By Chen Yang, China

When I was a child, my family was very poor, with my parents earning a living as farmers, and my father often going out to carry sacks for money. To make life a little easier, my mother and I would go to the fields during the wheat harvest to collect leftover wheat to sell for extra cash. Every time, I would hear people mocking us, saying, “You’re picking up wheat with your mother again? Can’t your father provide for you?” I felt awful, and I resolved that in the future, I would work hard to earn money, and rise above others, so that no one would mock us again. At the age of 7, I picked persimmons from our trees and sold them on the street. In high school, I tried running a summer tutoring class, and though it ended in failure, I refused to give up earning money. In college, I set up a street stall during the holidays to make money, and I also worked part-time. Actually, in 2006, when I was in middle school, I joined my mother in believing in God and attending gatherings. However, at that time, I focused on school and work, setting aside my faith. Sometimes when I came home, my mother would show me God’s words, but I’d impatiently refuse, thinking that attending gatherings and reading God’s words was a waste of time. My whole focus was on developing my career, believing that only through my own efforts could I earn more money. After all, isn’t success in today’s world measured by houses, cars, and cash? Only when someone earns enough money can they gain others’ admiration, and even their parents can benefit through association.

As I majored in musical performance, after graduating in 2016, I worked as a substitute teacher. In 2018, I started my own business and founded an art school. To recruit students, I handed out fliers door to door under the scorching sun by day, and by night, I’d go around town with my instrument to recruit students, often not getting home until around eleven at night. All the pressure and late nights caused me to have frequent headaches, but thinking about enrolling more students and making more money made it all feel worthwhile. Through my painstaking efforts, I recruited more and more students. This earned me my first significant amount of money in life. Seeing my school thriving, my neighbors and students’ parents praised me for being capable and competent. Hearing their approval made me feel proud, and I could finally conduct myself with my head held high.

For an art school, July is the golden period of the year. Since students are on summer break, if enrollment is high, this one month can bring in tens of thousands in profit. In July of 2021, to seize this opportunity to earn more money, I added more courses and took charge of students’ meals. Taking care of so many students’ meals greatly increased my workload, and I had to go out every day to buy ingredients. I remember one morning when it was raining particularly heavily, I carried baskets of vegetables, each weighing dozens of pounds, to the car in the rain one by one. I was soaked to the bone, but I didn’t feel that this was hard at all. I thought to myself, “It’s just this one month; if I tough it out, it’ll be over soon. After this month, it’ll be time to count the money, and I’ll be one step closer to the high-quality life I’ve been longing for.” Just thinking about it made me happy. But I never expected that in the third week of July, I would receive news that due to the pandemic, all schools had to suspend classes. This news was like a bolt from the blue. I’d put in a massive amount of work to prepare for these summer classes, investing a lot of labor, materials, and money. According to my plan, so long as I made it through this month, I could smoothly pocket the money, but at this point, only half of the lessons had been completed, and I still needed to refund the money for the unfinished ones. As I watched the money that was already in my hands slip away, I just wanted to cry, but there was nothing I could do. After the refunds, I realized I worked this summer for almost nothing, and I felt quite upset about it. I spent my days feeling dejected. With classes suspended due to the pandemic, I suddenly had free time. Around then, a sister came to my house, and she fellowshipped with me that God is the Sovereign over all things, and that He has already arranged each of our fates. She also said that over the several years I hadn’t attended gatherings, the brothers and sisters had always been thinking about me, wanting to help and support me. I thought about how I hadn’t read God’s words for so long and had distanced myself from Him, and yet He was still concerned about me and arranged for the sister to comfort me. I felt deeply warmed in my heart. This time, I didn’t refuse again, and after thirteen years, I finally returned to God’s house and resumed church life.

