"Bodhisattva, if my son lives this time, I will cover your statue with gold..." a woman named Qiaomei knelt on the ground, kowtowing reverently, with a red mark on her forehead for hitting hard on red bricks.
This happened 45 years ago when public worship had just been made allowed in China.
Later, the child died right after birth, who was the third son parted immediately after coming into the world.
After a while, the father-in-law said, "If our family want to have a boy, we need to find someone to rely on."
The family thought there was something wrong with the old man's solution. Wouldn’t it be normal to try to find a way to buy a boy, as many Chaoshan people had done?
The father-in-law explained that the night before Qiaomei gave birth, he had a dream in which a group of vicious people, dressed in black, were guarding the door of his house. One of them gave orders, saying, "When hearing the baby cry, go in and take him out. So-and-so, you are on the lookout, if you see a cross, immediately alert us..."
He then believed that the cross should be a very powerful object. Therefore, if the daughter-in-law were to labor, she should go to the town care medical clinic which had a cross on it, rather than worshiping idols everywhere. But his wife and the daughter-in-law claimed that it was too expensive to labor in the clinic, yet, the Fu talismans and magic instruments bought from the witch were not free, either.
A distant relative of their family, working in the Northeast came home for the Chinese Spring Festival. During his visit, he mentioned beliefs when chatting and drinking tea, saying that one of his former workmates was a Christian, for which he was almost crippled after being beaten for protecting a cross. The father-in-law quickly interrupted, questioning, "Shouldn’t the cross protect him?"
Qiaomei was pregnant again and gave birth to a baby girl. Her father-in-law comforted her that even though it was a girl, she would help bring a brother to the family. Besides, the baby girl was extraordinarily beautiful.
But the little girl who was forced to drink all kinds of Fu water in her mother's womb closed her beautiful eyes after struggling to survive for ten months.
Losing children, being slandered by other villagers saying that their ancestors didn’t do any good deeds, and being accused of killing their children themselves, brought such intense pain that Qiaomei thought that it would be better to die. Coincidentally, the mother-in-law also had the same thought, so the two of them cast into the river, hand in hand.
A newlywed wife in the village saved them when she came out to wash lingerie in the river in darkness. She wore a necklace with a cross pendant on her neck.
A group of people from the closest church to their home came to remove idol statues. The group leader was a cousin of Qiaomei's mother, who had passed away many years. He shook his head while cleaning, blaming her, "Are you bringing all the fairies and ghosts in the entire Chaoshan area into your home?"
The next year, Qiaomei gave birth to a cute boy. The child grew up safely. Qiaomei was very proud, believing that her child would live in God’s temple peacefully throughout his life!
Later as her son grew up, he married the most beautiful girl in the neighboring village who he met in the church choir at the right age. At that time, their family was very poor since they had given all their savings to worshiping various idols. Every time Qiaomei would stand up emotionally when speaking of it, crying: "How could I have ever expected to become who I am today? Thank the Lord!"
Some villagers admired what happened to her, following her in coming to faith. The unbelieving village doctor then analyzed Qiaomei’s situation from a medical perspective. He insisted that her having a son successfully wasn’t because of believing in Jesus. Previously she was so desperate to have a boy that she reached out to all kinds of idols everywhere, for which she drank something unhealthy, causing the death of the newborns.
Then, Qiaomei ran to the village clinic to have a fight with the doctor, stating that her son was alive only because of her coming to faith. But in the middle of the fight, she suddenly remembered that as a Christian, she should not quarrel with others. So she apologized to the village doctor, saying that she had a bad temper and asking him for forgiveness.
Later, the village doctor said, "I also want to believe in God".
When her son was ten years old, the deacon of the church said to her, "Mei, now that the child is old enough, you should do the Lord's work."
Qiaomei couldn't wait any longer, so she rushed into the church on Wednesday, asking what work she could do. She was merely a village woman who didn't even finish elementary school and had only been a believer for eleven years.
Surprisingly, she was versatile, doing a good job of sweeping the floor, wiping stools, cleaning the toilets, serving tea, washing cups, riding a bicycle to visit the sick, and singing Teochew opera in the elderly choir.
Qiaomei, who has believed in God for 41 years, said that she was very healthy, without high blood sugar, high blood fatness, high blood pressure, heart disease, back pain, or leg pain. So, she could work for God for another 40 years!
