At age 87, Sister Jian’s memory is still sharp. She remembers when Christians first came to her village and told her about Jesus. She also remembers when they had to leave China and believers were persecuted.
“All we had to sustain us spiritually was the written Word. All we possessed were handwritten copies of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark,” she explains. “After long days in the fields or factories, we would sneak away to read the precious words by candlelight or in the fields in the summer.”
Today, China is slowly opening to God’s Word, but Scriptures are still scarce (an estimated 30 million Chinese Christians are without a copy of the Bible). Bibles are entirely out of reach for most poor rural people, who often live on less than $1 per day.
Christians like Jian fervently pray for God’s Word. “I saved my money for a long time,” Sister Jian shares. “Finally, I was able to purchase my first complete copy of the Bible.”
It was her greatest treasure…but she decided to give it away. She said, “I felt I must give it to a friend who had never read it. So many need to read of Jesus’s love for them, and I feel selfish if I keep it to myself. God gave me new life. I want more and more people to find new life in this book.”
Seventy years after the message of the gospel first came to Sister Jian’s village, local believers finally received the precious gift of free Bibles. Sister Jian again has a Bible of her own!
Clutching her new Bible, she says, “I remember each precious promise God has given me as I read. Only in this book are the words people need to bring them hope and comfort.”
