I’m a Christian. During my belief in God, I have received God’s great protection, especially in that experience in which my grandson and I were saved from a pool. It was God who gave us two a second life. Until now as I looked back, it is still vivid in my mind.

One noon in July of 2012, my 2-year-old grandson, Linlin, was playing outside with Haohao, who was over two years old from next door. I was cooking lunch and humming hymns of God’s words at home. Unexpectedly, Haohao and his grandma ran hurriedly toward me and said, “Linlin has fallen into the pool …” His words frightened me out of my senses. I hastily took him by the hand and ran out. As we were running, I kept asking, “Where? Where is he? …” Haohao pointed to the pool which was 30-40 meters away from my house. Following his direction, I saw my grandson was floating in the pool. At that time, I was wild with anxiety, thinking: It’s over. My grandson has been in the pool for a long time. Maybe he has … When thinking of this, I shuddered with fear. In a hurry, I raced toward the pool. Arriving there, I saw my grandson was over 5 meters away from the bank and his two little hands were hitting the water. Seeing my grandson still alive, my heart calmed down a little. But thinking that his life would be in danger at every moment, I went into the pool to save him before thinking too much. However, for each step I walked forward, each ripple would be raised and push my grandson drifting backward. When the water was right up to my chest, my grandson was still far away from me. At the time, I became panicked in my heart, not knowing what to do. I looked back and saw a crowd of people, young and old, stand on the bank of the pool. How I hoped someone could save us! But they were all women or old women. Being extremely nervous, they only kept crying for help but no one dared to dive in to save my grandson. Then I saw a bamboo which was used to hang clothes up on the bank. I thought: If I get the bamboo, I can reach my grandson; if the people on the bank pull us with the bamboo, we both will be out of danger. So I kept shouting: “The bamboo! The bamboo!” But no matter how I shouted, the people on the bank just looked at me in a daze and no one took it for me.

In desperation, I only wanted to hold my grandson. So I continued to walk toward the center of the pool. Seeing the water was up to my neck but my grandson was still a foot or so away from me, I was wild with anxiety. I thought: I am over 50 years old and I cannot swim, if I continue to walk forward, I will sink into the water and can’t surface again with just a little carelessness. If that, not only will my grandson not be saved, but I will lose my life. What should I do? At the moment, I got farther and farther away from the bank while the death walked toward me step by step. I was so scared that I closed my eyes. Then I thought of God’s word: “So long as you still have one breath, God will not let you die” (“Chapter 6” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning). God’s word gave me confidence and strength and I wasn’t afraid anymore. So I called out to God at once: “Almighty God, please save us….” Then a miracle happened. In panic, I grasped my grandson somehow. I was very happy and I knew that God had listened to my prayer. Then I lifted my grandson out of the water with all my might, but I myself entirely sank into the water and my feet sank into the mire and couldn’t move. At the beginning, I could hold my breath. Later, I really couldn’t hold it, so I breathed out and a lot of water poured into my mouth. At the moment, I felt so afraid, thinking: If it continues like this, even if I grasp my grandson, we cannot reach the bank and we will still be drowned in the pool. At the crucial moment, I called to God again: “Almighty God, today our life and death are in Your hands. I’m willing to give our lives to You and obey all Your orchestration and arrangement.” At the moment of life and death, a young man jumped into the pool, held my grandson and swam ashore. I was also brought to the surface and could breathe normally. Seeing my grandson was saved, I offered gratitude and praise to God. However, I had used up all my strength that I couldn’t walk forward, feeling that I would sink into the water at any time. Vaguely, I heard my grandson shouted: “My grandma is still in the water.” At the time, another young man jumped into the water and pulled me, who was on the verge of death, out of the water. Thank God for His protection so that I could be saved too.

Once on shore, I collapsed limply to the ground. I heard the young man who saved my grandson said, “Today my wife asked me to go out and buy something, but I didn’t want to somehow. So, when hearing someone cry for help, I came here immediately.” The young man who saved me also said, “I was cooking at home at that time. But somehow, I wanted to buy some vegetables. Usually, I seldom went out to buy vegetables. And when I came out, I saw someone had fallen into the water. …” The onlookers were also talking together. They said: “The kid is so lucky. He has been in the water for over half an hour. But after being saved, he is conscious and can speak clearly. He is totally fine, just like he was supported by someone. What a miracle!” “How did the over 2-year-old child know to come to her house for help? It’s inconceivable!” “It’s his ancestors who bless him.” When I recovered myself and heard what they said, I said to them firmly, “What you said is all wrong. It’s God’s protection. It’s Almighty God who saved us. Thank Almighty God.”

I thought that when my grandson and I were at the moment of life and death, no one dared to save us from the water. But when I called to God sincerely, I saw God’s wondrous deeds right now. Just as God’s words say: “Man’s heart and spirit are held in the hand of God, everything of his life is beheld in the eyes of God. Regardless of whether or not you believe this, any and all things, whether living or dead, will shift, change, renew, and disappear in accordance with God’s thoughts. Such is the way in which God presides over all things” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life”). God’s words truly made me personally taste that: All things are controlled by God. When my grandson and I were at the crucial moment of life and death, there were two young men: one was about to go out and the other was cooking at home. God arranged for them to save us. Their thoughts are really changed by God. If it were not for God’s salvation, today my grandson and I would lose our lives. I remembered, in the past, several children in my village who dropped into the pool were all drowned. Thinking of this, I couldn’t stop my grateful tears. I was so excited that I couldn’t express it, but could only offer gratitude to God silently: “God! I thank You! Today it’s You who saved me. I really see Your wondrous deeds and also feel that You are at my side anytime, anywhere, and are my only reliance. In future, I shall fulfil my duty well to repay Your love.”

From the experience, I saw that everyone is weak and incapable and can’t withstand a single blow in the disaster. At the same time, I also tasted that only Almighty God can save us. Our life and death are all ruled over by God. Just as Almighty God’s words say: “His deeds are omnipresent, His power is omnipresent, His wisdom is omnipresent, and His authority is omnipresent. … All things exist beneath His gaze, and moreover, all things live under His sovereignty. His deeds and His power leave mankind with no choice but to acknowledge the fact that He really does exist and holds sovereignty over all things. Nothing apart from Him can command the universe, much less endlessly provide for this mankind. Regardless of whether you are able to recognize God’s deeds, and regardless of whether you believe in the existence of God, there is no doubt that your fate is determined by God, and there is no doubt that God will always hold sovereignty over all things” (“Man Can Only Be Saved Amidst God’s Management”).