One afternoon, my daughter’s good friend brought her 5-year-old son to my home, and discussed with me: She was going away on a business trip, and it was inconvenient to take her son with her. So she wanted me to look after her son for three days. At that time, I thought three days were not too long, so I agreed.
However, what I didn’t expect was that the boy was too naughty. In less than half a day, he made an awful mess everywhere: He bounced on the bed with his shoes on once I didn’t watch him over; he poured the water on the floor and lay prone there, saying that he was swimming; he stood up on the table or the stool and then jumped down when I was not looking; he got into the cardboard box, ducked behind the sofa or under the table, refusing to get out; more than that, he even didn’t pass water in the bathroom but urinated into the bucket in the kitchen. At meal time, he would hide in the cardboard box like playing hide-and-seek game, or would stay in the bathroom, pretending not to hear me. I had a hard time coaxing him out from there. But he still didn’t eat properly: stubbornly selecting the big steamed bun or fried dough bar and throwing them on the floor after only taking a bite of it. … Seeing the child was so disobedient, I felt very indignant. But then I thought: He is a young boy after all, who is immature. If he doesn’t eat properly and goes hungry, how am I going to answer to his mother? Then, I simply coaxed him into eating food, and I followed at his heels and fed him. Even thus, he only ate a little and I exhausted in feeding him. But not only that, he also threw my granddaughter’s school supplies everywhere and even tore up her books while we weren’t looking. My granddaughter was so angry and cried. And I was also so angry that my heart beat faster and my mind exploded, but I could do nothing to him. I thought: This child is really a tough boy. If he is a child of my family, I must teach him a good lesson and teach him how to behave himself. But he is the child of others’ family. Alas, never have I met such a troublesome child. I had no choice but to endure him for several days, expecting within that his mother could come back soon so that I could be free.
I waited and waited until it was the sixth day, but the child’s mother still didn’t come back. I thought: Maybe she hasn’t finished her business. Well, I’ll endure some time. But on the tenth day, she still didn’t come back. Then, I made a phone call to her. Unexpectedly, she said that she hadn’t finished her things yet. She asked me to take care of her child for two months more and promised to pay me. Upon hearing that, I disagreed immediately. But she tried to calm me and spoke many good words, repeatedly begging me for help. Before I finished my words, she hanged up. Hearing the beep sound, I felt stuck, thinking: How can there be such a thing? Can it be that she leaves this child to me? … But complaint was useless. The child’s mother was unable to come back, so I had to keep him. After a period of time, I lost more than 5kg of weight. At night, I couldn’t have a good sleep; during the day, I had a headache, and felt dizzy and sluggish. During this period, I phoned the child’s mother several more times, but she always said that she hadn’t finished her business and couldn’t come back. I was very indignant, but I could do nothing. I used to like quiet and have a good temper, hardly speaking in high voice or never being incompatible with any child. However, since taking care of this naughty child, I involuntarily spoke with anger and scolded the child loudly. And my temper also became bad. But no matter how, the child was still naughty. My nagging didn’t make any difference to him, which irritated me so much that as long as I saw him, I would have a headache and want to lose my temper. Out of anger, I frequently suffered from internal heat, had a toothache and my face was swollen up with toothache.
One day, a sister who lived on upper floor saw that I was thinner than before and also had no smile. So she asked me whether I had encountered any difficulties. Then I told her about my annoyance of taking care of the child. After hearing my words, the sister said: “I saw it in daily life; the child is indeed naughty. But we can’t resolve problems by jumping on him around all day. We should first accept from God, and then pray and seek God’s will instead of treating the child by relying on our temper. Otherwise, we will never resolve problems.”
And then, the sister read a passage of God’s word with me: “If you want to put the truth into practice and understand it, first you must understand the essence of the difficulties you yourself face and the things that happen around you, what the problem is, and what aspect of the truth it is related to. You must seek this out. After that, seek the truth based on the real difficulties of yours. That way you gradually experience this, and you will be able to see the hand of God, what He wants to do, and the results He wants in you in everything that happens around you. If you feel that none of things that happen around you have anything to do with your belief in God or the truth, and you think: ‘I can handle it; I don’t need the truth or God’s word. Once there’s a gathering or I’m reading God’s word, or when I’m performing my duty, I’ll hold it up to the truth and to God’s word’; if you feel that the things that usually occur in your life—things in your family, work, marriage, and future prospects, all the things that happen around you—are not related to the truth, and you use human means to resolve them; if you experience things this way, then you will never gain the truth, and you will never understand what God actually wants to achieve in you and gain in you.”
The sister fellowshiped: “No matter what things we encounter, we should first quiet our heart, and then come before God and speak to Him. The mind of us mankind is in God’s hand, so is the boy’s. Therefore, only relying on our scolding and roaring at him is unable to solve the problem. The more you scold him, the more he won’t listen to you, and the more he will go against you, because he knows that you hate him. In that case, we will only live in the vicious cycle of being fooled and harmed by Satan. If we come before God, rely on God, and seek God’s will, God will surely lead us, and let us have a way to follow. Sister, you should pray to and rely on God more to seek God’s will.”
After reading God’s word and hearing sister’s fellowship, I suddenly felt brightened in my heart. Right! I should accept from God, and pray to seek God’s will. This is a good opportunity for me to practice the truth and enter into reality. These days, living in the pain and torment, I was too numb to rely on God and seek God’s will. Instead, I only taught the child by my natural temper in an attempt to educate him to behave well by myself. As a result, not only did I not solve the problem, but I was exhausted and my temper grew bigger. Then, I prayed to God: “O God, the child is also a creature in Your hand. I am willing to commit him to You and let You rule over him and arrange everything for him. May You enlighten and lead me. Let me be able to rely on and look up to You, practice according to Your requirement, and no longer do things depending on my own idea when I take care of him.”
