By Su Li, China

Ever since I was little, I really admired my mother. She endured a lot of hardship for my siblings and me. Whenever I woke up in the middle of the night, I’d see her sewing cotton clothes for us under a small oil lamp, and the next day she’d still have to go up the mountain to do farm work. To take care of the whole family, she worked herself sick. My father wasn’t very responsible, and when my older brother reached the age to marry, my mother arranged everything. The villagers all praised my mother as a good wife and mother. In my heart, I saw my mother as a role model, believing that her actions defined what it meant to be a mother who was up to standard.

After I married, I was just like my mother—I prioritized my husband and children in everything, and so long as they were comfortable, any suffering on my part was worth it. In winter, I’d always get up early, light the stove, and make some food, and I’d wait until the house was warm before waking up my husband and children for breakfast. Seeing them well taken care of made me feel very satisfied. My mother-in-law and elder sister-in-law also praised me as a good wife, and I also believed that this was what a woman should do. But to my surprise, my husband suddenly fell ill and passed away, and the burden of the whole family fell on me alone. I resolved to myself, “I’ve got to make sure the kids finish school and settle down.” So, I started a small business at the market to support my two children’s education. In 1999, I accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days. By reading God’s words, I understood many truths, and I also came out of the pain of losing my husband. Later, I did my duty in the church to the best of my ability. In 2003, because of an evil person’s betrayal, the local police came to my house to arrest me. Luckily, I wasn’t home at the time and so I avoided disaster. To escape being arrested by the CCP, I had to leave home to do my duty. The thought of leaving my child filled my heart with anguish. My husband had passed away early, so if I left, what would happen to my two kids? My son was already 18, nearing the age for marriage, and so with me gone, who would help him settle down? But if I didn’t leave, I could be arrested at any moment, and then I still wouldn’t be able to care for them. My daughter also said, “Mom, I’d rather you leave us than see you get arrested.” Seeing my considerate daughter, my heart ached even more, and in the end, I left home with tears in my eyes. Although I’d left home, my heart was always with my two children, and I’d wonder, “Are they doing well? Do they have enough money? Can they find jobs? Who’s going to arrange my son’s wedding? Will they resent me and say I abandoned them?” Every time I thought about these things, my heart ached. I felt that I’d not fulfilled my responsibilities as a mother and that I’d really let my children down. I really wanted to go back and take care of them, but I was afraid of being arrested. My heart was so tormented. At that time, I read a passage of God’s words: “Who can truly and completely expend themselves for Me and offer up their all for My sake? You are all half-hearted; your thoughts go around and around, thinking of home, of the outside world, of food and clothing. Despite the fact that you are here before Me, doing things for Me, deep down you are still thinking of your wife, children, and parents at home. Are all these things your property? Why do you not entrust them into My hands? Do you not trust Me? Or is it that you are afraid I will make inappropriate arrangements for you?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 59). After reading God’s words, my heart felt much brighter. Wouldn’t entrusting my children to God be better than my taking care of them? Everything is under God’s sovereignty, and whether my two children were doing well or not was in God’s hands. Thinking of this, I didn’t feel as upset.

As the time I spent away from home grew longer, my son was already in his early twenties and at marriage age, and I worried about whether he’d be able to marry. My children had already lost their father, and I was not there to care for them, so I felt deeply sorry for them. In 2007, as a district leader, I was dismissed because I lacked a sense of burden in my duty. I heard that my children had gone to work in the city where my siblings lived, so I returned to be with them. When my son saw me, he was very cold and wouldn’t talk to me. He said that I only cared about my faith and that I’d abandoned them. I felt very guilty and that his resentment was justified. My younger siblings also came to see me. My brother scolded me, saying, “In all these years you’ve been gone, your kids have had a really hard time. You’d better not leave again this time. They’re grown up now, so you need to hurry and help your son get married—that’s what really matters.” My sister said, “In the years you’ve been gone, we’ve been worrying about your son and even helped him find a job.” Hearing this, I felt even more guilty and upset. I felt like I wasn’t a good mother and that I hadn’t fulfilled my responsibilities. My son had to start earning a living for himself at 17 or 18, and my daughter, despite being small and thin, was doing heavy labor. If I’d been home, they wouldn’t have had to start working so young. To make up for what I owed them, I did my best to cook their favorite meals and wash their clothes, and whatever I could do for them, I would try my best. To save money for my son’s marriage, I took a piecework job sewing clothes at home. I’d work at night and deliver orders in the morning, and during the day, I could still water newcomers, attend gatherings, and do my duty without interruption. In 2008, I was elected as a church leader, but at the time, I felt very conflicted. I knew I should consider God’s intentions and submit, but I worried that being a leader would be too time-consuming and leave no time to earn money, and with no money and no house, who’d be willing to marry my son? My husband had passed away early, so as a mother, I had even more responsibilities. If I didn’t help my son save up money, he wouldn’t be able to get married—then wouldn’t others call me an irresponsible mother? Thinking of this, I refused to take on the duty of a leader and continued to water newcomers.

