I am a Christian. May 31, 2013 was an unforgettable day for me. At past 5 that morning, I was sleeping at home as usual when my mother called to ask whether I had bought spareribs. I felt a little puzzled, thinking: Why does mom ask me about that so early this morning? Then I remembered I had mentioned it to her the day before. So I answered, “No, not yet. I will go to buy some today.” She told me not to buy it and to go to her home to eat it at noon. After hanging up the phone, I felt strange about her behavior: Mom is always thrifty. How did she suddenly call and ask me to go to her house to have spareribs? As I thought of this, I recalled that I had planned to read God’s words first after getting up and then go to visit my colleague after finishing the breakfast at eight o’clock. But now my mother asked me to have spareribs in her home at noon. At the thought that I had to run from home to my colleague’s and then to my mother’s in such hot weather, I hesitated, “Will I go to my colleague’s or not today? I might as well visit her another day.” Just at that time, a sudden thought struck me: I’d better rise and clean up earlier and then go to my mom’s. She is at home alone, and we can read God’s words together. So, I got up at once and washed up. When I was leaving, another thought occurred to my mind: Close the door of the bedroom firmly. I did so and then rode my electric scooter to my mom’s home happily.

It was past 8, and my cell phone rang and my elder sister anxiously said, “Xiaomei, are you OK? Are you at home?” Hearing a slight tremble in her voice, I was anxious and thought: Can it be that something bad happened? I answered in puzzlement, “Oh, I’m at mom’s. I came here early today.” She gave a deep sigh of relief and said at ease, “I’m happy you are alive.” Then she told me, “Your house exploded.” Hearing that, I was greatly surprised: My house has exploded?! How can that be? It was still sound in the morning! I often watched explosions reported on TV before, but today it happened to me. Thinking of this, I asked her hurriedly, “What exploded? Water pipe, electric circuits or the liquid gas storage tank?” She said, “I don’t know. Xiaomei, you’d better come back quickly to have a look.” After the call, my heart thumped violently, as if a rabbit were hidden there. I thought: What’s my house like now? Is it beyond recognition? Were the books of God’s word and the MP5 player blown up? … In a panic, I suddenly remembered that everything that happened to us is permitted by God, so I immediately came before God to pray, “O God! I just received a call that my house exploded. Now, I’m worried about my house and about whether the books of Your word are damaged. I’m willing to commit all this to You. I believe everything rests in Your hand. …” After my prayer, I thought of the hymn of God’s word that God guided me to hum this morning: Isn’t it to tell me to believe in God’s orchestration and arrangement like Mary when I encounter things? Then God’s words came to my mind: “Remember this! Do not forget! All that occurs is by My good intention, and everything is under My observation.” Yes, God is my rear guard and everything is in God’s hand. I have experienced God’s wonderful deeds He did this morning. God knew my house would explode, so He gave my mother a thought and let her call me very early this morning. It’s God’s almighty dominion and miraculous protection that has kept me from the disaster. God is right by my side, so there is nothing to worry about. Thinking about this, my anxious heart gradually calmed down and I had strength immediately. Then, I hurriedly rode my electric scooter to my home.

No sooner had I turned into the community where I lived than I saw many cars were parking on both sides of the road. And I was stunned by the scenes of the explosion: All three buildings, including two behind my house, were surrounded by the police cordon. The windows of most houses were shattered by the shock of blast, which made the ground an absolute mess. The community was crowded with police cars, ambulances, and the noisy people. People were talking, “When the explosion happened, some died a very miserable death. Their bodies were headless and pieces of their flesh were even scattered on the lawn.” “Yes, when an uncle was wiping a car downstairs, he was pierced by the flying glass and was wounded all over.” “Alas! This explosion was indescribably tragic. Of the two young people on the first floor of the opposite building, the man was blasted out of his house and was killed on the spot. His head and limbs were lost, and only a small part of his upper body was left, so he couldn’t be recognized. The woman died more tragically. The force of the concussion was so strong that the ceiling of their house was penetrated. She was blasted into the air and hit the ceiling of the second floor (the imprints of her body can be seen on it clearly), then sprang back and penetrated through the floor of their house and fell into the underground garage. It is heard that she was out of shape and could only be shoveled out finally.” Hearing people’s descriptions, I couldn’t help gasping. I deeply felt that man’s life is much too fragile without God’s care and protection. At that point, my elder sister saw me and said excitedly, “I had thought you were at home at the time of the explosion. It’s lucky you weren’t at home, otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.” Hearing her words, I was more grateful to God for His care and protection for me. When the explosion happened, it was just the time I usually ate breakfast. If I had carried out my plan of visiting my colleague first, then at about 8 a.m., I , who was more than six months pregnant, would be staying at home and wouldn’t leave early. Besides, my brothers and sisters often came to my home those days. If they had come that day, not only could I have not gone out, but they would have been injured by the explosion. At that moment, I even more witnessed that God’s sovereignty and authority are truly everywhere. God carefully arranged and maneuvered the people, events and things around me and delivered me from danger. How marvelous God’s work is!

