College Union

BY: TIONG HUONG ONG (“JABEZ”)

I know this lady while I was still studying in Taiwan. Her name is Wang who is about 56 years old. Because she comes from Malaysia, as where I came from, we had a good fellowship and prayed for each other.

Wang’s daughter, Ling, who was sick needed to get a surgery as soon as possible, therefore she brought Ling to Taiwan. They struggled a lot to raise money for the surgery fee before they came to Taiwan.

On their journey, they transited from Singapore to Taiwan. While they were still waiting for the flight in the waiting room, Wang found that there was a bag sitting beside them. Out of curiousness, she opened the bag and noticed that there were a lot of US dollars cash and one Master degree certificate. She thought that there must be someone who was going to study abroad and had left them on the seat.

At the beginning, she believed that the bag’s owner would come back and take them back. After 30 minutes, however, she was about to board and the owner still didn’t show up. In her heart, she knew that there were two voices that were talking to her. The first voice told her to pass the bag to the police official in airport so that they would find the owner out. On the contrary, the second voice told her to keep them to herself.

She knew that nobody would know if she just brought them with her to board. Furthermore, since they also needed a lot of money to pay for their living in Taiwan, the money could help them to cover all the expenses. “Maybe” this money were gift from God who knew their need.

After struggling for a few minutes, Wang decided to pass the bag to the police official after a short prayer. She believed that the owner must be very anxious at that moment. She said that, God will not bless her if she pays all the bills by the dishonest gain.

The story doesn’t stop here after they came to Taiwan. After the surgery, they moved to a shelter. Wang didn’t have extra money to buy food for her daughter, and she didn’t even have extra money to buy warm clothes for her at that time during the winter.

One day, while she went to a bank to get some money to pay for bills, the same thing happened again. She found a bag beside her feet while she was waiting and there was a lot of money in the bag as well. At that moment, she really hoped that she could take the bag and leave the bank. The money was enough to buy nutritious food for her daughter and to buy some warm clothes for themselves.

However, she also realized that she was tempted by the devil. The devil knew that she were in a great need and trying to cause her to sin. After a short prayer again, she passed the bag to the guard in the bank and left the bank.

Every time I recall Wang’s story, I am really touched by her faith in God to believe that God is caring about her. She will never sin against God in any kind of situation, even her daughter will be sacrificed because of her faith.

For me, Wang is a person who exemplifies moral maturity.

Categories: Virtues & Choices
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