Ma Na, USA
During a person’s life, facing success and failure is unavoidable.
There are many people who are happy when they have success, and who are
frustrated and pained when they face failure. There are even many people
who stake all their efforts in wanting to reach a point at which all
their hopes are fulfilled, but things are often not how people would
like them to be. Because of this, many people think that this life is
not as they want it to be. Previously, I also always relied on my own
ability in the work I did, and all that I got from that was the pain of
failure. But afterward, through experiencing some things, my perspective
had a bit of a transformation: Tranquility in success, and calmness in
failure—obeying the sovereignty and arrangements of God is the best, and
one can also be liberated and free in life that way.
Because I stood out in the realm of sports, there was one time that I
represented my school in participating in a city-wide sprinting
competition. Before, when I took part in sports at school, I always won
every gold medal in the sprint event. So I was full of confidence about
this race, and showed disdain for all others just as if I were some
great sports hero. In my training before the race, I was undisciplined,
and thought to myself: Anyway, with my ability it’s all but guaranteed
that I will win the trophy, and the race is simply running, that’s it.
But mom always said to me: “The most important thing isn’t what place
you get; what’s most important is learning to rely on God and being able
to experience God’s work. Entrust everything to God, for only by
obeying God’s sovereignty will you be able to be calm and liberated. If
you rely on yourself, you will certainly fail.” In theory, I knew that
what my mom said was right, but I thought in my heart: “God is the one
true God who created the universe and everything in it. Does God need to
be bothered about a competition as small as this?” Besides, the result
of this competition isn’t of any concern at all, since the prize was
essentially something I could have just reached out my hand and taken.”
In the blink of an eye, the day of the competition had arrived. I
strode into the stadium and saw athletes who had come from a variety of
school districts, each of them rubbing their hands together with
anticipation, eager to give it a shot. Looking at their professional and
matching uniforms, and the orderly and disciplined way they did their
warm-up movements, it made me nervous about a competition for the first
time. This was especially so when I saw there were some physiques which
were clearly far beyond those of the athletes in our age group, and just
their legs were a great deal more developed than mine. When I found out
that I was to compete together with them, the confidence that “I have
the power to pull up the mountains and the might that surpasses the
world; I will bravely seize first place and will not give up” as well as
the “primeval power” stored in my body vanished without a trace in an
instant. But at that time I already could not back out, and I could only
summon up my resolve and enter the playing field. There were eight
teams altogether in the men’s 100 meters sprint, and in the first round
only the top two members of each team would qualify to go to the
semifinals. Finally, the eight athletes with the best results would
compete for the trophy, for second place, and other prizes. I was placed
in group seven, and looking at the other athletes in my group, they all
had dark skin and a sturdy build, and this made me feel the greatest
kind of pressure for the first time. The first six teams had already
finished running, and soon it was our turn to take the field. With a
nervous heart, I took my place on the track. At that moment, I realized
that in doing my warm-up exercises I still had not stretched. Flustered,
I quickly stretched a few muscles, but there was already not enough
time for me to get ready, so I put my feet into the starting marks, and
stretched my palms out over the line, and waited for the referee to call
out. “Everyone...on your mark…get set…” In the few seconds waiting for
the sound of the starting gun, it was like a century had passed. The sun
was scorching my skin and my fingers were aching from supporting my
body, but what I felt most deeply was the unforgettable anxiety and
sound of my heartbeat. My coach once said that anxiety before a match
can help one’s performance, but I felt like this kind of anxiety would
be fatal for me. It was as if the whole world was calm, and the only
thing I could hear was the beating of my heart as it went “thump thump,
thump thump…” At last, the starting gun sounded, and instinctively I
shifted my legs, moved my arms, and charged forward. But somehow, a
tendon in my left thigh seemed to be intentionally making things
difficult for me. I clearly felt that my steps lacked that grace and
fleet-footedness that I had had before on the racetrack. Soon I saw in
my field of vision that two athletes alongside me had passed me by
several lengths, and I quickly became agitated. I sprinted forward with
all my might but I couldn’t catch up to them. Usually, I was the only
one passing people, so how could it be that there were others beating
me? In that moment, the confidence I had before the match collapsed and
disappeared in an instant. Looking back, I have no idea how I finished
running the remaining few dozen meters. I just remember that after
running I immediately gathered up my things and left the field.
Because I got third place in my team, there was no way for me to
continue on to compete in the semifinals. I was enveloped in frustration
and dismay, and sat alone on the bleachers lost in thought, thinking
back over every scene of when I entered the field. I complained to
myself about why I hadn’t prepared better and had been beaten by them
like that. At the same time, I also blamed God somewhere deep in my
heart, and thought: “God! Why, when I believe in You, did I not receive
any special care from You? How did You let me be eliminated in the first
round? …” After feeling depressed for some time, I suddenly thought of
what my mom had said to me that morning: “The result isn’t the most
important thing; what is most important is to learn to obey God…” Yes!
God requires people to obey Him in their faith. Now, my reproachful
heart faded away in a flash, and I sat on the bleachers thinking: I
didn’t get any of the prizes I had originally expected, so hadn’t I come
here today in vain? Actually, that’s not entirely so. Looking at it
from another perspective, being able to come and participate in the
municipal track and field competition broadened my perspective and gave
me some more life experience. Wasn’t all of this arranged by God, and
wasn’t it God who added character to my journey in life? What’s even
more important is that this experience caused me to understand the true
meaning of God’s statement: “If you rely on your knowledge and ability in your undertakings, then you shall always be a failure.”