One time during my devotionals, I read these words of God: “What occupation one chooses, how one makes a living, whether the choices they make are good or bad—do people have any choice in these things? Are they based on people’s desires and decisions? Most people wish to work less and earn more, to not toil in the sun and rain, to dress respectably, to cut a dazzling figure wherever they go, to come out on top, and to bring honor to their ancestors. People have such ‘perfect’ wishes, but when they take their first step in the path of life, they gradually come to see how imperfect human destiny is, and truly realize for the first time that, though one can make bold plans for one’s future and wantonly harbor all kinds of dreams, no one has the ability or the power to realize their own dreams, nor the ability to control their own future. There will always be a gap between one’s dreams and the realities they’re confronted with; things can never turn out as one imagines them to, and faced with such realities, people can never find satisfaction or contentment. There are even some people who repeatedly try to come up with all kinds of approaches and explore every possible channel, and make all kinds of effort and sacrifices, for the sake of their livelihoods and prospects, and for the sake of changing their fates. But in the end, even if they can realize their dreams and desires by means of their own hard work, they can never change their fates, and no matter how much they struggle, they can never go beyond their destinies. Regardless of differences in their abilities and intelligence, and whether or not they have resolve, people are all equal before fate, where they’re not distinguished between great and small, high and low, exalted and mean. What occupation one engages in, what one does for a living, and how much wealth one has in life does not come down to their parents, their talents, or their efforts and ambitions—it comes down to the Creator’s preordination” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique III). God’s words woke me up as if from a dream, and I understood that my fate and whether I have wealth are under God’s sovereignty and arrangements. No matter how hard I strive and struggle, in the end, I can’t change God’s preordinations. Before, I didn’t know God’s sovereignty, and I always wanted to rely on my own efforts to change my fate. When I was young, my family was poor, and I was always ridiculed by others, so I dreamed that one day I could live a life of wealth that would earn others’ admiration. That’s why, as a child, I learned to sell things by imitating adults, and I ran a tutoring class during the summer break before graduating from high school. In college, I persisted in running a street stall and doing part-time jobs, and then after graduation, I started a business by opening a school. It was all just to make more money. But when the pandemic suddenly hit and I had to stop classes, all my plans were ruined, and I had to watch the money that had already gone into my pocket be returned. I then truly felt that hard work doesn’t necessarily bring rewards, and that not everything unfolds according to human plans. A person’s fate is entirely in God’s hands. How much wealth I have in this life doesn’t depend on my efforts and plans, but on the preordination and sovereignty of the Creator. A person’s plans and efforts are merely ideals and aspirations. They can’t determine any final outcome, nor change God’s preordinations. God gave me talents in music and performance so that I could support myself. But I remained unsatisfied, always wanting to rely on my own efforts to live a life of wealth and abundance, not being able to submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. In the end, not only did I fail to fulfill my wishes, but I also wore myself out and felt really painful inside. I was truly foolish! I then read more of God’s words and found a path of practice. God says: “After you recognize this, what you should do is let go of your old view of life, stay far from various traps, let God take charge of your life and make arrangements for it, seek only to submit to God’s orchestrations and guidance without making any of your own choices, and become a person who worships God” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique III). I no longer wished to struggle against God’s preordinations and was willing to submit to His sovereignty and arrangements. After that, I actively attended gatherings and ate and drank God’s words, and I also began training to water newcomers. My heart felt at ease and liberated and I saw God’s grace. During the pandemic, all industries were in a slump, and most educational institutions suffered huge losses. However, my school was not only able to operate normally, but two other institutions even approached me for collaborations, helping me through this difficult period of time.

In June 2022, I took on the duty of a watering group leader. By eating and drinking God’s words, I came to understand that right now, God is carrying out His final salvation of humanity, and that in the end, God will use various catastrophes to bring this age to a close, rewarding the good and punishing the evil according to their deeds. Only those who practice the truth, fulfill their duty, and have their corrupt dispositions cleansed can be saved by God and survive. As for me, besides my irregular class schedule each week, I also had to handle various issues at the partner campuses, and I simply did not have enough time or energy to pursue the truth and do my duty well. So I thought about quitting part of my job to have more time for my duty. But I felt conflicted, thinking, “My duty is more important than teaching and earning money, but the teaching isn’t too tiring, and the partner campuses are developing steadily. If I give these things up, I’ll earn much less!” I felt somewhat unwilling to let go of these things. I then prayed to God, asking Him to guide me so I could let go of these burdens and have more time to eat and drink His words and do my duty. Later, I thought of God’s words: “The kingdom is expanding in mankind’s midst, it is forming in mankind’s midst, and it is standing up in mankind’s midst; there is no force that can destroy My kingdom. My people, who are in the kingdom of today, which of you is not a member of the human race? Which of you lies outside the human condition? When My new starting point is made public, how will people react? You have seen with your own eyes the state of the human world; have you not yet dispelled the thought of living forever in this world?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 19). God’s gospel of the kingdom has been spread to all nations of the world, various disasters and wars have already come, and God’s work of saving mankind is about to come to an end. If I didn’t do my duty properly and kept focusing on pursuing money, I’d just ruin my chance to gain the truth and be saved. In the end, if I fall into disaster, no amount of money will be able to save my life. Pursuing the truth and fulfilling my duty are what truly matter. So I started by resigning from my private school classes, and then, one after another, I terminated partnerships with the two campuses. This freed up my time from Monday to Friday to do my duty, meaning I only taught on weekends. Although I now had fewer partner schools and earned less money, I had more time to eat and drink God’s words and do my duty, and my heart felt at ease and at peace. I thought I’d let go of my attachment to money somewhat, but little did I know, another great temptation awaited me.

