By Maude, USA

I was born into an ordinary rural family; my dad would be out working all year round, and he’d rarely come home. My mom raised both my sister and me all alone, and though we weren’t rich, my mom always did her best to give us a good life, and she’d do her best to get me the things I wanted. I was weak and sickly as a child, and I’d often have colds and fevers, plus, I grew quickly, and my knees often hurt. We couldn’t afford meat, but my mom often made me pork rib soup, as she was afraid a lack of nutrition might affect my growth. Whenever I was sick, my mom would take care of me without rest. Sometimes I’d have high fevers that wouldn’t go down, and my mom worried a lot, so at night, she’d keep wiping my body with alcohol to bring my temperature down. Not only did she care for me attentively, but she also did her best to honor my grandparents. Every time she took me to my grandma’s house, she would buy things she was normally reluctant to buy, like fruits, milk, or desserts, and she’d often tell me to treat my grandparents well. Sometimes when she heard of a child not honoring their parents, she would call them an ingrate, and say that their parents had raised them in vain. Unknowingly, through my mom’s teachings and actions, I came to believe that honoring parents was what made a good person, that only then could you hold your head high and earn praise, and that if you’re unfilial, people will criticize your lack of conscience behind your back, and you won’t be able to hold your head high. When I was 14, my father tragically passed away in a car accident. I began to cherish the time with my mom even more, and I resolved to myself that when I grew up, I would do everything I could to give my mom a good life, and that I’d care for her as meticulously as she’d cared for me as a child, allowing her to be happy in her old age. I felt that if I couldn’t do this, then I’d be lacking in conscience, and that I wouldn’t even deserve to be called a person.

In 2011, I was fortunate enough to accept God’s work in the last days. In 2012, I was arrested by the police while preaching the gospel. After being released, since it wasn’t safe at home, I had to go elsewhere to do my duty. Although I hadn’t been by my mom’s side over the following years, I always hoped that one day I could reunite with her, take care of her, and honor her, and fulfill my long-held desire.

Around March 2023, I suddenly received a letter from my sister, saying that two years earlier, my mom had had a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and cerebral infarction, and that since then, she’d been bedridden with paralysis and unable to care for herself. She also suffered from severe diabetes, which had progressed to diabetic foot, causing ulceration of the skin and flesh on her toes. Her condition had recently worsened, and she might not have much time left, and my sister hoped I could return home soon to see my mom one last time. Having read the letter, I felt like the sky had fallen in on me. I just couldn’t believe it. I was unable to control my emotions, and I broke down in tears, thinking, “How could this happen to my mom? Is this real? During these last few years I’ve been away from home, I always hoped that one day I could reunite with my mom, take care of her, and honor her, and allow her to live her final years happily.” This sudden news was like a bolt from the blue, shattering all of my hopes and expectations. For a while, I couldn’t accept it, and in my heart, I couldn’t help but complain about God, “Why didn’t You let my mom live a few more healthy years?” I even considered asking God to shorten my life to extend my mom’s life, just so she could enjoy a few days of quiet happiness. For that, I’d have been fine living a few years less. In the letter from my sister, she also said that my stepfather had proposed divorce just a few days after my mother fell ill, that his attitude toward my mom was terrible, and that he’d been beating and scolding her. My mom was already suffering because of her illness, and she still had to endure the torment from my stepfather every day, so eventually, she developed severe depression. With no other options, my sister had no choice but to agree to let my stepfather divorce my mom. I thought about how my mom needed someone to take care of her for everything. But with my sister having to go to work, my mom was all alone at home. What if she got thirsty or hungry? Who would take care of her? Having come down with such serious illnesses so suddenly, my strong-willed mom must have felt so frustrated and stifled, and when she felt down, who’d be there to console and encourage her? The more I thought about it, the more I felt a heart-wrenching pain within me. I wished I could just fly back to my mom’s side right away so I could be with her to talk to her, comfort her, encourage her, and take care of her daily needs. But I’d been arrested by the police before, and if I went back now, I’d surely be walking into a trap. To just go back home to take care of my mom and to see her one last time became an unattainable wish of mine. I felt utterly miserable; I just couldn’t muster up any motivation, and I had no heart to do my duties. At night, I couldn’t sleep, and I kept thinking, “I wonder how mom is doing. Is she resting yet? Or is she still tossing and turning in pain, unable to sleep?” Thinking about it, I couldn’t help but cry, choking on my tears. One night, I even dreamed of my mom, seeing her as her younger self, with two long braids, happily bustling around doing something. I stood not far away, watching her, but no matter how I called to her, she didn’t respond. It seemed like she couldn’t see me or hear my voice. When I woke up, I realized it was just a dream, but the more I thought about it, the sadder I felt, and I couldn’t help but cry bitterly again.