Then the police asked the house owners to open their doors and checked the degree of damage their houses suffered. Because my door was out of shape, they opened it with great difficulty. I was stunned by the scene inside: The pictures on the living-room wall were scattered on the floor, and the flowerpots were on the floor, too. All window panes were shattered and the shivers were spread all over the sofa. Beside the tea table were the fallen window screens. As for the kitchen, the condition was worse, and it was in a complete mess: The range hood and cupboard doors had fallen on the floor and were badly damaged. The scratches from broken glass were everywhere on the wall. The kitchen window panes were broken, and there were pieces of broken glass all over the floor. A big concrete stone (about 30-40 centimeters in diameter) from the building opposite my house was even blasted to the foot of the small bedroom wall. (The distance between my house and the opposite building is over 30 meters.) However, the amazing thing was that the books of God’s words were still there, completely undamaged. At that moment, I thought of the Holy Spirit’s guidance before I went out: Close the bedroom door firmly. Only then did I understand God’s good purpose behind it. When my husband came back home from work and saw all the broken windows, he had a lingering fear and said, “If you had been at home then, the force of the explosion would have blasted you out of the window, and then you and our baby in your womb wouldn’t have survived.” When a neighbor living on the second floor came to my house to get water, he said, “Your house suffered the worst damage in the explosion, but you weren’t at home and not hurt at all. What good fortune! It seems that the Old Man was protecting you.” Hearing these words, I was quite excited. I felt God’s marvelous protection for me and saw God’s almightiness.

Later, I learned that the explosion was caused by the detonators that a house owner stored in the building. The place where we lived was a mining area, and the owner had meant to use them to shatter the mountain and open a mine. He never expected to cause such a tragedy. The detonator is a dangerous substance which is combustible and explosive and its force is extremely powerful. Once it’s set off, it will burst the building easily. No wonder this explosion was so severe. Late at night, recalling this calamity, which was terribly dangerous yet didn’t hurt me a little, I deeply appreciated the wonder of God’s deeds. Although I suffered some material losses, my life was saved. Just as the words of Almighty God 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 rules over and controls everything. Everyone’s heart and spirit are within God’s control. From when I unconsciously told my mom I wanted to eat spareribs to when my dad went to buy spareribs, and from when I had planned to go to my colleague’s to when I left my home early due to my mother’s phone call—all this showed that all our thoughts and ideas are in God’s hand. It was God’s marvelous deeds that made me escape from this disaster. I remembered that I had watched a video of brothers and sisters being saved in the disaster: In the big fire of Ji County, Tianjin City, God aroused the people, matters, things and the environment around some brothers and sisters and changed people’s thoughts and ideas so that they were protected in the fire disaster. That day when the fire happened, a sister was going to Laide Shopping Mall, but her mother had a sudden fall. She had to look after her mother at home, so she avoided the disaster. And right after the big fire, her mother could get up and walk. There was another sister. She was at first anxious to leave for Laide Shopping Mall that day, but later wasn’t in any hurry to go there somehow. She changed her clothes and made herself up leisurely, which delayed her going there. On the way to the Mall with her husband, she saw the flames and the billowing black smoke in the distance. Only at that moment did she realize that she had been kept by God unknowingly. A third sister escaped the fire in this way: When she was shopping in the mall, she received a call and then left there. Soon after her departure, the great fire began to burn…. Before these hard facts, we can see that only God can save us from the disaster and that God is our only reliance. Through my personal experience, I have truly witnessed God’s deeds and realized that God’s almightiness and sovereignty are not empty words, but are present with us in our daily life really and actually.

Having experienced this marvelous salvation, I truly tasted God’s extraordinary authority, and realized that no one can predict when the disaster will occur, and that no relative or friend can save us from it. It was Almighty God that protected me and my unborn child from this disaster happening at 8 a.m. Thank God for His salvation. All the glory be to God!