I am a young Christian. My mother started to believe in God before I was born, and I was growing up in the company of God’s words. Every night, I would drift into sleep listening to God’s words or the hymns of God’s word.

In 2012 when I was 10 years old, the church arranged for an auntie to water us younger brothers and sisters. She once read the following words of God to us: “Since the day man came into existence, God has ever worked thus, managing the universe, directing the rules of change for all things and the trajectory of their movement. Like all things, man is quietly and unknowingly nourished by the sweetness and rain and dew from God; like all things, man unknowingly lives beneath the orchestration of God’s hand. 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.” She fellowshiped with us: “God is the source of our lives; He rules over and manages all things; only He can watch over and protect each and every one of us. When we encounter difficulties, as long as we sincerely pray to and call out to God, He will help us get through them.” I listened carefully to the auntie’s fellowship, and believed that every word God says is a fact. Since then, whenever I encountered difficulties, I would pray to and call out to God. In particular, a memorable event happening that winter allowed me to see even more that God truly exists and that He is right by my side watching over and protecting me all the time. If it weren’t for God, I would have died at that time …

That day after lunch, I went to school happily with a friend as usual. On our way to school, there was a fishpond which was about 300 meters long and we usually crossed it through a dam on it. Yet, somehow, there appeared a breach in the dam those days, which was about 1 meter wide.

As we walked along the long dam, I suddenly thought of my previous experience: Last time when I walked by here, I wanted to see if I could jump over this breach, so I exerted all my strength to make a short run-up and then took a big leap. To my surprise, I landed on the ground across the gap with ease. I thought as I walked toward the breach: “Since I successfully jumped over the breach last time, surely I can do that again.” So I said to my friend: “Last time I easily jumped over the breach after a run-up. How about we try it again today?” “I … I don’t dare to do that,” with a trembling voice, she said. “You shouldn’t either. It’s too dangerous.” “Don’t worry. It’s very easy,” I said to her. “I succeeded last time. I can show you if you don’t believe it. Watch how I do that, and I will jump back later.” After saying this, I started to run, followed by her. However, when I reached the breach and was ready to jump, my foot unexpectedly slipped and I lost my balance and fell into the pond.

In that moment, I really regretted my bad decision, but it was just too late. All I could do was flail around in the cold water. Seeing me fall into the pond frightened my friend into crying, and she shouted: “Help! Help! My friend has fallen into the water!” She then got down on the ground and stretched out her hand, trying to pull me out of the water, yet she couldn’t reach me at all. As she was crying, there came a shout of an old lady in her 60s, who saw me in the water while dumping garbage across the pond: “There is a child in the water! I’ll go home and get a bamboo pole to get you out.” Seeing how panicked they were, I was not sure whether they could save me. All I could do was keep struggling in the water …

Because it was winter, the water was freezing cold. I didn’t know how to swim, so I was basically just flailing around in the water. With some icy water pouring into my mouth, my body began to sink. All along, I felt the pond was so deep that I couldn’t touch the bottom. As I struggled in the water, I got more and more nervous, and as a result more water poured into my mouth and nose. I was choking and suffocating, ears filled with the rumbling sound of the water. I opened my eyes as hard as I could in the hope of finding something to hold, yet all I saw was turbid water, moss and waterweeds, and there was simply nothing I could hold to pull myself out of the water.

Struggling in the water for a while, I didn’t have an ounce of strength left. I began to feel desperate and thought: “I’m finished! It seems that I will die in this pond today. I’ll never see my mom and dad, my grandpa and grandma, and my teachers and classmates again. I’ll never be able to return to my warm home….” Just when I utterly lost hope in life, it suddenly occurred to me that I am a Christian, and that the God I believe in is almighty. “Only God can save me. I should pray to God and rely on Him.” At this thought, I desperately cried out to God in my heart: “God! God! Please save me! Please save me….”

After the prayer, the panic in my heart subsided and I subconsciously pressed my lips together. Strangely, I, who had been exhausted, regained my strength, so I began to flail around in the water again. During the struggle, I suddenly touched a root of a plant. “How come there is a root in the water?” I wondered. Not wasting time to think further, I held tightly to the root and then rose to the surface of the pond. I gulped in air and, with the aid of the root, I moved bit by bit to the riffle and then walked toward the bank.

By the time I got onto the bank, there was not an ounce of strength left in me. Feeling frightened and terrible after being choked, I collapsed on the ground crying. Just then, my friend sprinted down the dam to me and that old lady also came back. Seeing me lying on the bank facedown, my friend asked me nervously, “Are you … are you OK?” The old lady also said in amazement: “How did you get out of the water? Hurry and go home to get changed. Otherwise, you will get a cold.” At that time, I was soaked from head to toe, yet the wonderful thing was, I didn’t feel cold. I knew this was God protecting me. Recalling what had just happened, I kept thanking God in my heart for saving my life.

After I returned home, several aunties in the church were surprised to see me soaked to the skin and asked me what had happened. After I told them what I had experienced, they all said excitedly, “Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God! Only God can save us. If it were not for God’s protection, you could have been drowned….” In my heart, I was also clear that if God hadn’t saved me, I would definitely have died.

Hearing what we said, my mother cried in excitement and said: “Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God!” Afterward, she read me these words from God: “God created this world, He created this mankind and, moreover, He was the architect of ancient Greek culture and human civilization. Only God consoles this mankind, and only God cares for this mankind night and day.” “I am mankind’s only salvation. I am mankind’s only hope and, even more, I am He on whom the existence of all mankind rests.” My mother fellowshiped with me: “Today it was all thanks to God’s care and protection that you could survive. Only God is by our side as our constant support, watching over and protecting us day and night. Today you fell into the pond, which is deep, cold and with many waterweeds in it. And there were virtually no branches or roots around it. Usually, even an adult doesn’t stand a chance in such a situation, let alone a child like you. But when you cried out to God, He saved you through a root, and you didn’t get enmeshed in the waterweeds. It really was God’s wondrous protection. A few years ago, there were several students nearby who were drowned in the pond, yet you survived today. It really is thanks to God’s protection. Only God is our support….” Afterward, she hugged me and cried, constantly saying: “Thanks be to God! Thanks be to God! …”

I couldn’t agree more with what my mother said. In that life-and-death moment, if it hadn’t been for God’s protection, I, who didn’t know how to swim, would have definitely died. This allowed me to see that only God is my ever-present help. No matter how much that old lady and my friend wanted to save me, they couldn’t help me in a timely way like God did.

Through this experience, I personally appreciated that as long as we sincerely call out to God, we will obtain His salvation, and I also witnessed God’s wonderful deeds and His great power. God really is at our side watching over and protecting us with His love. Thanks be to God for giving me a second life. When I grow up, I will perform my duties to repay God’s love! All glory be to God!