God Shows Her a Good Way to Teach Son

By Liu Mei, China

One day in May, the sun blazed down on a big tree in a farmyard. The tree has a thick trunk, with dense leaves, shielding the yard from the sunshine. A middle-age woman was washing clothes while her husband was fetching water for her.

“Fang Yue, would you want another bucket of water?” Her husband said and went to her carrying a full bucket of water. Then he put down the bucket and took a stool to sit down.

“Tomorrow is Saturday. Is our son coming back?” Her husband asked.

“Well, he is not. One more month and he is going to take the college entrance exam. He’s got a very tight schedule during this period.” Fang Yue said and stood up to pour out the dirty water in the basin. At that moment, The cellphone in her pocket rang. She dried her hands and took out the phone. It was from her son. “Hello, son. Why do you call me at this time? Isn’t it your class time?” Said Fang Yue.

“I … I …” Her son faltered.

“What’s up, son? Speak quickly!” Fang Yue asked.

“I’m suspended from class. Now I’m at the school gate.” The son said cowardly.

“Ah! What’s the reason?” Said Fang Yue, looking surprised. At the news, her husband began to get annoyed and said, “What? He is suspended?”

“My teacher found I played cellphone in class and then I was punished by being suspended for five days.” Said the son.

“You play cellphone in class again? I’ve told you so many times, but you just never listen …” Before Fang Yue finished her words, her husband suddenly stood up and said angrily, “Let him wait for me. I’ll be right there.”

“Son, you dad let you wait there …” Said Fang Yue.

“What? My dad is at home? Don’t let him come. I’m not going to meet him even if he comes.” After these words, her son hung up.

Her son’s stubborn voice worried Fang Yue, so she hurriedly dialed her son’s phone number. Yet she couldn’t get through to him.

“I’ll go there right away. This child is too disobedient. The college entrance exam is just around the corner. How can he do such a thing?” Her husband turned blue with rage.

“It’s of no use your going there.” Said Fang Yue. “He’s said he doesn’t want to see you. Even if you go, you can’t find him.”

“No. I must go to his school and have a good talk with his teacher to resume his class. You call him again and tell him to wait for me at the school gate.” Her husband urged.

Fang Yue dialed her son’s phone number again, but still couldn’t get through. “I don’t think he wants to answer our phone, so you’d better not go.” She said.

“This child never frees us from worry. The college entrance exam is coming soon, but he still played cellphone and got into trouble. Now he even doesn’t answer the phone. This is driving me crazy.” Her husband exclaimed angrily.

Fang Yue was also on pins and needles, worriedly thinking: This child neither answers the phone nor comes home. Where will he go? What if he takes it to heart and something happens to him? Alas! Why does this occur when everything is OK? As she considered, God’s word emerged in her mind, “Where you will go every day, what you will do, who or what you will encounter, what you will say, what will happen to you—can any of this be predicted? People cannot foresee all these occurrences, much less control how they develop” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). Fang Yue had a clearer mind: Right! Everything that comes upon us each day can’t be foreseen and decided by any person. They are all under God’s sovereignty and arrangement. At this time, she prayed to God silently, “O God! Whether there is anything wrong with my son, I have no idea, nor can I control it. I commit everything to Your hand. I’m only willing to seek and wait, and submit to Your orchestration and arrangement.” This simple prayer calmed Fang Yue’s anxious heart.

Just then, Fang Yue’s phone rang. She answered it and said, “Hello, son. What if I go there with your dad? Let’s have a good talk with your teacher.”

“Mom, don’t come. It’s useless. This is the school’s regulation. No one is an exception. Like me, two students also went home yesterday.” Her son explained.

“Then you can come back. Don’t hang around outside and let mom worry about you.” Fang Yue tried to persuade him.

“Well, my dad is at home. I …” Her son still had some misgivings.

“It’s OK. Just come back. Mom’s here.” Said Fang Yue.

“Well, all right. I’m going home after a while.” With this, her son hung up.

“This child is really not obedient. He just knows to play all day. He almost drives me mad.” The more her husband spoke, the angrier he got.

“Forget it! Now that it’s been done, don’t be angry. After our son comes back, don’t come down on him. You see, he is too afraid to meet you.”

“How am I not angry? You say, I sweat my guts out to make money all day, expecting that he can enter a good college and won’t suffer like us in the future. Why doesn’t he understand my heart? How come I have such a child? Alas …” Her husband sighed and went to the room.

Fang Yue sat in the yard sinking into deep thought: This child is indeed not obedient. There is little time left and he still doesn’t study hard. People all say “knowledge changes the fate of man.” What if he can’t attend a good college? Our family condition is not good. If he doesn’t have a diploma, it will be difficult for him to find a job in this society. What shall we do? Because of lacking education, my husband and I have to toil hard for a living all our life. So we must make our child go to college anyway. Only in that way, can he get a good job in the future instead of going down our old ways. …

The more Fang Yue thought, the more upset she felt. Then she hurriedly came before God and asked God to keep her heart from the disturbance of this matter. She was only willing to be quiet before God and learn lessons from it. At this time, her heart gradually calmed down. She asked herself: Why do I care so much about my son going to college? Can knowledge really change the fate of man? Fang Yue couldn’t help but search her heart. … She remembered God’s word says, “From when man first had social sciences, the mind of man was occupied by science and knowledge. Then science and knowledge became tools for the ruling of mankind, and there was no longer sufficient room for man to worship God, and no more favorable conditions for the worship of God. The position of God sunk ever lower in the heart of man. A world in man’s heart with no place for God is dark, empty without hope. And so arose many social scientists, historians, and politicians to express theories of social science, the theory of human evolution, and other theories that contravene the truth that God created man, to fill the heart and mind of man. And in this way, those who believe that God created everything become ever fewer, and those who believe in the theory of evolution become ever greater in number” (“God Presides Over the Fate of All Mankind”). The revelation of God’s word suddenly awakened Fang Yue. She thought: Why do I worry about my son? Isn’t it because science and knowledge has seized my heart and I only want to rely on science and knowledge to change my son’s fate that I don’t believe God’s sovereignty and arrangement of my son’s fate?