In April 2023, my sister-in-law introduced me to an online store business, and she said I could earn 500,000 yuan in 3 to 6 months. I was pretty tempted, thinking, “Earning 500,000 in such a short time—that’d be far more than I make teaching. I’ve already got a house, but if I could replace my car with one from a luxury brand, I’d look even more impressive driving it around town.” However, at the time, I felt uneasy and was afraid of being tricked, and I also worried that doing business would affect my duty, so I refused. Later, my sister-in-law opened a store and became the manager, and I watched her income rise gradually from tens of yuan per day to one to two thousand. Some people who followed her were less capable than me, but they still opened stores and became managers, earning thousands of yuan per day. All this tempted me even more. I thought, “This seems like easy money. If I too could earn thousands per day, I could make 500,000 in three months—then my wish for a new car would soon come true.” The thought of others admiring and envying me once I bought a new car motivated me, and without further hesitation, I invested a few thousand yuan. Later, to earn more money, I introduced the business to friends and relatives to get them to join, promising that they’d be sure to make money, and that if they lost money, I’d cover their losses. I kept expanding my team, and my performance kept growing. By June, I had become a store manager as well, and my daily income was nearly 2,000 yuan. In July, I opened another branch. The business became busier than before, and I was also making more money.

In August 2023, the brothers and sisters elected me as a watering deacon. To avoid impacting my duties, I’d always do my duties during the day and see to the online stores by night after getting home. Often, I’d still be on conference calls at 1 or 2 a.m. I was often so busy that I didn’t even have time to eat. In just three months, I’d opened eight stores, and I’d achieved over 2 million in sales. But as I kept staying up late, I’d often have headaches and be exhausted during the day, feeling groggy and low on energy. This seriously affected the state in which I did my duties. I was also going through the motions in gatherings, and I couldn’t discover problems or resolve the difficulties of my brothers and sisters. As soon as I’d get home, there’d be issues with the online stores waiting for me, and I felt utterly exhausted. But to earn money, I felt powerless to break free, as if I were being controlled. I asked my sister-in-law, “At what point will I be able to earn 500,000 and no longer have to manage the online stores?” She replied, “When your team’s performance reaches 5 million, you can detach from this industry and stop managing the stores. By then, you’ll have earned enough to reach 500,000.” When I heard this, my head spun, and I suddenly realized I had been tricked. I’d thought that making 500,000 would only take three months, and by then, I’d have earned the money and not have delayed my duties. I’d never expected there to be a condition of a 5-million-yuan team performance. When would I be able to reach that condition and break free? This number felt so far away. I was so worried I couldn’t eat or sleep. At that time, I was making over 8,000 yuan per day, but I wasn’t happy at all. I realized I had gone down the wrong path, and I was in great pain, so I prayed, “God, I now know I’ve fallen into the vortex of money. I thought it was just a small business of a few thousand yuan, and I never expected it to become a pair of shackles that were binding me. How can I get rid of this? God, please help and guide me.” After praying, I decided not to earn the 500,000. I called my sister-in-law and told her my decision. My sister-in-law saw I was determined and so she agreed. Shortly after I withdrew, one day, I suddenly received news that this online store business was actually a new type of scam popular on the internet. It was to let people earn money first, and then, when they let their guard down, the scammers run off with all the invested money. I finally realized I had been deceived. I was stunned, and I felt paralyzed. I’d introduced a lot of people to it to grow the team, and guaranteed to each person I’d be responsible for any losses. Now that the online stores had collapsed, everyone I’d referred started coming to me for money. Just like that, I was dragged into a scam because of my greed for money. Faced with having to pay hundreds of thousands in compensation, I didn’t know what to do. For an entire week, I was besieged by threats, abuse, and interrogations, and I was bombarded with phone calls and messages demanding money. I was so scared that I didn’t even dare look at my phone, and I had no idea how to face all this. The pain got to the point where I even thought of jumping off a building to end it all. I thought that even though I’d been deceived too, I couldn’t avoid bearing the consequences, so in the end, I paid nearly 200,000 yuan in compensation. I lost over five kilograms in a week. In my pain and despair, I prayed in tears, “God, I was wrong. I know that my ambition and desires ruined me. I’m in so much pain, but I know these things have come upon me by Your permission. Please guide me to understand Your intention.” After praying, my heart gradually calmed down, and I became willing to seek the truth.

