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‘I clutched the Bible
tightly
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In 1968, Wu Aizhen had an unexpected encounter that brought the Bible into the centre of her life
CHINA — “I graduated from the Beijing Foreign Trade University in 1966. It was the peak of the Cultural Revolution and we were assigned to various activities connected with this, rather than taking up ordinary jobs. I was part of a group of enthusiastic and zealous young people who wrecked the Beijing Foreign Trade Unit. We were proud of what we were doing.
In July 1967, I was assigned to work in the Guangdong Provincial Foreign Trade Unit. Early the next year, I joined a team on an inspection visit to the Foreign Trade Unit in Shantou City. We stayed in a hotel. One night after dinner, a member of the hotel staff chatted to me and challenged me to attend a meeting with her. I had been to numerous interrogation meetings under the Cultural Revolution, so I was not afraid to go with her. I thought that it was just another of these meetings.
She led me down a dark alley into the building where the meeting was taking place. I was immediately struck by the calm, peaceful atmosphere inside. It was very different from any of the interrogation meetings I had been involved in. I wondered why the people were so caring, trusting, loving and friendly, rather than being full of hatred and strife.
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Soon, people began praying and singing. I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere. I felt so relaxed and so free! Without really realising, I began to sing and pray too. As I listened to the speaker, I felt a strange piercing in my heart and began to weep. I silently confessed my sins to the Lord and asked him for forgiveness. I felt very remorseful for the evil deeds I had committed in the past. I was genuinely touched and transformed by the Holy Spirit. At the end of the meeting, I felt relieved and my heart was bursting with joy.
The speaker was a woman who had been imprisoned for sharing the Gospel. During her time in prison, she had continued to share the Gospel and many prison officers had come to faith.
She was thrilled to see me being filled with the Holy Spirit and touched by the Word of God. She gave me her own Bible, which had sustained her through many difficult years, and she urged me to study the Scriptures diligently. I clutched the Bible tightly like a precious treasure. Since then, it has become my constant link with the Lord.
35 years have gone by since my encounter with the Lord at that meeting and since I received the gift of the Bible. The Lord has sustained me and my faith throughout that time.”
Adapted and translated from an article
in the Shenzhen News.
(WR 394/4 - 07.05)