Since there was knowledge and science, through the national propaganda, school education, and social infection and influence, people all put a highest value on knowledge and science, so everyone adores knowledge. They worship as the truth the laws of survival from Satan such as “The worth of other pursuits is small; the study of books excels them all,” “Through studying you will gain success, and fortune will follow,” and “Knowledge can change your fate.” People all want to change their own fate with knowledge. Unconsciously, they throw themselves to the whirlwind of learning and pursuing knowledge, forgetting the tenet that God rules over the fate of all things. As a result, they become the playthings in the hand of Satan and are completely captured by Satan. I am not an exception. Over these many years, I also have lived by satanic poisons such as “One’s destiny is in his own hand” and “Knowledge can change your fate.” I have believed that my family condition is poor so the only way out for my son is to attend college; otherwise, his future would be absolutely ruined. Fang Yue realized: Despite believing in God, I still didn’t believe in God’s predestination and sovereignty. I was far from conscious to have been controlled and poisoned by satanic laws of survival. I was really too blind and ignorant.

Fang Yue then thought: My friend’s daughter always wanted to attend Tsinghua University, but she finally failed and also suffered from psychosis. Look at the people around us, those people with a stable footing and successful career in society do not all rely on high diploma or high degree. The fate of people truly depends on the predestination of God. Everyone’s life comes from God and everyone’s fate is even more in God’s hand. “Knowledge can change your fate” is totally a saying used by Satan to deceive people, and it is also a trick and tool to corrupt, fool, and afflict people. How can knowledge change the fate of man? How can it determine the future of my son? Thinking of this, Fang Yue felt much released.

Fang Yue also remembered it has been said long ago in God’s word, “Besides birth and childrearing, the parents’ responsibility in a child’s life is simply to provide him or her 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 his or her 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. … And so no one’s parents can assist one in accomplishing one’s mission in life, 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” (“God Himself, the Unique III”). God’s word is clear: What kind of fate everyone has comes from the predestination and arrangement of the Creator. Everyone has his own role. Parents can bring up their children, but they can never determine and change the path their children will walk and their children’s mission in this world. Therefore, what college will my son attend? What job will he take? And what kind of fate does he have? None of them can be determined by me. Likewise, my son’s effort even can’t determine what path he will walk. His fate has no direct relationship with what college he will attend. All these depend on the predestination of the Creator. At this thought, smile appeared on Fang Yue’s face. She took a look at the time, and then took her washing to hang them out. After that, she went to the kitchen to cook food.

After lunch, her husband went to their neighbor to help them out.

A while later, her son came back. Fang Yue looked at her son and said in earnest, “Son, you’re no longer a little child. Mom hopes you can have God in your heart from now on. No matter where you are, what difficulties you have, or what you are doing, pray and rely on God more, and conduct yourself and do things according to God’s word. In this way, God will care for and keep you, as well as bless you. The college entrance exam is near, but don’t have pressure in your heart. Just doing what you can is fine. In the future, what college you will attend, what job you will take, or what kind of fate your will have, none of them can be decided by us. Everything of us is in God’s hand and they are all decided by God. We should submit to God’s arrangement and predestination. Meanwhile, we should come before God more, listen to more of God’s word, and live out a true human likeness according to God’s requirement. This is the best choice and the big thing in your life. And it is also the right path every one of us should walk.”

“Mm, I know, mom.” Her son replied. Then he continued, “Mom, I know I’m wrong. From now on I will no longer take my cellphone to school. Look, I take my books and test papers back. I want to focus on reviewing my lessons in the next few days.”

In the evening, Fang Yue’s husband returned. She told him about her son and shared the enlightenment and knowledge she gained from God’s word. At last, her husband said nothing more.

The moonlight illuminated the farmyard, and through the window it filtered into the room. Her husband had fallen into slumber while Fang Yue was lying awake. She was recalling what had happened in the daytime and was clear that this was God’s leading and guidance. She had some knowledge of the satanic poisons that had hidden in the depths of her heart for many years, and also had some discernment about the sinister motive of Satan corrupting people. Meanwhile, she had some taste of God’s authority and His sovereignty. She understood the fate of her husband, her son, and herself is in the hand of the Creator. Though they are one family, everyone’s mission and role is not the same. God will be responsible for everyone. Thus, she was no longer worried about her son’s future or forced anything on him, because she believed that everyone’s fate is in God’s hand and that only God can lead people into the beautiful destination. She was only willing to submit to God’s arrangement.

She also genuinely experienced that God’s word is very important in actual life and can resolve all kinds of problems she meets in her daily life. Her anxiety, annoyance, and inner bitterness were gradually resolved through God’s word. Living by relying on God is really great. She gave true thanks and praise to God from the bottom of her heart.

With these thoughts, Fang Yue drifted into slumber. …