Time flew by, and soon it was 2010. My son was now 25, and all his peers were already married, but he still wasn’t. I was very anxious. Although I was working to make money while doing my duty, the money I’d saved for his marriage was still far from enough. To save more money, I took on even more work. As more and more newcomers accepted the true way, I did my duty during the day and worked late into the night, so I had less time and energy to water the newcomers, and I rarely considered how to fellowship in a way that’d help them take root on the true way, and I didn’t have a sense of burden in regard to resolving the newcomers’ difficulties or problems. Because I’d start working at 5 p.m., I’d sometimes work until midnight or even 1 a.m., and then I’d have to hand off the work by 4 a.m. The next day, I’d feel dazed and confused when doing my duty. After a while, some of the newcomers I watered stopped attending gatherings regularly. Because I lacked a sense of burden in my duty, I was eventually dismissed. I felt so upset. I thought about how I’d refused the duty of a leader before, and now I hadn’t even done well in watering newcomers. I felt too ashamed to even pray to God. Though now, without a duty, I could work full-time and save money for my son, my heart felt dark and uneasy.

During that time, I listened to hymns while working. One hymn of God’s words goes: “Keep watch! Keep watch! Time lost will never come again—remember this! There is no medicine in the world that cures regret! So, how should I speak to you? Is My word not worthy of your careful, repeated consideration?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 30). God’s words really moved me. God has spoken so much and so earnestly, yet why was I still so intransigent and unwilling to turn back? In my heart, I prayed to God, asking Him to lead me out of this state. I kept asking myself, “Do I have to give up pursuing the truth just to earn money for my son’s marriage?” I thought of a hymn of God’s words that goes: “Without you realizing it, your life will pass you by; after that, will you have another opportunity to love God?” “If in life you do not suffer for the truth or seek to gain it, can it be that you wish to feel regret in your dying hour? If so, then why believe in God?” I then found these two passages of God’s word to read. God says: “For everyone who aspires to love God, there are no unobtainable truths and no justice for which they cannot stand firm. How should you live your life? How should you love God, and use this love to satisfy His intentions? There is no greater matter in your life. Above all, you must have such aspirations and perseverance, and should not be like those who are spineless weaklings. You must learn how to experience a meaningful life and experience meaningful truths, and should not treat yourself perfunctorily in that way. Without you realizing it, your life will pass you by; after that, will you have another opportunity to love God? Can man love God after he is dead? You must have the same aspirations and conscience as Peter; your life must be meaningful, and you must not play games with yourself. As a human being, and as a person who pursues God, you must be able to carefully consider how you treat your life, how you should offer yourself to God, how you should have a more meaningful faith in God, and how, since you love God, you should love Him in a way that is more pure, more beautiful, and more good. … You must not throw away the truth for the sake of the enjoyment of a harmonious family life, and you must not lose a lifetime of dignity and integrity for the sake of temporary enjoyment. You should pursue all that is beautiful and good, and you should pursue a path in life that is more meaningful. If you lead such a mundane and worldly life, and do not have any goal to pursue, isn’t this wasting your life? What can you gain from such a life? You should forsake all enjoyments of the flesh for the sake of one truth, and should not throw away all truths for the sake of a little enjoyment. People like this have no integrity or dignity; there is no meaning to their existence!” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment). “On this road, many people can speak of much knowledge, but at their time of death, their eyes brim with tears, and they hate themselves for having wasted a lifetime and lived to a ripe old age for naught. They merely understand doctrines, but cannot put the truth into practice or bear witness to God; instead, they simply run hither and thither, busy as a bee, and only on the brink of death do they finally see that they lack true testimony, that they do not know God at all. And is this not too late? Why do you not seize the day and pursue the truth that you love? Why wait until tomorrow? If in life you do not suffer for the truth or seek to gain it, can it be that you wish to feel regret in your dying hour? If so, then why believe in God?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Ought to Live for the Truth Since You Believe in God). This stage of God’s work is the final work of saving humanity. I had caught up with it, but I didn’t cherish it, and come the day God’s work ends, if I then wanted to do my duty properly, there would be no chance, and then wouldn’t I still be eliminated? God’s words are very clear. Believing in God, pursuing the truth, and gaining the truth are the greatest things in life, and they are also the most meaningful things. But I put off the duty of a leader for the sake of being a good mother, as I was afraid that doing the duty of a leader would delay my earning money for my son. Newcomers who have just accepted God’s work have many notions that need to be fellowshipped on and resolved, but I only thought about how to make up for letting my son down. I was unwilling to spend more time solving the newcomers’ problems, and I was just going through the motions in gatherings. This resulted in the newcomers not attending gatherings regularly. I’d enjoyed so much of the watering and provision of God’s word, and God had also given me a chance at salvation—but what had I returned to God? Apart from refusing my duty, I’d also been perfunctory and irresponsible. In what way did I have any humanity at all! Now that I’d even lost the only duty I had, what was the point of living like this? Living like this—doing my duty while also trying to satisfy my children, being disloyal to my duty, and trying to have it both ways—in the end, what would I gain? God’s work doesn’t wait for anyone, and if I didn’t pursue it now, I wouldn’t have another chance. I had to put aside my affection and pursue the truth. Not long after, I resumed my duty.