Isn’t all of this quite a rare benefit? Isn’t it all God’s blessing for
me? So I whispered to God in my heart: “God! Even though this result
today went against my expectations, and I suffered a bit of a loss, I’m
still grateful to You and want to obey You. I know that everything You
arrange is good, and it is only because I don’t know You that I came up
with misunderstandings and complaints about You. I was wrong.” In a few
short phrases, even though it wasn’t in the form of a prayer, it still
made my heart tranquil and there was a great deal of calm and steadiness
in my heart.
The fantastic thing was that when my heart was willing to obey, the
environment around me also changed, and God’s words truly came to
fruition: “Any and all things, living or dead, will shift, change,
renew, and disappear according to God’s thoughts. This is how God rules
over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word
Appears in the Flesh). Before long, a student ran by and said to me,
“Your name showed up on the semifinals board.” After I heard it, I
simply didn’t believe it. I hurriedly ran over to see the results. I
discovered to my surprise that I had broken through third place on the
team on an exception and entered the semifinals! (Later, I learned that
the athlete who got first place had participated in another competition,
he had been disqualified from taking part in the semifinals.) I was
very tranquil in my heart, because I became clearly aware that all this
was ordered by God. In the following races, I learned to look up to God
and entrusted the results of the match to God. I obeyed God’s
sovereignty and in the end obtained fifth place.
At that time, the results of the competition already were not the
most important thing to me. What was important was that after the
experience my faith in God increased greatly. I clearly came to know
that if a person relies on one’s own strength in his struggles, he is
bound to face defeat. The sovereignty and arrangement of everything is
in the hands of God. As long as one maintains dependence on God and
keeps inside himself a heart that obeys God in all that he does, he can
remain calm and tranquil in the face of success and defeat. He can also
receive God’s blessing. It is just as God’s word says: “Because
people do not recognize God’s orchestrations and God’s sovereignty, they
always face fate defiantly, with a rebellious attitude, and always want
to cast off God’s authority and sovereignty and the things fate has in
store, hoping in vain to change their current circumstances and alter
their fate. But they can never succeed; they are thwarted at every turn.
This struggle, which takes place deep in one’s soul, is painful; the
pain is unforgettable; and all the while one is frittering away one’s
life. … But when you truly know, when you truly come to recognize that
God has sovereignty over human fate, when you truly understand that
everything God has planned for and decided for you is a great benefit,
and is a great protection, then you feel your pain gradually lighten,
and the whole of you become relaxed, free, liberated” (“God Himself,
the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Looking back on myself before and after the competition, when I didn’t
know God’s sovereignty and wanted to rely on my own strength to strive
for first place, there was a disparity between what I expected and the
results that showed up. I had an indescribable pain in my heart; but
when I realized that God is the sovereign of everything, and when I
wanted to obey God, I understood God’s intention by seeking to figure it
out and my viewpoint also changed. I no longer lived within the pain of
losing the prize and the glory, but instead had a real understanding
and experience of God’s word through this defeat. I gained something
that was true, and obtained relaxation and liberation in my heart. After
this, I practiced obedience to God in many matters, and discovered more
and more that when I myself obey God, even if sometimes things didn’t
actually turn out how I wanted, I still had in my heart a totally
different kind of feeling of tranquility and liberation. Even more so in
victory and defeat, I tasted God’s authority and sovereignty for myself
and saw God’s marvelous deeds. I felt deeply that obeying God was truly
precious!
The word of Almighty God says: “At all times God wields His
authority, shows His might, continues His management work as always; at
all times He rules all things, provides for all things, orchestrates all
things, just as He always did. No one can change this. It is fact; it
has been the unchanging truth since time immemorial! … All things under
God’s arrangements and sovereignty obey natural laws, and if you resolve
to let God arrange and dictate everything for you, you should learn to
wait, you should learn to seek, you should learn to submit. This is the
attitude that every person who wants to submit to God’s authority must
take, the basic quality that every person who wants to accept God’s
sovereignty and arrangements must possess” (“God Himself, the Unique III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh).
“That you can submit to each day’s environment that God prepares
and each day of life He gives you, letting Him lead you, that you can
most happily and peacefully live in His presence, allow Him to lead you,
and are able to submit to His sovereignty. If you have this kind of
attitude, you will then come to see without conscious effort that all
this is under God’s command” (“A Person Can Live Life With Dignity
Only by Submitting to and Revering God” in Records of Christ’s Talks).
The more I experienced, the more I have learned that obeying God is a
most excellent endeavor, much better than all subjects in school. It is
what is most worthy of every person learning and entering into
carefully. No matter if the things a person encounters are great or
small, they are all under the sovereignty of God’s authority. No matter
if you can feel it, God is with us controlling everything. As long as we
can have faith in God’s sovereignty in everything we encounter, and can
obey all that God controls and arranges, we will be able to see that
everything God arranges for us is for the best. We will be able to
calmly confront all people and things that we are faced with, and live
happily in the presence of God. Thanks be to Almighty God! All honor and
glory be unto God!
from How I Turned Back to Almighty God
Source from：The Tranquility of Victory and the Calm of Defeat—Obeying God Is Best
Recommendation：
Movies of the Church of Almighty God
Searching for the Footprints of God—The Eastern Lightning
Movies of the Church of Almighty God
Searching for the Footprints of God—The Eastern Lightning
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