- Translated by Shuya Wang
“菩萨菩萨，如果这一次我儿子能活下来，我一定给你塑金身……”巧梅姨跪在地上，虔诚的磕头，额头上被坚硬的红砖碰撞出一片红印。
这是四十五年前，刚刚可以公开拜这个拜那个。
然后，孩子生下来就走了，这是第三个来到世界立刻离别的儿子。
过些日子，家公说，咱们家要想不绝代，就要去找一个靠山。
一家人觉得老爷子的方向有问题，正常的，不应该是要想方设法去买一个男孩子吗？这种事很多潮汕人干过。
老爷子解释，在儿媳妇生产的前一天晚上，他做了一个梦，梦见有一群凶恶的人，穿着黑衣服，守在他家门口 ，其中一个说，等一下听到婴儿出来的哭声，就进去把他抱出来。某某你负责望风，看见有十字架的就快快发鸡毛令……
老爷子认为，十字架应该就是一个很厉害的物件。所以，儿媳妇要生孩子，应该要去镇卫生所，那上面就有个十字，不应该到处去拜来拜去。但那两个败家娘们居然说去卫生所生孩子很贵的，但是那神婆左一道符水又一个法器难道不要钱的吗？
有个从东北回家过年的工人，是他们家的远房亲戚，串门喝功夫茶的时候，说起闲话扯到信仰，说他以前的工友当中，有一个信了耶稣的如何如何，说他为了保护一个十字架，差点被打成瘸腿。老人家赶紧插一嘴，难道不是十字架保护他吗?
巧梅姨又怀孕生下一个女婴，也好，虽然是女婴，老人家安慰说，有女就有男，且这个女婴长得格外漂亮。
但在母腹中就被迫喝下各式符水的漂亮小女婴，勉力活了十个月之后，就闭上那双漂亮的眼睛。
失去孩子的痛，被村里人污蔑祖上缺德的痛，被诬陷自己把孩子弄死的痛，那么痛，巧梅姨想着不如死去好了。没想到，婆婆也正有此意，于是婆媳携手投河。
救起她们的，是村里的新媳妇，因为要洗一些比较私密的衣物，所以等到天黑才出来。 新媳妇的脖子上，带着一条有十字架吊坠的项链。
离她们家最近的一个教会，来了一班人，说是来清理偶像的。领队的，是巧梅姨去世多年的母亲的表弟，这位表舅一边清理一边摇头，你这是把整个潮汕地区的神仙鬼怪都弄到家里来了啊？
第二年，巧梅姨生下一个白白胖胖的男孩子，孩子一路平安的长大，巧梅姨得意洋洋，我家孩子要住在耶和华的殿中，一生一世有平安!
结婚的年龄，娶了隔壁村的村花，他们是在教会诗班认识的。结婚的时候，他们家一穷二白，因为之前把积蓄都送给各路神仙做盘缠去了。巧梅姨每逢说到这里，都会激动的站起来，哪能想到我有今天?感谢主!
村里有人羡慕，想跟风，想组团，一起信耶稣。不信耶稣的村医及时站出来，分析巧梅姨的情况，不是因为信耶稣就生了儿子，而是她之前太想生儿子了，因此到处寻仙问鬼，喝了不清不白的东西，导致胎儿出生就出事。
巧梅姨跑去村里的诊所，和村医吵了一架，说明儿子就是信了耶稣才有的。可是架吵了一半，突然想起来自己是基督徒，不应该和人吵架，转而跟村医道歉，说自己脾气不好，请他原谅。
后来，村医说，我也要信耶稣。
儿子十岁的时候，有一天教会的执事说，阿梅姐妹，孩子现在大了，你应该要做主工了。
礼拜三，巧梅姨等不急了，冲到教会，问她能做什么主工?她就一介村妇，她小学都没有读完，她信耶稣才十一年。
扫地抹凳洗厕所，冲茶洗杯端人前，骑车四邻探病人，老年诗班唱潮剧，样样精通!
信了耶稣四十一年的巧梅姨说，她没有三高，没有心脏不好，没有腰疼腿疼，样样好。她要再做主工四十年！
因信耶稣，生产的儿子得以存活的见证
"Bodhisattva, if my son lives this time, I will cover your statue with gold..." a woman named Qiaomei knelt on the ground, kowtowing reverently, with a red mark on her forehead for hitting hard on red bricks.
