I am the fifth child in a family of six children. My father was a wealthy garment factory director. With his wealth, I never had to worry about matters such as housing and food throughout my childhood. I was not short of anything or anyone in my life. This shaped me into a typical “rich” kid who only knew that life was for fun—an aimless life.

Such a life style continued up to my sophomore/junior year in college, which was the year that I met the Lord through my wife. Though I had received Him as my Savior, I did not see how much I really needed Him. Later in my sophomore/junior year things started getting very uncertain. Within a few months, my whole world was collapsing on me and many major events had occurred consecutively. In brief, I lost my father as my sole financial source and was surrounded by several other serious matters. At that moment, I did not understand why all these things were happening; but gradually, the Lord led me to realize that they were happening to fulfill His great plan He has had for man since day one. This great plan of His is to conform the many sons into the glorious image of His Son, Christ, for His expression (Romans 8:28-29). I probably never would have found out about His great plan if I were to have read Romans 8 by myself. I saw this because of the ministries of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee. The apostle Paul said, in Romans 8:28-29, that all things work together for good to those who love God…. Referencing this verse, Witness Lee helped me to realize that what the Lord was doing was to use all my circumstances, all persons, and all things to cause me to turn to Him so that He would have the opportunity to impart Himself as life into me to make me one of His many sons. If I did not have the tough times, I would not have turned to Him. My self-confidence, abilities, and pride were like thick scales on my eyes that hindered me from seeing the Lord. I needed those circumstances to strip away my “scales.” Now that I think back, I believe the enemy, Satan, might have thought that he could completely destroy me in my difficult situations. But my sovereign God had skillfully used my environment to turn me to Him so that He could gain me as His son. This is like the story of Joseph who was sold away by his own brothers who intended to remove him from his father, Jacob. But the Lord was able to use the pitch black situations to turn Joseph to Himself and gain him. At the end of Genesis, in 50:20, Joseph said a marvelous sentence that confirmed my experience, “You meant evil against me, but God meant good so that He can accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

What I wanted from the Lord was His solution to my problems. But what I got from Him has far exceeded what I asked for, that is, Himself to me as life for my enjoyment and for His expression. In regards to enjoyment and expression, I was helped to realize that God does not only desire to have Christians enjoy and express Him individually; rather, even more He wants His followers to be built up into a Body to enjoy and express Him corporately. This has really been a highlight of my Christian life because when the brothers and sisters get together, it is like an exhibition of all the spiritual things they have enjoyed and gained from Christ. Whether it is a hymn, or a verse, or a word from the Lord, I can always offer it up in the meeting. Whenever the brothers and the sisters offer up their enjoyable portions, I see the vast dimensions of Christ in His unsearchable riches.

In summary, my experience of the Lord is like the man, in Luke 10:25-37, who was robbed and beaten. But the Lord came to me as the good Samaritan who had taken me to His household for care.

Tony Ho

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