By Grace Dang (Beneficiary)

　

My story with The CEO Foundation

Psalm 68:5-6 says, “A father to the fatherless… is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families!”

I thank God for allowing me to be an orphan and spent my early years in a welfare home. I am grateful that God has entrusted Sister Cai (Christina Chua) and Uncle Cai (Joseph Chua) with the mission to care for orphans while both of them were willing to respond to God’s calling. They set aside what would have been a comfortable life for them and came to Luoyang twenty years ago.

I was insecure and fearful when I arrived Luoyang Children Welfare Institute more than ten years ago. I didn’t know why I was there so I was extremely irritable and grumpy I fought with other kids whenever they bullied me and I often cried secretly. There were no smiles on my face. I felt so inferior that I even harmed myself and trusted nobody. People thought I was insane then.

It was hard to imagine what would have become of me had Uncle Cai and Sister Cai not appeared. But they came, and they saw my needs. God had planned us to enter each other’s lives. My life has changed completely though not in an instance. I remembered once in a youth gathering, Sister Cai asked us to listen to a piece of music and share what we heard or felt. Someone replied hearing birds cheeping while other described feeling free and relaxed. But I felt Nothing. My heart was grey and deprived of light or hope. Sister Cai and Uncle Cai often untiringly spoke with us what is love, what it meant by sharing love, and they did love us. Although I did not grasp any of it by then, they did not stop caring and loving me.

A few years later, Uncle Cai got married. We called his wife and her mother, Auntie Ah-Meng (Angel Chua) and Granny (Granny Lau). They treated me like a daughter and cared for me. They were patient with my temper while correcting me lovingly with God’s truth. Once Auntie Ah-Meng encouraged me, “Grace, we bless you can be a joyful Grace! Your smile is adorable, and we all love to see you smile.” After that, I began to practice smiling more often. In another incident, I distinctly remembered with utmost gratefulness that Uncle Cai left behind his pregnant and fever-ridden wife in Hong Kong and rushed to Shanxi to help settle some matters for me at school. Had they not repeatedly demonstrated to me what is love and care, I probably would have lost the ability to accept and offer love to others. CEO supported me through college. After graduation, I decided to join their charity and worked with them serving other orphans. Now I am working in a Christian welfare institution in Xiamen where I met my husband. We got married in October 2021 under God’s blessings.

After leaving The CEO Foundation, I always missed them. I am proud of receiving education  in Shanxi. I am grateful for encountering these people who changed my life. I am thankful for the learning and training opportunities, the freedom to excel, and the high hopes they placed upon me. As I started having my career, entering my marriage, like a daughter leaving parental umbrella to stand on her own, Wow! I realized how blessed I am. God indeed blessed me so much! Sister Cai, Uncle Cai and their family truly have sown countless seeds of blessing in me.

When I finally accepted myself as an orphan, God granted me a sense of belonging and security in Him. He blessed me with spiritual parents and mentors. They loved me, cared for me, always reminded and guided me, and encouraged me with their Godly testimonies. The Bible says, “In all things God works for the good of those who love him!” Yes, God never forsake His beloved children. This is what I truly witnessed and affirmed in CEO and myself. As I’m getting marry and having my own family now, although I am physically apart from the CEO team, our hearts still bind together because we have the same God and the love of Christ in us! CEO is still carrying on, and my life will go on too. I can tell Sister Cai, Uncle Cai and their family’s supportive love on me will also continue to affect my life. The CEO Foundation is a true living charitable community, I pray that God will keep blessing them to reach out and bless many more people.