Those days were filled with pain, so I prayed for God to guide me to understand His intention. During that time, a few of God’s words kept coming to my mind: “Being born, growing old, getting sick, and dying are things that every person must accept, on what basis are you unable to bear this? This is the law that God has ordained for man’s birth and death, why do you want to violate it? Why don’t you accept it? What is your intention?” I found the passage of God’s words where these phrases came from, and I read it. Almighty God says: “Some people say: ‘I know that I shouldn’t analyze or investigate the matter of my parents falling ill or meeting with some great misfortune, that doing so is pointless, and that I should approach this based on the truth principles, but I cannot restrain myself from analyzing and investigating it.’ So, let us resolve the problem of restraint, so that you no longer need to restrain yourself. How can this be achieved? In this life, people with healthy bodies begin experiencing symptoms of old age after they reach 50 or 60 years old—their muscles and bones deteriorate, they lose their strength, they can’t sleep well or eat a lot, and they don’t have enough energy to work, read, or do any kind of job. Various kinds of diseases burst forth within them, like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, cerebrovascular diseases, and so on. … All people will encounter these fleshly illnesses. Today it’s them, tomorrow it’s you and us. According to age and in sequential order, people will all be born, grow old, fall ill, and die—from youth they enter old age, from old age they fall ill, and from illness they die—this is the law. It is just that when you hear news that your parents have become ill, because they are the people closest to you, who you worry the most about, and who raised you, you will be unable to get past this hurdle of your feelings, and you will think: ‘I don’t feel anything when other people’s parents die, but my parents can’t get ill, because that would make me sad. I can’t bear it, my heart aches, I can’t get past my feelings!’ Just because they are your parents, you think that they shouldn’t grow old, get sick, and that they certainly shouldn’t die—does that make sense? This doesn’t make sense, and it is not a truth. Do you understand? (Yes.) Every person will face their parents aging, getting sick, and in some serious cases people’s parents are even paralyzed in bed, and some fall into vegetative states. Some people’s parents have high blood pressure, partial paralysis, strokes, or they even get a serious illness and die. Every person will personally witness, see, or hear about the process of their parents aging, becoming sick, and then dying. It is just that some people hear of this sooner, when their parents are in their 50s; some people hear this news when their parents are in their 60s; and others only hear it when their parents are 80, 90, or 100 years old. But no matter when you hear this news, as a son or daughter, one day, sooner or later, you will accept this fact. If you are an adult, you should have a mature way of thinking, and the correct attitude toward people being born, growing old, getting sick, and dying, and not be impulsive; you shouldn’t be unable to bear it when you hear news that your parents are sick, or that they have received notice from the hospital that they are critically ill. Being born, growing old, getting sick, and dying are things that every person must accept, on what basis are you unable to bear this? This is the law that God has ordained for man’s birth and death, why do you want to violate it? Why don’t you accept it? What is your intention? You don’t want to let your parents die, you don’t want them to live by the law of being born, growing old, getting sick, and dying that God has established, you want to stop them from getting sick, and from dying—what would that make them? Wouldn’t that make them plastic people? Would they still be people, then? Therefore, you must accept this fact. Before you hear news that your parents are growing old, that they have gotten sick, and died, you should prepare yourself for this in your heart. One day, sooner or later, every person will grow old, they will weaken, and they will die. Since your parents are normal people, why can’t they experience this stage? They should experience this stage, and you should approach it correctly” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (17)). God’s words gradually calmed me down. Birth, aging, illness, and death is the law of life that God has ordained for humanity. With my mom in her 60s, her organs and bodily functions were slowly deteriorating, and it was normal for her body to develop diseases. I shouldn’t argue with God, trying to exchange years of my own life to grant my mom health and longevity. This is not submitting to God’s sovereignty and arrangements. I am an insignificant created being, and God is the Creator, and I should accept the law of life that God has ordained for humanity, and experience things as they come. I cannot even control or change the things I experience each day, yet I held the vain hope of changing my mom’s fate. This was truly deluded and unreasonable! I cried and prayed to God, “God, I can’t accept this sudden change in my circumstances. Please guide me to be able to submit and to learn lessons in this situation.” Later, I consciously looked for God’s words related to my state.

