the Lord, but she never had any doubts about her faith. Whatever happened to her, she would always pray to the Lord. I remember the day I was supposed to take the college entrance exam, when my mother got up early and prayed for me with tears. At that time I wasn't a believer. I was a bit upset and asked her why she didn't get my breakfast ready. I believed in individual efforts, be it success or failure. It seemed ridiculous to have to pray to God. My mother understood what I had in mind. She said to me that prayer was more important than anything else. I was so irritated that I walked away without eating. Surprisingly I was very relaxed during the exam and I did extremely well.

For three days my mother urgently prayed for me. She looked calm. She said she was confident I could make it. She also hoped I would become a medical doctor. To tell you the truth, I didn't believe it myself as the high school I was in was not a key school. To my great surprise, my exam scores were way above those who were supposedly better than me in class. Although mine were barely over the required scores, I was enrolled in a medical school in the Northeast. And I was the only student in the entire school to go to college that year. My mother was very happy. She said the Lord she believed in was both real and living.

Although I had never really believed in the Lord, I often felt the existence of a divine being deep in my heart. Whenever I was in trouble, I would call out: "Oh Heaven! Help me!"

I became a gynecologist when I was 20. Whenever I was ready to perform a major operation, I would silently pray in my heart and ask the Lord to give me wisdom and help me succeed. It was not until after I prayed would I calm down and pick up the scalpel. I worked for four years before I was transferred back to Beijing where I worked for another ten years. I had been through about ten thousand operations, big or small, and I hadn't had a single accidental failure ever. A couple of times my patients wrote to radio stations to show their appreciation. Thanks to the Lord who extended His care and protection to someone that had not completely belonged to Him.

I was seven months into pregnancy when my husband was enrolled in Harvard University in America. He went through quite a bit of trouble in the process of obtaining a passport and visa application. My mother and I had constantly prayed for him. He finally made it. I became very busy after his departure. Many female workers from various factories came to my clinic for medical checkups, and I had to deal with over fifty patients each morning. Excessive fatigue slowed down the development of my baby in the womb, and I had to take dextrose and multiple amino acid through intravenous injection. A couple of weeks later, things got better. The baby was seven days overdue and there was still no sign of contraction. I was sent into my own clinic. Exams indicated that the baby was small. So I was given medication to speed up child delivery. It wasn't effective, although I started to feel some irregular contractions. The head of the clinic decided to continue artificial acceleration the next day.

On that night, I heard a voice in my dream that urged me to have the child taken out immediately or it would be dangerous. The next day I went to the head of the clinic and requested Cesarean section. The head of the clinic and my other colleagues started to laugh at me. They found it hard to believe that I would make this request after so many years of experience in the clinic. The baby was small; the mother's pelvis was normal, so was the placenta; and there was no excessive amniotic fluid either. There was really not a single reason for such an operation. At that time, the voice inside me once again urged me to hurry. And at the same time I started to feel regular contraction.

After lunch, I escaped from the clinic and went to the long distance telephone bureau. There I called my husband and told him my opinion. He asked me to do what I believed was right and he completely backed me up. I hurried back to the clinic and met with the head of the anesthesia department, the head of the gynecology department and a physician-in-charge. I demanded an operation. Because they were all fellow workers, they finally agreed. One hour later, a baby girl of five and a half pound was born. During the operation, it was discovered that the umbilical cord was tightly around the baby's neck. Due to the contractions, the baby's head had started to make way, tightening the cord even further. Eventually the cord could have suffocated the baby to death. The doctors who performed the operation agreed that further delay could result in catastrophe. The new-born baby showed signs of suffocation. But she recovered through intensive care. Everybody in the clinic agreed that it was the Lord who protected the baby. After the operation I gave my thanks to the Lord with tears. It was He who gave my daughter a chance to live. Today my daughter is four and a half years old. Her physical and mental development is all normal. It was really a miracle.

A shining finger

When I first came to America, I was settled in Boston. Soon I found a job with reasonable income, and the job was related to my profession too. Boston was a large city with a large Chinese population, numerous Chinese markets and restaurants. Its four seasons are distinct and are not that different from Beijing. I was quite busy and yet I did not feel a lot of mental stress. Then my husband graduated. He earned two master's degrees in three years and it was quite an accomplishment for him. Nevertheless, he couldn't find a suitable job because his major was related to defense industry and we didn't have permanent residency. So my husband applied to enroll in the computer department of University of Arizona. He didn't get any scholarship this time, but the department waived his tuition, and that was quite something to us. So we moved from Boston to Tucson.

We arrived in Tucson in August of 1996. It was extremely hot there, so hot that we even got skin rashes. There were no friends there; I couldn't find a job and my husband didn't have scholarship. All of a sudden, everyday life pressure as well as mental stress overwhelmed us, and I became extremely depressed. I went to take English classes in college. I met a Chinese girl in the class and she told me there was a Chinese church nearby. I was motivated to go because I wanted to get to know some Chinese friends. Soon a sister from the church called me and arranged somebody to give me a ride to church. When I went there, they were singing hymns. My mother used to be involved in performing arts and I had loved to sing since I was little. That day, I was greatly impressed by the atmosphere and the wonderful melody; I was also moved by the hospitality and care from brothers and sisters. I fell in love with this church and began to visit the church regularly.

After I believed in the Lord, I kneeled down to pray every day. I found that I was no longer depressed, nor did I worry about daily life any more. I knew I was God's child and He would care for me and protect me under all circumstances.

I didn't have any English background because the foreign language I learned in China was Russian. As a result I couldn't find any job that suited me. I wanted to learn English but I didn't have enough confidence. Then I prayed and asked God to give me self-confidence, wisdom and strength. My confidence really started to grow, and I started to be interested in English, which I used to hate. In less than two months, I memorized over two thousand English words. When I passed the exam to enroll in the advanced English class in Pima College, my husband was greatly amazed.

I was pretty arrogant before I believed in the Lord. I had a bad temper too. Whenever my husband did something wrong, I always scolded him. After I believed in the Lord, I saw the many mistakes I made and I was also able to see the positive sides of other people. I cared for others too. I became humble and kind-hearted. I no longer rigorously tried to defend myself when I did something wrong. I was able to say sorry to my husband, sometimes with tears too. I was able to get along well with others. It was not hard to do all of these. Joy always filled my heart. My husband was simply amazed to see all these changes. He said he had never been so happy in the six years of his married life. I believe I couldn't do all these by myself. The power of love had to come from God. Today, my husband also accepts Christ as his savior and ours is now a Christian family. We are willing that Christ be the master of our family and guide our life forever.