In my seeking, I read God’s words and came to understand how Satan corrupts people through fame and gain. Almighty God says: “Satan uses fame and gain to control people’s thoughts, making them think of nothing but these two things, and getting them to struggle for fame and gain, suffer hardships for fame and gain, endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens for fame and gain, sacrifice everything they have for fame and gain, and make every judgment or decision for the sake of fame and gain. In this way, Satan places invisible shackles upon people, and, with these shackles upon them, they have neither the ability nor the courage to break free. Unknowingly, they bear these shackles as they trudge ahead step by step, with great difficulty. For the sake of this fame and gain, mankind strays from God and betrays Him, and becomes increasingly wicked. In this way, one generation after another is destroyed in the midst of Satan’s fame and gain” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique VI). “‘Money makes the world go round’ is a philosophy of Satan. It is very prevalent among people, in every society; you could say it is a trend. This is because it has been instilled in the heart of every single person, who at first did not accept this saying, but then gave it tacit acceptance when they came into contact with real life, and began to feel that these words were in fact true. Is this not a process of Satan corrupting man? … Regardless of how deep the experience a person has with this saying, what negative effect has it had on their heart? It is that the people in this world—and it can be said that this includes each and every one of you—reveal something from their disposition. What is it? It is the worship of money. Is it easy to remove this from people’s hearts? No, it is not easy! This shows that Satan’s corruption of man is deep indeed! Satan uses money to entice people, and corrupts all of them into worshiping money and material things. And how is this worship of money manifested in people? Don’t you think that in this world you couldn’t survive without money, and that you couldn’t go a single day without it? How much money people have determines how high their status is, and how distinguished they are. The poor do not feel they can stand tall and proud, while the rich have high status, stand tall and proud, and can speak loudly and live in an arrogant and unbridled manner. What does this saying and trend bring to people? Is it not true that many people are willing to make any sacrifice in order to make money? Do many people not lose their dignity and integrity in the pursuit of more money? Do many people not lose the opportunity to do their duty and follow God for the sake of money? Is losing the chance to gain the truth and be saved not the greatest of all losses for people? Just using this method and this saying, Satan corrupts man to such a degree. Is Satan’s intention not sinister? Is this not a malicious trick? As this saying becomes popular, you go from disagreeing with it to finally believing that it is the truth, and by that point your heart has fallen completely into Satan’s grasp, and therefore you involuntarily come to live by the saying. To what degree has this saying affected you? You might know the true way, and you might know the truth, but you are powerless to pursue it. You may clearly know that God’s words are the truth, but you are unwilling to pay the price or to suffer in order to gain the truth. Instead, you would rather sacrifice your own future to resist God to the very end. No matter what God says, no matter what God does, no matter how deep and how great the love that God has for you is, insofar as you are able to understand it, you would stubbornly insist on exerting yourself because of this saying” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique V). Pondering God’s words, I understood that it is Satan who has instilled many wrong thoughts and ideas in people, causing people to worship money, fame, gain, and material desires, to single-mindedly pursue money, fame, and gain, and to become unable to come before God to pursue the truth and receive His salvation. I was living by the poisons instilled by Satan, such as “Money makes the world go round,” “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing,” “Stand out above the rest,” and “Hold a position above others.” I thought money was the answer to everything, that a person couldn’t survive without it, and that if a person had money, their status became respectable, and others would no longer dare to look down on or mock them. When I was young, I was ridiculed because my family was poor, so I wanted to become wealthy and live a life of prosperity, thereby making others admire me. To earn money, I tried all kinds of methods, and I stopped gathering and reading God’s words. Even when my mom came to me with the book of God’s words, I would impatiently push it away. After opening an art school, I was always thinking about how to market and recruit more students to make more money. Every day, my mind was on edge, and I was fatigued to the point