In 2011, I was selected as a watering deacon. At that time, I still felt somewhat conflicted. Being a watering deacon would be a big responsibility, and I’d have less time to earn money for my son. However, I also thought about how I’d been desperately earning money for my son’s marriage these past few years—I’d had no burden for my duty, I’d delayed the church work, and my own life had also suffered loss—yet God had still given me such an important duty. I could no longer rebel against God, and I had to do it to the best of my ability. So, I accepted it. But the guilt I felt toward my son never faded. In 2014, I read a passage of God’s words that turned around some of my views on my children. Almighty God says: “When one reaches maturity, one is able to leave one’s parents and strike out on one’s own, and it is at this point that one truly begins to play one’s own role, that the fog lifts and one’s mission in life gradually becomes clear. Nominally, one still stays closely tied to one’s parents, but because one’s mission and the role one plays in life have nothing to do with one’s mother and father, in essence this intimate tie breaks down as a person gradually becomes independent. From a biological perspective, people cannot help still being dependent on their parents in subconscious ways, but objectively speaking, once they are fully grown, they have entirely separate lives from their parents and will perform the roles they assume independently. Besides birth and childrearing, the parents’ responsibility in their children’s lives is simply to provide them with a formal environment to grow up in, for nothing except the predestination of the Creator has a bearing on a person’s fate. No one can control what kind of future a person will have; it is predetermined long in advance, and not even one’s parents can change one’s fate. As far as fate is concerned, everyone is independent, and everyone has their own fate. So, no one’s parents can stave off one’s fate in life or exert the slightest influence on the role one plays in life. It could be said that the family into which one is destined to be born and the environment in which one grows up are nothing more than the preconditions for fulfilling one’s mission in life. They do not in any way determine a person’s fate in life or the kind of destiny within which a person fulfills their mission. And so, no one’s parents can assist one in accomplishing one’s mission in life, and likewise, no one’s relatives can help one assume one’s role in life. How one accomplishes one’s mission and in what kind of living environment one performs one’s role are entirely determined by one’s fate in life. In other words, no other objective conditions can influence a person’s mission, which is predestined by the Creator. All people become mature in the particular environments in which they grow up; then gradually, step by step, they set off down their own roads in life and fulfill the destinies planned for them by the Creator. Naturally, involuntarily, they enter the vast sea of humanity and assume their own posts in life, where they begin to fulfill their responsibilities as created beings for the sake of the Creator’s predestination, for the sake of His sovereignty” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique III). God’s words made my heart feel so bright. From God’s words, I understood that my responsibility was only to bring my children into the world, to provide them with an environment to grow up in, and to raise them to adulthood. But as children grow up, they have entirely separate lives from their parents. We all have our own missions. I am a created being, and my obligation is to fulfill my duty as a created being, not to always live my life for my children. Over those years, I’d worked hard to make money to compensate for the debt I felt toward my son, hoping to help him get married and start a family, thinking that only by doing this could I make things up to him. To make money, I even refused the duty of a leader and was irresponsible in watering newcomers. This led to losses in my life entry and in the church work. Now I understood that whether my son could get married wasn’t up to me, that earning money to buy him a car or a house wouldn’t guarantee it, and that God had already predestined when my son would marry. I couldn’t change this. I thought of a neighbor: Both husband and wife were disabled and had neither a house nor a car, yet their son got married and started his family at an early age. I also have a relative whose family has millions in savings and owns both a car and a house, but their child, over 30, is still not married. From this, I saw that marriage is not decided by wealth, and that everything is in God’s hands. Understanding this made me feel much more at ease in my heart, and I decided to do my duty properly, to completely entrust my son’s marriage to God, and to submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements.