One day, I saw God’s word says: “Regardless of whether one becomes angry in the sight of others or behind their backs, everyone has a different intention and purpose. Perhaps they are building up their prestige, or maybe they are defending their own interests, maintaining their image or keeping face. Some exercise restraint in their anger, while others are more rash and flare up with rage whenever they wish without the least bit of restraint. In short, man’s anger derives from his corrupt disposition. No matter what its purpose, it is of the flesh and of nature; it has nothing to do with justice or injustice because nothing in man’s nature and substance corresponds to the truth.”
God’s word touched my heart. It turned out that behind my anger hides the corrupt disposition often. I used to think I was a person who liked quiet and had a good temper and a good relationship with people. So I believed that it was reasonable to lose my temper to the child and that it was his naughty that made me flare up with rage. I have never thought that there is corrupt disposition in my anger. Today, after reading God’s word, I come to know that the anger of corrupt mankind is all mixed with their intention and purpose, absolutely without righteous things. Thinking carefully, when I couldn’t stand what the child did and saw he didn’t listen to me, I wanted to lose my temper, and my intention of losing temper was to let him listen to and obey me. But when he didn’t listen to me and still did what he liked, bringing me a lot of troubles and uneasiness, I couldn’t stand anymore and was irritated that I flared up with rage and yelled. What I did had little likeness of a person believing in God. How could it be after God’s heart? I came to know: Actually, in order to protect my interest, I vented my discontent, and this was the root cause that I lost my temper. However, such anger was disliked by both God and man.
I knew that the reason why I was unable to get along well with the child was caused by my own corrupt disposition. In the following days, I should pay attention to resolving my own corrupt disposition, and shouldn’t fixate on the child, much less should I deal with matters that come upon me by my temper. Then, I began to practice like this. Sometimes, when the child made mischief, I would still lose my temper; sometimes, I couldn’t control my temper and vented it, but I could realize it, and then I instantly prayed to God and sought God’s help and leading. Afterward, when the child made mischief again, I eagerly called to God and then God’s word would lead me. Gradually, I no longer roared at and scolded him as before; instead, I relied on God, patiently tried to communicate with him, and repeatedly reasoned with him to move him. After practicing in this way for some days, I was no longer irritable; I had a better mood, and could quiet my heart to read God’s word. Every night, when I learned the hymn of God’s word or watched the gospel movies and videos, they two children would tamely sit by my side to listen to the music or watch the movies. Especially when they saw the young brothers and sisters sing and dance to praise God, they watched seriously and also were happy. At that time, I fellowshiped with them: God likes the children who worship God, and likes the good children who are sensible and well-behaved…. They both nodded after hearing that.
Some days later, wonderful things happened: The child became obedient; he no longer needed to be fed by me at meal time; sometimes, he would even wash his bowl after finishing his meal. My granddaughter saw and said gladly: “Grandma, look! My brother knows to wash his bowl after having his meal.” Seeing this, I was also so happy and excited that I came before God to offer thanks and praises. Just like this, my anger vanished gradually. I no longer got angry easily and had a headache, internal heat, and toothache as before. My relationship with the child became closer and closer, and the child also became more and more sensible. Thanks be to God!
When the child’s mother came back, she found her child was much better behaved than before. Not only did he not roll on the floor or jump on the bed with his shoes, but he was willing to wash his feet every night as well as brush his teeth; he would even wash the bowls of him and his mother after dinner; moreover, he was very close to me. After seeing all these, the child’s mother picked up the child twirling several rounds, and then said to me excitedly: “Aunt, you are better than my mom. You don’t know. Because my son was too naughty, even my mom was unwilling to take care of him. But you looked after him for several months; not only did you not dislike him, but you educated him so well. I really don’t know how I can thank you enough….” She was so excited and insisted on taking me out for a meal. I said: “No, thanks.” Because I knew: The child is able to have these changes. It is not because I am good, but because of God’s blessing and leading. I couldn’t help thanking God and praising Him for His deeds. Later on, I saw the child’s mother has a good humanity, so I preached the gospel and testified God’s deeds to her. She accepted with joy.
After this experience, I truly thanked God, because I saw when I relied on God, practiced and lived by the truth, God would bless and lead me. My pain and temper was resolved. The child became sensible, and his mother also was brought before God for this. I saw God’s deeds are really too wonderful. At the same time, I also saw how important the truth is to us, and that as long as we are willing to rely on God and put the truth into practice, there is no problem that can’t be resolved. Just as God’s word says: “Whether the words spoken by God are, in outward appearance, plain or abstruse, they are all truths indispensable to man as he enters into life; they are the fount of living waters that enables him to survive in both spirit and flesh. They provide what man needs to stay alive; the dogma and creed for conducting his daily life; … They are rich in the reality of the truth of normal humanity as it is lived out by created mankind, rich in the truth by which mankind breaks free from corruption and eludes Satan’s snares, rich in the tireless teaching, exhortation, encouragement, and solace that the Creator gives to created humanity. They are the beacon that guides and enlightens men to understand all that is positive, the guarantee which ensures that men will live out and come into possession of all that is righteous and good.”
I’m grateful to God for creating this environment for me, so that I can have these gains from the experience. All the glory be to Almighty God!
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