One night, after work, I hurried to the bus stop to get home. However, as soon as I got there, I saw the 22:00 bus leaving not far away.

Looking at the darkness around me, I didn’t know what to do but could only stay there afraid. And I kept thinking: “That’s it. It’s over. It’ll be an hour before the next bus comes. My boss probably already left so she won’t be able to drive me. What should I do?”

In a panic, I remembered that a friend of mine had once taken me to another bus stop a few streets away. But I couldn’t remember exactly the way there, so I was not sure if I could find the station, so I believed that it was better for me to just stay there and wait. But then I thought, “It’s so late, and I don’t even know if there will be another bus. What if I’m left here alone?” At the thought of this, the memory from the last time of walking with my friend by there at night suddenly surfaced in my mind. At that time, a drunk, sitting down in the middle of the road with a bottle in his hand, yelled at us and acted like he was going to throw the bottle at us. Seeing that, we hurried to flee away. This strengthened the feeling of fear in my heart. Thus, I thought to myself, “Today I’m alone. And it’s so late. I might as well hurry to find that station while there are still a few people on the road.”

After walking for a while, I, not knowing how much farther the station was, felt that the streets got increasingly abnormal. With that, I became scared again, thinking: “I have a poor sense of direction. Usually, even if I’m going to the same place, I’ll still lose my way sometimes. In the end, only through my realization of the special markings on the road and pedestrians showing me the way led me there. It started to get very late and eerily dark. There were only a few people on the street. What if I’m lost?” So, I hurried to pray to the Lord in my heart, “O Lord! I’m so scared. I don’t know the way to that station. May You protect me and keep me and show me the way forward. O Lord! I beg You to guide me….”

After praying, I saw a native lady passing by, so I caught up with her at a trot, and asked her how to get to that station. She told me that it was just a few blocks away. Hearing this, I happily thanked her and then started walking faster. Not knowing how many blocks I had passed through, I saw a bridge. But there weren’t any streetlamps and it was dark all around it. Seeing this, I felt that my heart suddenly clenched, thinking, “Why is it so dark here? I remembered that there wasn’t a bridge on the way my friend and I once took. Where am I? What should I do?” Standing at the crossroads having no idea of where I was, I became very frightened, and the only thing I knew was praying to the Lord with all my might in my heart.

Later, I saw a slightly hunched man of middle age coming over, with his hands pushing a shopping cart. So I hurried over to him and asked him the way. He said to me, “Follow me. I can take you there.” Hearing this, I was so eager to go home that I just happily nodded my head and agreed. Then, he pointed toward the streetlights ahead, beckoning me to follow him across that street and take that way. But at the very instant when we were about to go, there came a sudden and hurried shout from behind me. I turned around and found it was the native lady who had shown me the way a short time ago. She shouted at me, “Don’t follow him. He is a psycho. If you follow him, there’s no telling where he will take you later. Come on! Come over here! I’ll take you where you want to go.” This brought me to my senses. At that time, the man still was saying, “Go. Follow me.” I looked at him closely and only then did I find that he was actually a hobo with his clothes in tatters and just junk in his shopping cart. So, I ran to that lady in a hurry. Seeing this, the man left.

The lady soon took me to that station. Moreover she told me, “Don’t ask for the way casually at night, or you’ll be deceived. Just now I intended to catch up with you to bring you there. But you walked so quickly I couldn’t even follow you….” After saying all of this, she left. As I watched her leave, I deeply realized in my heart that this was the Lord helping me through these people, events, and things around me. The lady’s sudden arrival was most timely. Otherwise, I really didn’t know what would have happened if I had continued to follow that mentally challenged vagrant. The fact that I was safe and sound in the end was all because of the Lord’s care and protection for me.

Sitting on a bench at the bus stop and recalling what had just happened, I felt that my heart could not calm down for a long time. Not long after that, the Chinese lady who lives near me also went to that station to wait for the bus. She got off work late because she was held up by something. So, we could go home together. I knew her appearance was also God’s wondrous arrangement, and that God was considerate of my weakness, and thus was using this to make me courageous and less afraid. I saw that the Lord had always been by my side and that it was because I had too little faith that I felt scared. Thinking about the fact that all of this was arranged for me by the Lord, I felt so warmed and my heart was so moved that tears came to my eyes.

Actually, in my life, I had many experiences like this. Though I was unable to see the Lord with my physical eyes, through these experiences, I really felt that the Lord protected and watched over me at all times because so many times it was God’s loving hand that timely saved me from evil and led me not into temptation. Just as the Bible says, “Fear you not; for I am with you: be not dismayed; for I am your God: I will strengthen you; yes, I will help you; yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10). “Whom having not seen, you love; in whom, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). I really felt that the Lord was always by my side, listening to my prayers, helping and supporting me at any time. Because of my belief in the Lord, I enjoyed too much peace and happiness.

In the days that followed, I would occasionally miss the bus, so I still had to take that way. Though sometimes several other frightening things happened, once I remembered that the Lord is always by my side and secretly watches over and protects me, I would not be that afraid. I often passed through that way as I prayed or sang songs. And every single time I would arrive home safely without a scratch.