This happened 45 years ago when public worship had just been made allowed in China.
Later, the child died right after birth, who was the third son parted immediately after coming into the world.
After a while, the father-in-law said, "If our family want to have a boy, we need to find someone to rely on."
The family thought there was something wrong with the old man's solution. Wouldn’t it be normal to try to find a way to buy a boy, as many Chaoshan people had done?
The father-in-law explained that the night before Qiaomei gave birth, he had a dream in which a group of vicious people, dressed in black, were guarding the door of his house. One of them gave orders, saying, "When hearing the baby cry, go in and take him out. So-and-so, you are on the lookout, if you see a cross, immediately alert us..."
He then believed that the cross should be a very powerful object. Therefore, if the daughter-in-law were to labor, she should go to the town care medical clinic which had a cross on it, rather than worshiping idols everywhere. But his wife and the daughter-in-law claimed that it was too expensive to labor in the clinic, yet, the Fu talismans and magic instruments bought from the witch were not free, either.
A distant relative of their family, working in the Northeast came home for the Chinese Spring Festival. During his visit, he mentioned beliefs when chatting and drinking tea, saying that one of his former workmates was a Christian, for which he was almost crippled after being beaten for protecting a cross. The father-in-law quickly interrupted, questioning, "Shouldn’t the cross protect him?"
Qiaomei was pregnant again and gave birth to a baby girl. Her father-in-law comforted her that even though it was a girl, she would help bring a brother to the family. Besides, the baby girl was extraordinarily beautiful.
But the little girl who was forced to drink all kinds of Fu water in her mother's womb closed her beautiful eyes after struggling to survive for ten months.
Losing children, being slandered by other villagers saying that their ancestors didn’t do any good deeds, and being accused of killing their children themselves, brought such intense pain that Qiaomei thought that it would be better to die. Coincidentally, the mother-in-law also had the same thought, so the two of them cast into the river, hand in hand.
A newlywed wife in the village saved them when she came out to wash lingerie in the river in darkness. She wore a necklace with a cross pendant on her neck.
A group of people from the closest church to their home came to remove idol statues. The group leader was a cousin of Qiaomei's mother, who had passed away many years. He shook his head while cleaning, blaming her, "Are you bringing all the fairies and ghosts in the entire Chaoshan area into your home?"
The next year, Qiaomei gave birth to a cute boy. The child grew up safely. Qiaomei was very proud, believing that her child would live in God’s temple peacefully throughout his life!
Later as her son grew up, he married the most beautiful girl in the neighboring village who he met in the church choir at the right age. At that time, their family was very poor since they had given all their savings to worshiping various idols. Every time Qiaomei would stand up emotionally when speaking of it, crying: "How could I have ever expected to become who I am today? Thank the Lord!"
Some villagers admired what happened to her, following her in coming to faith. The unbelieving village doctor then analyzed Qiaomei’s situation from a medical perspective. He insisted that her having a son successfully wasn’t because of believing in Jesus. Previously she was so desperate to have a boy that she reached out to all kinds of idols everywhere, for which she drank something unhealthy, causing the death of the newborns.
Then, Qiaomei ran to the village clinic to have a fight with the doctor, stating that her son was alive only because of her coming to faith. But in the middle of the fight, she suddenly remembered that as a Christian, she should not quarrel with others. So she apologized to the village doctor, saying that she had a bad temper and asking him for forgiveness.
Later, the village doctor said, "I also want to believe in God".
When her son was ten years old, the deacon of the church said to her, "Mei, now that the child is old enough, you should do the Lord's work."
Qiaomei couldn't wait any longer, so she rushed into the church on Wednesday, asking what work she could do. She was merely a village woman who didn't even finish elementary school and had only been a believer for eleven years.
Surprisingly, she was versatile, doing a good job of sweeping the floor, wiping stools, cleaning the toilets, serving tea, washing cups, riding a bicycle to visit the sick, and singing Teochew opera in the elderly choir.
Qiaomei, who has believed in God for 41 years, said that she was very healthy, without high blood sugar, high blood fatness, high blood pressure, heart disease, back pain, or leg pain. So, she could work for God for another 40 years!
- Translated by Shuya Wang
Testimony: Women Follows Jesus After Baby Son Survives