In 2017, my son got married and moved in with his wife’s family. My daughter-in-law didn’t ask for betrothal gifts or make any demands. I only gave her 30,000 yuan, and there was no formal wedding ceremony. Relatives and friends just gathered for a meal, and the event was held in a simple way. I should have been happy, but I still felt a sense of guilt in my heart, feeling that I hadn’t organized a grand wedding for my son, and that I’d only provided a paltry sum and hadn’t fulfilled my responsibilities as a mother, which made me feel regretful. In 2019, my daughter-in-law became pregnant and asked me to care for her. At that time, I was responsible for the text-based work of several churches, and so if I went to take care of my daughter-in-law, it would delay my duties. But I then thought about how I hadn’t given much to my son over the years, and about how I’d only given his wife 30,000 yuan for their wedding. Now my son was out working to earn money, and I felt that caring for my pregnant daughter-in-law was something I should do, and that if I couldn’t help ease his burden this time, I would be letting him down. Then wouldn’t my relatives call me a really irresponsible mother? I couldn’t quiet myself, and I couldn’t focus my heart on my duties, leading to a slight decrease in the effectiveness of the text-based work. The supervisor learned about this and then found some of God’s words relating to my state for me. Almighty God says: “People who live in this real society have been deeply corrupted by Satan. Regardless of whether they’re educated or not, a lot of traditional culture is ingrained in people’s thoughts and views. In particular, women are required to attend to their husbands and raise their children, to be a good wife and loving mother, devoting their whole lives to their husbands and children and living for them, making sure the family has three square meals a day, and doing the washing, cleaning, and all other housework well. This is the accepted standard of being a good wife and loving mother. Every woman also thinks this is the way things should be done, and that if she doesn’t then she’s not a good woman, and has violated conscience and the standards of morality. Violating these moral standards will weigh heavily on some people’s conscience; they’ll feel they’ve let their husbands and children down, and that they’re not a good woman. But after you believe in God, have read a lot of His words, understood some truths, and seen through some matters, you’ll think, ‘I am a created being and should perform my duty as such, and expend myself for God.’ At this time, is there a conflict between being a good wife and loving mother, and doing your duty as a created being? If you want to be a good wife and loving mother, then you cannot do your duty full time, but if you want to do your duty full time then you cannot be a good wife and loving mother. What do you do now? If you choose to do your duty well and be responsible for the work of the church, loyal to God, then you must give up being a good wife and loving mother. What would you think now? What sort of discord would arise in your mind? Would you feel like you’ve let down your children, your husband? Where does this feeling of guilt and unease come from? When you don’t fulfill the duty of a created being, do you feel like you’ve let God down? You have no sense of guilt or blame because, in your heart and mind, there isn’t the slightest hint of the truth. So, what do you understand? Traditional culture and being a good wife and loving mother. Thus the notion of ‘If I’m not a good wife and loving mother, then I’m not a good or decent woman’ will arise in your mind. You’ll be bound and fettered by this notion from then on, and will remain so by these kinds of notions even after you believe in God and do your duty. When there is a conflict between doing your duty and being a good wife and loving mother, while you may reluctantly choose to do your duty, possessing perhaps a little loyalty to God, there’ll still be a feeling of unease and blame in your heart. Therefore, when you have some spare time while doing your duty, you’ll look for chances to take care of your children and husband, wanting to make it up to them even more, and think it’s fine even if you have to suffer more, as long as you have peace of mind. Is this not brought about by the influence of traditional culture’s ideas and theories about being a good wife and loving mother?” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Recognizing One’s Own Misguided Views Can One Truly Transform). “Satan uses this kind of traditional culture and notions of morality to bind your thoughts, your mind, and your heart, leaving you unable to accept God’s words; you have been possessed by these things of Satan, and rendered incapable of accepting God’s words. When you want to practice God’s words, these things cause disturbance within you, cause you to oppose the truth and God’s requirements, and make you powerless to rid yourself of the yoke of traditional culture. After struggling for a while, you compromise: You prefer to believe traditional notions of morality are correct and in line with the truth, and so you reject or forsake God’s words. You do not accept God’s words as the truth and you think nothing of being saved, feeling that you still live in this world, and can only survive by relying on these things. Unable to endure society’s recrimination, you would rather choose to give up the truth and God’s words, abandoning yourself to traditional notions of morality and the influence of Satan, preferring to offend God and not practice the truth. Tell Me, is man not pitiful? Do they not have need of God’s salvation?” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Recognizing One’s Own Misguided Views Can One Truly Transform). God’s words described my exact state. The traditional Chinese cultural idea of a “good wife and loving mother” is a chain that Satan has bound women with, making people believe that a good woman must live for her husband and children, and always put them first, and that so long as she can satisfy her husband and children, no matter how hard or tiring something is, she should do it, and if she fails to do so, she is not a good wife or loving mother, and will be ridiculed by others. Since I was young, I saw my mother working from dawn to dusk to ensure our family lived comfortably, and she also managed my older brother’s wedding preparations. The villagers all praised my mother as a good wife and mother. Influenced by my mother, after marriage, I took great care of my husband and children. My husband said I was a virtuous wife, and my children said I was a good and loving mother. After my husband’s passing, I took on the responsibilities of a father as well, and I worked hard to earn money to send my kids to school, and no matter how tough it was, I bore it alone. After finding God, due to the persecution of the CCP, I was forced to leave home, and though I was doing my duty elsewhere, my heart was always with my kids, and I lived in a state of feeling indebted to them. Especially when I saw my son reach marriage age, and I couldn’t provide financial support for him, I felt even more strongly that I had failed as a mother. After I was chosen as a church leader, I knew that I should consider God’s intentions, but I was afraid of delaying my earning money for my son’s marriage, so I refused this duty. Even when watering newcomers, my heart wasn’t in it, as all my focus was on earning money for my son, causing newcomers not to receive timely watering. Now, when faced with taking care of my daughter-in-law, even though I hadn’t gone to her, my heart had already drifted from God. I was living in a state of feeling indebted to my son, and I had no heart to do my duty. This led to a decline in the effectiveness of my text-based work. I was bound by the traditional idea of being a “good wife and loving mother,” so whenever my duty conflicted with this, my thoughts were always on not letting my kids down, and I didn’t care at all about the interests of the church. I’d believed in God for many years and enjoyed so much watering and provision of His words, yet I was doing things that rebelled against and resisted Him. I was truly without any humanity! Now I understood that these traditional cultural ideas are tools that Satan uses to bind people, causing me to live only to gain the reputation of being a good mother, and to eventually be eliminated for failing to fulfill my duty as a created being. God’s words helped me discern Satan’s sinister intentions. I could no longer be bound and constrained by traditional culture, and I had to practice according to God’s words.

I then read more of God’s words. “What does God mean when He says that ‘God is the source of man’s life’? It is to make everyone realize this: Our lives and souls all come from God and were created by Him—not from our parents, and certainly not from nature, but given us by God. Only our flesh was born of our parents, as our children are born of us, but their fate is entirely in God’s hands. That we can believe in God is an opportunity given by Him; it is ordained by Him and is His grace. There is therefore no need for you to fulfill your obligation or responsibility to anyone else; you should only fulfill your duty to God as a created being. This is what people must do above anything else, the main thing that should be done as the primary affair of one’s life. If you do not fulfill your duty well, you are not a qualified created being. In the eyes of others, you may be a good wife and loving mother, an excellent housewife, a filial child, and an upstanding member of society, but before God you are one who rebels against Him, one who has not fulfilled their obligation or duty at all, one who accepted yet did not complete God’s commission, one who gave up halfway. Can someone like this gain God’s approval? People like this are worthless” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Recognizing One’s Own Misguided Views Can One Truly Transform). When I read this passage of God’s words, my heart felt much brighter. I am a created being, and fulfilling my duties well is my responsibility. If I cannot do my duties well, I am not worthy of receiving God’s salvation. Even if I’m a good wife and loving mother, this doesn’t mean I possess the truth, and this doesn’t meet with God’s approval. Before, I lived according to traditional culture, always struggling between being a good wife and loving mother and doing my duties. This exhausted me both physically and mentally, and I was in unbearable pain. Now I understood God’s intention. Everything in a person’s life comes from God, I owed nothing to any person, and my greatest debt was to God. Only pursuing the truth and fulfilling my duties is the most meaningful. So I prayed to God, entrusting my daughter-in-law into God’s hands, and first chose to do my duty well. Later, I learned that everything went smoothly with my daughter-in-law giving birth, and my daughter-in-law and my son didn’t blame me for anything. I thanked God in my heart!

