God Spoke to Me
out of  hopeless poverty
from the life of Gary He

For some of us the effort to stay alive against the rip-tide of awful fortune seems unwortrhy of the struggle and endless disapointment.  But smitten by the reversal of every gain we stumble on, always hoping for the unseen possibility.  And we pray, unsertain of being heard..  Our continuation comes before God and a door opens and our lives are discovered. 

Poverty in our village was like a degenerative disease, for which there could be no future. It gnawed at our hearts, our lives, and our hope.  There was almost no ownership.  The only thing we could call our own was a shabby old suitcase.
 When I was born, my father was persecuted as a Rightist (Bad person) for about 25 years and was totally separated from his family for re-education.  He was not allowed to contact us or earn an income and forced to live in an impoverished area.  It was like he was dead. My mother was alway working and had little time to care for her three kids, so we were sent to a kindergarten and seldom saw our beloved mother more than once a month.
After 5 years, my father was allowed to come home. Then the Cultural Revolution started and he was again escorted away by the Red Guards to a poor rural district,.
My mother was suspected of spying for the Kromintang before 1949, so The Red Guards  removed her from our home and interrogate her remorselessly, day and night, for an entire year.  My brother fled to a coal mine city, leaving only my twelve year old sister and I to provide for ourselves. Our life was a miserable struggle until mother was allowed to return home. I had to quit school.
After 4 years of hard labor, our father was allowed to return home, but two weeks later he took our whole family to another impoverished village in Southern Shanxi province. It was a thirsty place, starved for water all the year round.
There, I attended a poor school for a short time. (I was 10 years old then).  But the necessity to help with the farm made school impossible.  Then, when I was 14, my mother sent me away to a factory.  For she said, “I know you  like school but we don’t know what will happen to us.”  If they were taken away again, there would be no one to take care of me, but they would know I’d be able to take care of myself.  It was true, I knew.  That’s how life was for persecuted families.
So, at age 14, I was apprenticed to a small factory, almost totally orphaned;  my brother and sister each lived in other places.  Public transportation was nonexistent, and with a monthly income of 18 RMB (6 US dollars), even a used bicycle was beyond reach so I very seldom saw any family.  The only way I could see my parents was to borrow a co-worker’s bicycle and peddle the 25 miles, mostly uphill, to their village on the Loess plateau.
How I admired those of my age who didn’t have to wear the same shoes for years and could eat eggs and pork.  My life was endless days of heavy adult labor with no chance of learning anything.
Then one day, as if God looked inside of me and saw the longing and hopelessness, my life began a new direction.  I saw an old man pulling a heavy cart full of trash books. I helped him by pushing on the back of the cart. (In those people seldom helped others with their burdens.) When we got to the waste collection yard, the old man was so thankful he tried to pay me, but I refused and   He asked, “What do you want? All I have are these trash books and waste newspapers.”
“Can I choose some of them?”
“Of course, sort through my cart and take any you want.”
 So I picked out all the junior and senior high school text books.  I was like a starving boy suddenly thrust into a free cafeteria, so happy, carrying back my big pile of trash books. What to open first! . . . so great was my appetite for learning.
From then on I studied all the subjects taught in junior and senior high school. I educated myself in math, physics, chemistry and Chinese literature.  English was also being taught.  I eagerly wanted to learn all the local high schools were teaching,  But I couldn’t find an English teacher or text or anyone to help  with pronunciation of the English letters. English was harder for me without a teacher than any other subject. Finally I found a radio English program and my aunty helped find a textbook, but I couldn’t even afford a simple radio. Radios were scarce in China, but I was able to rent one from a co-worker for 30 minutes a day, and bought a mirror to watch my lips and tongue according textbook pictures.
I never watched TV or movies or enjoyed any entertainment that young people liked.  I worked in the daytime and educated myself in the evening everyday including weekends.  I often revisited the dump to sort through discarded books. One day, I accidentally found a very old magazine, and although I can’t remember want kind it was, a picture in the magazine drew my attention. Below the picture was a sentence that really fit my life and hope. I wrote that sentence on the first page of all my exercise books and notebooks to remind and encourage me. That sentence became my motto: “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy”
After 8 years of self education, I passed the national enrollment examination,  and in 1979, left work to became a college student.
When I graduated from the college in 1983, I joined the People’s Armed Police. I spent over 11 years in the military. During that time, I was selected as the leader of a training group in Gambia, West Africa to train the Presidential Guards. Much that I learned served me in the following years.