One day during my devotionals, I read a passage of God’s words. “Whatever illness your parents get, it won’t be because they were so exhausted from raising you, or because they missed you; they especially won’t contract any of those major, serious, and possibly fatal illnesses because of you. That is their fate, and it has nothing to do with you. No matter how filial you are, the most you can achieve is to reduce their fleshly suffering and burdens a little, but as for when they get sick, what illness they contract, when they die, and where they die—do these things have anything to do with you? No, they don’t. If you’re filial, if you’re not an uncaring ingrate, and you spend all day with them, watching over them, will they not get sick? Will they not die? If they’re going to get sick, won’t they get sick anyway? If they’re going to die, won’t they die anyway? Isn’t that right?” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (17)). From God’s words, I understood that whether parents get sick, how severe the sickness is, or whether they will die, are all predestined and arranged by God, and have nothing to do with the children. Whether children are by their parents’ side or not, the hardships, setbacks and tribulations parents face in life are inevitable, and their children cannot change anything. I thought about my grandfather. His children were all by his side, and he appeared healthy, but when he was about 60, he suffered a severe illness, leaving him bedridden with paralysis, and he fell into a vegetative state, and he needed people to take care of all his bodily functions. My mom, uncle, and aunt all took turns, caring for him day and night, massaging him every day, talking to him, and taking painstaking care of him for years, but he never woke up. Now my mother had become seriously ill and was paralyzed in bed. Even if I were to be by her side taking care of her daily needs, it would only make her body a little more comfortable, and I’d be unable to bear the suffering from her illness for her. Whether she recovered or died was something I couldn’t change. My being or not being by my mother’s side caring for her wouldn’t change her illness. Realizing this, I let go of some of my worries about my mother.

Later, when I thought back on this and about what my sister said to me in her letter, I still felt heartbroken and distressed. My sister wrote, “‘Crows repay their mothers by feeding them, and lambs kneel to receive milk from their mothers.’ Even animals know to honor their parents. If a human doesn’t know this, they’re worse than an animal.” I thought about the years I’d been away from home. Such big things had happened at home, yet I’d never turned up. I had no idea what our neighbors, relatives, and friends were saying about me, but they’d surely be talking about me behind my back, saying I was unfilial, not even coming home when my mother was seriously ill and nearing death. My mother had raised me since I was little, and this grace was something I could never repay, so I should do my best to provide my mother with the best life, so she didn’t have to worry about food or clothing, and could enjoy a happy, peaceful old age. But now that she was ill, I couldn’t even take care of her. I felt like I was really worse than a beast. Thinking about this felt like a knife in my heart, and I often cried in secret, feeling guilty for not being able to repay my mother’s nurturing grace. Later, I read God’s words: “Let’s look at the matter of your parents giving birth to you. Who was it that chose for them to give birth to you: you or your parents? Who chose whom? … From your perspective, you were passively born to your parents, without having any choice in the matter. From the perspective of your parents, they gave birth to you through their own independent will, right? In other words, putting aside God’s ordination, when it comes to the matter of giving birth to you, it was your parents who had all the power. They chose to give birth to you, and they called all the shots. You did not choose for them to give birth to you, you were passively born to them, and you didn’t have any choice in the matter. So, since your parents had all the power, and they chose to give birth to you, they have an obligation and a responsibility to bring you up, to raise you into an adult, to supply you with an education, with food, clothes, and money—this is their responsibility and obligation, and it is what they ought to do. Whereas you were always passive during the period that they were raising you, you didn’t have the right to choose—you had to be raised by them. Because you were young, you didn’t have the capacity to raise yourself, you had no choice but to be passively brought up by your parents. You were raised in the way that your parents chose, if they gave you nice food and drinks, then you ate and drank nice food and drinks. If your parents provided you with a living environment where you survived off chaff and wild plants, then you survived off chaff and wild plants. In any case, when you were being raised, you were passive, and your parents were fulfilling their responsibility. It’s the same as your parents caring for a flower. Since they want to care for a flower, they should fertilize it, water it, and make sure that it gets sunlight. So, regarding people, no matter whether your parents looked after you meticulously or took great care of you, in any case, they were just fulfilling their responsibility and obligation. Regardless of the reason why they raised you, it was their responsibility—because they gave birth to you, they should take responsibility for you. Based on this, can everything that your parents did for you be considered kindness? It can’t, right? (That’s right.) Your parents fulfilling their responsibility to you doesn’t count as kindness, so if they fulfill their responsibility toward a flower or a plant, watering it and fertilizing it, does that count as kindness? (No.) That is even further from being kindness. Flowers and plants grow better outside—if they’re planted in the ground, with wind, sun, and rainwater, they thrive. They don’t grow as well when they’re planted in a pot indoors as they do outside, but wherever they are, they’re living, right? No matter where they are, it has been ordained by God. You are a living person, and God takes responsibility for every life, enabling it to survive, and to follow the law that all created beings abide by. But as a person, you live in the environment that your parents raise you in, so you should grow up and exist in that environment. You living in that environment is on a larger scale due to God’s ordination; on a smaller scale, it is due to your parents raising you, right? In any case, by raising you your parents are fulfilling a responsibility and an obligation. Raising you into an adult is their obligation and responsibility, and this cannot be called kindness” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (17)). “There is a saying in the world of nonbelievers: ‘Crows repay their mothers by feeding them, and lambs kneel to receive milk from their mothers.’ There’s also this saying: ‘An unfilial person is lower than a beast.’ How grandiose these sayings sound! Actually, the phenomena that the first saying mentions, crows repaying their mothers by feeding them, and lambs kneeling to receive milk from their mothers, really do exist, these are facts. However, they are simply phenomena within the animal world. They are merely a kind of law that God has established for various living creatures, and by which all kinds of living creatures, including humans, abide. The fact that all kinds of living creatures abide by this law further demonstrates that all living creatures are created by God. No living creature can break this law, and no living creature can transcend it. Even relatively ferocious carnivores like lions and tigers nurture their offspring and do not bite them before they reach adulthood. This is an animal instinct. No matter which species they are, whether they are ferocious or kind and gentle, all animals possess this instinct. All kinds of creatures, including humans, can only continue to multiply and survive by abiding by this instinct and this law. If they didn’t abide by this law, or didn’t have this law and this instinct, they wouldn’t be able to multiply and survive. The biological chain wouldn’t exist, and neither would this world. Isn’t that true? (Yes.) Crows repaying their mothers by feeding them, and lambs kneeling to receive milk from their mothers demonstrates precisely that the animal world abides by this kind of law. All kinds of living creatures have this instinct. Once offspring are born, they are cared for and nurtured by the females or males of the species until they become adults. All kinds of living creatures are able to fulfill their responsibilities and obligations to their offspring, conscientiously and dutifully raising the next generation. This should be even more the case for humans. Humans are called higher animals by mankind—if they cannot abide by this law, and lack this instinct, then humans are lower than animals, aren’t they? Therefore, no matter how much your parents nurtured you while they were raising you, and how much they fulfilled their responsibility to you, they were only doing what they ought to within the scope of the abilities of a created human—it was their instinct” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (17)).

After I read God’s words, my heart felt a bit brighter. The nurturing of children by parents is a natural instinct God has given to living creatures and a law of life God has established for all living creatures, and it is also the responsibility and obligation of parents. Whether it’s savage beasts or gentle creatures, all follow such laws. Parents who choose to bear children should take on the responsibility and obligation of raising and caring for their children. This is a conscious choice made by the parents, not something forced upon them by others. “Crows repay their mothers by feeding them, and lambs kneel to receive milk from their mothers” is simply a law and principle set by God for these creatures, a natural instinct, and not as people teach, that animals know to honor their parents and repay kindness. God has endowed various creatures with the instinct to nurture and care for their children so that all creatures, including humans, can reproduce and multiply. On the surface, it appears that parents are taking care of and raising their children, but in reality, it is God who is sovereign over and arranges the fate of each person. I can’t help but think back to something my mother once told me. Before I was born, she already had two daughters, but the younger of them suddenly got sick and passed away when she was 3, and it was only years later, after my mother remained unable to overcome the pain of losing her daughter, that she had me. My elder sister, whom I had never met, was also cared for by my mother with all her heart, but she tragically passed away young, while I’d been able to grow up healthy to this day. Though we shared the same mother, our fates were completely different. This further made me see that human fate is under God’s sovereignty, and that parents can only be responsible for raising and caring for their children, but they cannot control or change their children’s fate. This is because human fate is entirely under God’s sovereignty and arrangements. I thought of how I’d faced so many difficulties and setbacks in the years since leaving home. There were so many times when I felt I couldn’t go on, and it was God who kept guiding and helping me. I remember a time when my state was really terrible, but God, through the brothers and sisters, patiently fellowshipped the truth with me, helped and supported me, and only then did my numb heart slowly start to awaken, and I began to reflect on myself and turn back to God. God carefully arranged various people, events, and things according to my needs, not only providing for my material needs but moreover taking responsibility for my life. Thinking of God’s love, my heart was really moved. But I’d been influenced and deceived by fallacies, attributing everything I had received from God, since childhood, to my mother’s efforts, thinking that without my mother’s care, I wouldn’t be who I had become. I even resolved to repay my mother for her nurturing grace, and I even wanted to give up my duties to go back home to care for her. This not only affected my own state but also the results of my duty. If it weren’t for the exposure of God’s words, I would still keep believing this mistaken idea, and by then, I’d ruin my chance to be saved, and it would be too late for regret. Realizing this, my heart filled with relief.

