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PART II
LIFE IN EXILE
CHAPTER 3
The Lord Was Determined To Preserve My Life
Soon after my arrival in the Labor Camp, I was assigned to the transportation team of the Ditch Pond Sub-Camp. My main job was to pole small rafts down the stream, to fasten big rafts, to carry bamboos on the shoulders from the mountain slopes, to make holes on bamboo poles and to chop "green wood" used for making big rafts. The work was physically exhausting and extremely strenuous.
Two years into the reform, the leader one day announced that three members of the transportation team, namely Lou Zhou, Xing Yang and I, were to be transferred to the subsidiary team, the main task of which was to grow and provide vegetables for all teams of the Sub-Camp. Its members consisted mostly of the physically weak, including patients who had just been discharged from the hospital after surgery. At that time, I had not yet learned, through personal experience, that the Heavenly Father "ruled over all" and caused "all things to work together for good to those who love God"; nor did I "thank God in everything" (Ps. 103:19; Rom. 8:28; I Thes. 5:18). Therefore, I was very upset when I learned about the transfer and did not sleep well for a few days. I kept wondering if my transfer was due to poor attitude on my part during the reform. Later I dismissed the idea since my performance was rated as fair and above average and I was not ranked with "counter-reform elements." Yet, neither did the transfer seem like a special consideration for my health, for my duodenal ulcer had already been healed by the Lord and I was only occasionally bothered by irregular heart-beats. Besides, there were many others weaker and older than me. Failing to see the reason, I became disgruntled. I did not understand until later that it was due to the wonderful hand of the Heavenly Father preserving my life. Not only was my new task lighter and less physically demanding (as it was designed for the weak), but the clinic was also close by and convenient for medical treatment. That was why the number of deaths resulting from over-exertion in our team was much lower than all others.
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