 That year. My parents were considered rehabilitated and allowed to move back to their old home town. My father regained his job.  After leaving the military I joined them and hired into a local Government import-export company. A year later I met an American businessman, Eric Klee, from Beijing who asked me to join him. I soon become an excellent department manager.  I was so proud of my achievements there, that I became very arrogant. Worst of all, I lost my love of God and  faith. I didn’t need God; I was doing well by myself.
Eric Introduced me to Finn Torjeson, the executive director of Evergreen Family Friendship Service—a Christian missionary Organization.  We corresponded back and forth, and established an excellent relationship.  I gradually found they were all Christians.   We knew Christians were very kind, and In 1995. My wife Jodie began working for Evergreen, and in 1996, became a Christian. Jodie asked me to join her in a Bible study with an American lady.  To please her, I went. But while there I became very sleepy and refused to hear anything that was said; but what I did hear seemed strange.
Book reading should start at page one and progress to the last. But there, they started somewhere in the middle and skipped here and there. I didn’t know why they read in such a ridiculous way. Besides, I didn’t know why the Bible had an Old and New Testament.  It was illogical and embarrassing.  So, when Jodie brought home some Christian booklets, I asked her to hide them so no one would see them.  I didn’t know it then, but I would soon change my mind.
Finn, and the Evergreeners, became our very good friends.  Every Christmas they invited us to celebrate with them and In 1998 Finn invited us to spend Christmas with his family.  As in years past, we attended the local open church on Christmas Eve. Unlike those years, I carefully listened to the speaker. He talked about man’s sin. Using himself as an example, he showed how man had originally sinned, how Jesus Christ came to die for our sins, and why God is real and true.
After that, we spent the night at Finn’s apartment. But I couldn’t sleep. I reviewed the elder’s message over and over and kept talking to my wife. “The elder’s message today seemed really true. I should believe in this God.” Jodie was so tired she said, “Don’t bother me. You can make an announcement tomorrow morning if you want to believe God.”  Early The next morning before we opened our gifts, I made the  announcement, “From today I believe in God.”
Finn led me in prayer. I wrote down this commitment, “For You Jesus: I give my life to You Jesus, on this great Christmas Day.”
28 years after finding my motto, while studying for a seminary class, I was reading the Bible in our small kitchen, I opened the Bible aimlessly.  There before my eyes in Psalm 126, I suddenly saw my motto! “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.” I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had six other versions of the Bible, both in Chinese and English. I opened each of them on the table to Psalm 126 and compared them to see if the Bible was wrong. 
The hard life made my heart like stone.. But at that moment when I realized my motto was truly from God.  I realized He had been with me through all those hard years.   I hadn’t shed tears for a long time even in the saddest situations , but now, I couldn’t hold them back. I knelt with my cheeks bathed in tears and tried to pray but I was so choked I couldn’t speak. When I finally could, I prayed, “Thank you so much Heavenly Father, when I was a poor child, my parents were not able to take care of me and were not able to send me to school. You protected me, looked after me everyday. You chose me when I didn’t know you. You gave me strength, wisdom and encouragement daily so I was able to educate myself in those difficult years. You spoke to me daily when I did not know you. I’m so thankful for Your mercy, your love and guidance.”
It was God who taught me. He held my hand and led me through those miserable times and hardships. He chose me and loved me, took care of me, gave me hope, and lifted up my head. Thank God!
Since I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior and Lord, He has changed my heart and life.  I was reborn; Christmas became my second birthday.  Jesus gave me the greatest gift possible—eternal life. From that day forward God has been pouring out His grace in  remarkable ways.  I once again received “joy in the morning.”  As stated in Psalm 118:24, “This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” and “What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.”
 I came to America in June, 2000 knowing nothing about how to survive, how to change my visa or adjust my status. I got a job within only one month and the company helped me get a work visa. In November of that year Jodie brought our daughter, Joy, to join me. In November of 2001 I lost my job but my wife got a job with ACCTS (Association for Christian Conferences, Teaching and Service).  I clearly see God’s guidance and direction, For I have now joind them, ministering to China.  Clearly, this is where God has led me.

Gary He’s life was found inan act of kindness to an old man struggling with a loaded cart.  God, who saw into Gary He’s heart had filled that cart with His reward—purpose, dedication and direction for Gray He.  More importantly the testimony of His leadership and ultimately eternal life and service to God’s Heavenly Kingdom.