Why I Quit My Job

By Bo, as told to Andrew McChesney

A remarkable experience prompted me to quit my 17-year job as a worker at a thread-making factory and devote myself to full-time gospel work in China.

Image © Pacific Press

When I was 39, my son wanted to go to a trade school to become a lathe worker. But the tuition for the three-year course cost 10,000 yuan, money that we didn’t have.

My Seventh-day Adventist mother suggested that we pray about it. We prayed, but I didn’t expect a miracle.

When my sister heard about the problem, she contacted a friend who worked at the trade school and asked whether my son could apply for a scholarship. The friend, the school accountant, said scholarships were only available for low-income families and we didn’t qualify. But at her suggestion, my son went ahead and enrolled at the school.

Meanwhile, my mother, four sisters, and I pooled our money. When we went to school to pay, we were greeted by the accountant. She told my son to write a scholarship request letter on the spot, and she took it to the principal’s office.

When the principal looked at the letter, he asked, “By how much should I help this student?”

“You have the power to do whatever you like”, the accountant replied.

The principal wrote “500” on the letter.

When the accountant returned with the letter, I was so excited. I didn’t know what the “500” meant, but even a 500-yuan discount would be a big help.

We took the letter to the cashier’s office.

“Would you like to pay for one year or all three years?” the cashier asked.

“All three years”, I said.

The cashier did some calculations and announced, “Your grand total is 2,700 yuan”.

We were in shock! We didn’t know what happened or how she came up with that figure. Even today, we don’t know what happened.

Until that day, my faith in God had been shallow. But after that experience, I realized that God cares for us, and I decided to serve God with all my heart. I have few talents, but I decided that I could help clean the church or visit people.

Today, I am 54 years old and oversee five churches. I feel very unworthy to be called a gospel worker. But I believe that God is leading, and He will help me to do the gospel work.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Amen!(2)

Further Study: “You should take time to talk and pray with your little ones, and you should allow nothing to interrupt that season of communion with God and with your children. You can say to your visitors, ‘God has given me a work to do, and I have no time for gossiping’. You should feel that you have a work to do for time and for eternity. You owe your first duty to your children”. – Ellen G. White, The Adventist Home, pages 266, 267.

Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

“Parents, you should commence your first lesson of discipline when your children are babes in your arms. Teach them to yield their will to yours. This can be done by bearing an even hand, and manifesting firmness. Parents should have perfect control over their own spirits, and with mildness and yet firmness bend the will of the child until it shall expect nothing else but to yield to their wishes. Parents do not commence in season. The first manifestation of temper is not subdued, and the children grow stubborn, which increases with their growth and strengthens with their strength”. – Ellen G. White, Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 218.

Discussion Questions:

Amen!(0)