of insomnia and headaches. Eventually, due to the pandemic, everything was shut down, and only then did I return to God’s presence. Later, by reading God’s words, I realized that my fate in life and how much wealth I would have were all preordained by God and were not dependent on my efforts and plans. However, because my desire for money, fame, and gain was too strong, I didn’t recognize the evil means Satan uses to harm people. So when I was once again lured by money, to earn an extra 500,000 yuan to buy a luxury car and gain admiration and envy from people, I ended up going astray and getting ensnared in an online scam, turning from a respected school principal into a scammer who cheats people out of their money. Faced with huge compensation fees and endless criticism and verbal abuse from my friends and relatives, I felt like a rat in the street. Both mentally and physically, I suffered enormous blows and torment, and I even thought of ending my life to escape it all. I saw that money, fame, and gain were like an invisible rope that bound me tightly, and that I’d lived by these satanic poisons, treating the attainment of money, fame, and gain as my life’s goal, and as a result, I’d been tricked by Satan, suffering unspeakably. I saw that pursuing wealth, fame, and gain could only make my life more painful, cause me to stray from God, and make me lose my chance at God’s salvation. I then thought about how many people, after losing money in business ventures, develop depression, and some, unable to bear it, even jump to their deaths. I saw that the pursuit of money is a path to destruction. I was very glad that I had come to follow God, so that when these things came upon me, I had the enlightenment and leadership of God’s words, enabling me to understand the truth and have some discernment of how Satan uses money, fame, and gain to corrupt people. Otherwise, I too would have been one of those who committed suicide. Although I lost money in this matter, I came to see God’s painstaking intentions to save me. From the bottom of my heart, I thanked God!

One day during my devotionals, I read God’s words and came to understand what God requires of people and what is truly meaningful to pursue. Almighty God says: “God doesn’t require you to exert all your strength for the sake of your survival and your daily life. He doesn’t need you to live a glamorous life and glorify Him through it, nor does He need you to accomplish any great deeds or work wonders in this world, make a contribution to humankind, provide assistance to any number of people, or resolve the employment problems of any number of people. He doesn’t need you to engage in a grand career, to become a standout personality in various professions or fields, to become a famous person or a great figure, or to become someone who is highly esteemed and respected, and then use these honors to glorify God’s name, proclaiming to the world, ‘I am a Christian, I believe in Almighty God.’ God doesn’t need you to do this. God only hopes that you can be a plain, ordinary person in real-world society, that you will be content with just having food and clothing, and that you will seek to gain the truth and fulfill the duty of a created being on the foundation of living a normal life and gaining the ability to survive. That is God’s requirement for you. Regardless of what gifts, strengths, or special abilities you have, God doesn’t wish for you to use them to gain worldly success. Instead, He hopes that you will apply whatever gifts or caliber you have to doing your duty, to that which He entrusts to you, and to the pursuit of the truth, ultimately attaining salvation. This is the most important thing, and God doesn’t require anything beyond that” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (21)). “This final stretch of time is also a special period. In one respect, the affairs of the church work are busy and complicated; in another, in this moment when the gospel of the kingdom of God is spreading, more people are needed to dedicate their time and energy to contribute their efforts and do their duties in order to meet the needs of various items of work within the house of God. Therefore, regardless of your occupation, if after meeting your basic living needs, you are able to devote your time and energy to come before God to do the duty of a created being, doing your part in various items of work, then in the eyes of God, this is for one thing desirable, and for another particularly precious and worthy of His remembrance. It is of course worth it for people to make such an effort and sacrifice. That is because although you forsook the enjoyments of the flesh, what you gain is priceless, everlasting life, it is God’s words becoming your life. This is a priceless treasure that cannot be obtained in exchange for money or anything else. This priceless treasure is obtained by the energy and time you invest, through your own efforts and the price you pay. To you, this is good fortune, a special favor, and a great blessing. God’s words and the truth becoming one’s life is a priceless treasure, and it’s worth