Jailed pastor in China writes: God gave me a 'good place to rest' in prison

Yang Hua, the imprisoned pastor of a persecuted house church in China, revealed in a letter that he found rest in prison and was even brought closer to God.

"God has given me a year of rest after 23 years of hard work," wrote Yang, whose real name is Li Guozhi, in a letter translated to English and published by China Aid on Thursday.

The pastor recalled that he often attended to a lot of things when he was still out and free and that he found being behind bars brought him rest he never afforded himself before. He even likened his situation to the Israelites who worked incessantly for six years and rested on the seventh.

"This is a good place to rest, where I am cut off from the rest of the world and brought closer to God," said Yang in a letter dated June 30 in response to the letter he received from his wife earlier in the day. "I can no longer hear the clamorous noise, but can better listen to the Lord's voice."

The pastor shared that rest doesn't have to be based on one's circumstance but that it could be found just within oneself.

"Genuine rest has nothing to do with the environment. No matter if the waves are quiet or the sea roars, our hearts rest in [God]," continued Yang. "I want to thank God for using this special method to give this special gift to our household."

Authorities arrested Yang and four other members of Huoshi Church, the largest house church in Guiyang in Guizhou province, as they discovered a confidential document revealing a state-run command center created for the sole purpose of persecuting Christian churches in the communist state.

Yang also revealed in a sworn testimony that state prosecutors had threatened to go after his family and tortured to extort him to confess for his alleged crimes. His lawyers Chen Jiangang and Zhao Yonglin filed a lawsuit against the state prosecutors for breaking the law.