Later, I read another passage of God’s words, and this helped me understand how we should treat our adult children. Almighty God says: “As someone who believes in God and pursues the truth and salvation, the energy and time you have left in your life should be spent performing your duty and on whatever God has entrusted to you; you shouldn’t spend any time on your children. Your life does not belong to your children, and it should not be consumed for their lives or survival, nor to satisfy your expectations of them. Instead, it should be devoted to the duty and entrusted task that God has given you, as well as the mission you should fulfill as a created being. This is where the value and meaning of your life lie. If you are willing to lose your own dignity and become a slave to your children, to worry about them, and to do anything for them in order to satisfy your own expectations for them, then all of this is meaningless and devoid of value, and it will not be commemorated. If you persist in doing so and do not let go of these ideas and actions, it can only mean that you are not someone who pursues the truth, that you are not a qualified created being, and that you are quite rebellious. You cherish neither the life nor the time given to you by God. If your life and your time are spent only for your flesh and affections, and not for the duty God has given you, then your life is unnecessary and devoid of value. You don’t deserve to live, you don’t deserve to enjoy the life God has given you, and you don’t deserve to enjoy everything that God has given you. God gave you children only for you to enjoy the process of raising them, to gain life experience and knowledge from it as parents, to let you experience something special and extraordinary in human life, and then to let your offspring multiply…. Of course, it is also to fulfill the responsibility of a created being as a parent. It is the responsibility God ordained for you to fulfill toward the next generation, as well as the role you play as parents for the next generation. In one respect, it is to go through this extraordinary process of raising children, and in another, it is to play a role in propagating the next generation. Once this obligation is fulfilled, and your children grow up into adults, whether they become highly successful or remain plain, ordinary, and simple individuals, it has nothing to do with you, because their destiny is not determined by you, nor is it your choice, and you certainly did not give it to them—it is ordained by God. Since it is ordained by God, you should not interfere or stick your nose into their life or their survival. Their habits, daily routines, and attitude toward life, whatever survival strategies they have, whatever outlook on life, whatever their attitude toward the world—these are their own choices to make, and they are not your concern. You have no obligation to correct them or to bear any suffering on their behalf to ensure that they are happy every day. All of these things are unnecessary. … Therefore, the most rational attitude for parents after their children grow up is to let go, to let them experience life on their own, to let them live independently, and face, handle, and resolve the various challenges in life independently. If they seek help from you and you have the ability and conditions to do so, of course you can lend a helping hand and provide necessary aid. However, the prerequisite is that, no matter what help you provide, whether it’s financial or psychological, it can only be temporary and cannot change any substantial issues. They must navigate their own path in life, and you have no obligation to shoulder any of their affairs or consequences. This is the attitude parents should have toward their adult children” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (19)). God’s words made me understand that as a created being, only by fulfilling my duties can my life have value and meaning. My life isn’t just about satisfying my children, or paying a price or expending myself for them. When my children were young, I took care of them attentively; when they grew up, my responsibilities as a parent were complete, and I should then let go and allow them to experience life. After that, how they should live or how their lives turn out is no longer related to me. I should help if I’m able, but if I can’t, I shouldn’t feel indebted. Because a person’s fate is predetermined by God, parents cannot change their children’s fate. Now, I should focus all my energy on my duties, equip myself more with truth principles to make up for my deficiencies, pursue the truth to resolve my corrupt dispositions, practice the truth, and do things according to principles. This is what pleases God.

After experiencing this, I understood that if people believe in God but don’t look at things according to God’s words, and if they don’t use the truth to free themselves from Satan’s traditional culture, philosophies for worldly dealings, and poisons, then they will never attain liberation. Only by living according to God’s words can one break free from Satan’s bonds and constraints, and attain true liberation and freedom. Thank God for His salvation!