people offering everything they have in exchange for it. … if, when you have acquired food and clothing, you devote extra time and energy, earn more money, acquire more material pleasures, and your flesh is satisfied, yet in doing so, you ruin the hope of your own salvation with your own hands, then this undoubtedly is not a good thing for you. You should be worried and anxious about it; you should adjust your attitude toward work and life and your demands concerning the quality of your fleshly life; you should let go of desires, plans, and agendas for your fleshly life that do not align with reality. You should come before God, pray to Him, resolve to do your duty, throwing your mind and body into the various tasks in God’s house, striving so that on the day when God’s work is concluded, when God examines the work and the statures of all different kinds of people, you will be one of the people who have gained God’s approval. When God’s great work is accomplished, when the gospel of the kingdom of God has spread throughout the universe, when this joyous scene unfolds, there will be your toil, your investment, and your sacrifice. When God gains glory, when His work has spread throughout the universe, when everyone is celebrating the accomplishment of God’s great work, at the unfolding of that moment of joy, you will be the one who is connected to this joy. You will be a partaker in this joy, not the one who will weep and gnash their teeth, who will beat their breast while everyone else is shouting and jumping for joy, and who will suffer punishment and be thoroughly spurned and eliminated by God” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (20)). From God’s words, I realized that God doesn’t need people to become famous or great to glorify Him or testify for Him. God only hopes that so long as people have clothing and food, they will spend more of their time pursuing the truth and doing their duties well. I thought about how I’ve had a talent for music ever since I was young. After graduation, I earned a living with my talent, and in my life, I not only had clothing and food, but even some surplus. However, I wasn’t satisfied with that, but wanted to earn more money and gain the admiration of more people. I thought that standing out was more important than anything else. Thinking back, before I found God, I earned some money and enjoyed people’s admiration, but inside, I didn’t feel at ease, much less any real happiness. Every day, apart from work, I’d just eat, drink, and have fun with friends to stave off boredom, and I didn’t understand the purpose of life or its meaning or value at all. Though money brought me temporary material enjoyment, it couldn’t change the emptiness deep inside me. Through reading God’s words, I understood that pursuing money, fame, and gain still leads to emptiness, and that it has no meaning. Only by pursuing the truth and fulfilling the duties of a created being can life be meaningful and valuable. I thought of what the Lord Jesus said: “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). In the past, when I didn’t have money, I always thought that once I had money, I would be satisfied, but even after I had money, I still felt empty and found life meaningless. Money is not what people truly need. For example, there was someone from my hometown who was suffering from a terminal illness. He went to a bridge, threw all his money down, and then he jumped into the river to end it all. When faced with illness and death, no matter how much money, fame, and gain you have, or how many people admire you, it’s all utterly useless. These things cannot buy life, and not following God, pursuing the truth, or fulfilling duties ultimately leads to emptiness. God’s work has now reached its final stage, and the opportunities and time to pursue the truth are running out. I should make the most of my time, eat and drink more of God’s words, and fulfill my duties as a created being. This is what is most meaningful. I thought of Lot’s wife. She was saved by the angels and had already escaped the city of Sodom, but because she couldn’t let go of her possessions and wealth, she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, becoming a symbol of shame. We are now in the final stretch of the path, and I should learn from what happened to Lot’s wife. I have to let go of the pursuit of wealth, fame, and gain, and do my duties well and pursue the truth. This is the most meaningful life that God approves of.

I am now doing the duty of a leader in the church. In order to have more time and energy to equip myself with the truth and fulfill my duties, I have kept on only a dozen or so students, and I work 6 hours a week to cover my daily expenses, using most of my time to do my duties. Through doing my duties, I’ve learned how to interact with others, how to do my duties in a way that is up to standard, and how to know my corrupt dispositions, among other things. Now, I read God’s words and do my duties every day. I am no longer bound and harmed by money, fame, and gain, and I feel light and at ease in my heart. Thank God for saving me!