Later, I read another passage of God’s words, and I became clearer on how to treat parents. Almighty God says: “Your parents are not your creditors—that is, you shouldn’t always ponder on how you must repay them just because they’ve spent so long raising you. If you are not able to repay them, if you do not have the chance or the right circumstances to repay them, you’ll always feel sad and guilty, to the extent that you will even feel sad whenever you see someone with, taking care of, or doing some things to show filial piety to their parents. God ordained that your parents would raise you, enabling you to grow into an adult, not so that you would spend your life repaying them. You have responsibilities and obligations that you must fulfill in this life, a path that you must take, and you have your own life. In this life, you should not put all of your energy into repaying your parents’ kindness. This is just something that accompanies you in your life and on your life path. In terms of humanity and emotional relationships, it is something that is unavoidable. But as for what kind of relationship you and your parents are fated to have, whether you will be able to live together for the rest of your life, or whether you will be separated, and are not linked together by fate, this depends on God’s orchestrations and arrangements. If God has orchestrated and arranged that you will be in a different place to your parents during this life, that you will be very far away from them, and unable to live together often, then fulfilling your responsibilities to them is, to you, just a kind of longing. If God has arranged for you to live very close to your parents in this life, and to be able to stay by their side, then fulfilling a bit of your responsibilities to your parents, and showing them some filial piety are things that you should do in this life—there is nothing that can be criticized about this. But if you are in a different place from your parents, and you do not have the chance or the right circumstances to show them filial piety, then you do not need to regard this as a shameful thing. You should not feel ashamed to face your parents because you are unable to show them filial piety, it is just that your circumstances don’t allow it. As a child, you should understand that your parents are not your creditors. There are many things that you must do in this life, and these are all things that a created being ought to do, that have been entrusted to you by the Lord of creation, and they have nothing to do with you repaying your parents’ kindness. Showing filial piety to your parents, repaying them, returning their kindness—these things have nothing to do with your mission in life. It can also be said that it is not necessary for you to show filial piety to your parents, to repay them, or to fulfill any of your responsibilities to them. To put it plainly, you can do a bit of this and fulfill a bit of your responsibilities when your circumstances allow; when they do not, you do not need to insist upon doing so. If you cannot fulfill your responsibility to show filial piety to your parents, this is not a terrible thing, it just goes against your conscience, human morality, and human notions a little. But at the very least, it does not go against the truth, and God will not condemn you for it. When you understand the truth, your conscience will not feel rebuked on account of this” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (17)). From God’s words, I understood that everyone comes into this world with their own mission, and that being filial to parents and repaying their nurturing grace has nothing to do with one’s mission. If we live with our parents, then caring for and being filial to them to the best of our ability is what we should do. But if the situation doesn’t allow it and we cannot live with our parents, we shouldn’t feel guilty or indebted to them for not being able to take care of them, and we should put our duties first instead. I’d been arrested by the police for preaching the gospel, and I now had a police record. I thought to myself, “If I returned now, I’d pretty much just be walking into a trap. To say nothing of taking care of my mom, even my personal safety might be at risk.” Given these circumstances, I couldn’t return home, so I should calm my heart and do my duties properly. This is what is most important. As my mom was getting older, sickness and death were a normal part of life. I was unable to take care of her or be filial to her, and though I felt some regret, I was willing to submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements. God has already ordained everyone’s fate, and birth, aging, sickness, and death are all in God’s hands. No matter how much I worried and fretted for her, even if I accompanied and took care of her, I couldn’t change my mom’s fate. After I understood these, I prayed to God, “God, my mother’s illness is in Your hands, and whether she lives or dies is in Your hands. The number of years she lives has already been predestined by You, and I am willing to entrust my mother into Your hands. No matter the outcome, I am willing to accept and submit to Your orchestrations and arrangements.” After praying, my heart felt much more at ease and liberated, and I no longer worried about this matter. I was able to calm my heart and do my duties. Thank God!