Testimony
1
I knew of the Lord's salvation before I was 10 years old. I attended
church growing up and outwardly displayed what limited belief I
had. Through specific and personal dealings through my later years
of high school and my first year of college, I came to the point
of presenting myself to the Lord, yet still in a limited way. I
have realized recently that we can only give to the Lord what we
are willing to give, and the things that we are unwilling to let
go of are sometimes not even noticable to us. The Lord's working
is such a mystery, but we should praise the Lord because he takes
our unknowing yet willing heart and does his good work. He must
be the most skilled carpenter.
I know that many people's lives are full of searching. Although
sometimes we can be so unclear about seemingly everything, our salvation
is secure. The Lord has saved us from the oncoming wrath. Lastly,
I know that faith is a very precious thing, and sometimes it seems
as though it is found in small measure in our hearts.
Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one
who is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought
to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned
to each a measure of faith
I pray that my testimony is taken in a good way.
It is funny, I think, that sometimes I love to pray, "O Lord just
have your way!" Yet at other times I can only pray the selfish prayer,
"Lord have mercy on me." Yet the Lord still loves me.
Romans 1:16 & 17 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is
the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes, both
to Jew first and to Greek.
17. For the righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith
to faith, as it is written, "But the righteous shall have life and
live by faith."
Testimony 2
I'm thankful to the Lord. He has shown me great love. His mercy
humbles me. His life has made me a different and much better person.
I got in touch with the Lord when I was 23. I received Him into
my life a year later. And His life has been growing in me ever since.
I know that He is real because I know who I was, who I am, and who
I will be. No one truly knows about me, not even myself, but Him.
As I know more about myself as each day passes, I have found out
through reading the Bible and my personal experience that the Lord
Jesus Christ indeed knew me from the very beginning. He even knows
how I will be at the end. This subjective relationship with the
Lord has caused me to want to strive to come forward and live before
His holy presence. This is a mystery that I probably could never
express in simple human languages. It is marvelous and I truly welcome
this glorious transformation as long as I still have breath. He
has changed me forever ...
"Earthen Vessel I Was Made (Hymn 548 )" describes how I need Him
to be my substance and being. He is my one and only hope ... which
is eternally secured in His love and life. Amen!
Earthen vessel I was made, Christ in me the treasure laid; His container
I must be, As the content He in me.
Transformation is my need, To be broken more indeed, That the clay
may change in form, To the treasure to conform.
Testimony 3
It was quite amazing actually. My mom and I were introduced to a
Gospel Meeting back when I was 6th grade. I had no idea what was
going on during that meeting. But I felt so joyous to be in that
environment. There were so many nice people there and plus there
were lots of kids. So I immediately believed into Him. The only
thing that I was afraid of was getting baptized because people would
clap their hands and sing. What made me feel even more embarrassed
was the fact that I had to declare that I believed into Him in front
of all these people, not to mention I had to dress in an ugly attire
to be baptized. Although I did not know what it really meant to
believe into Him, I felt so different after getting out of the water.
I felt so light and happy. I did not know why.
Later that night, as my mom and I rode home on her motorcycle, I
told her how I felt. She also told me how different she felt at
that moment. The Lord gained both of us that night. I am full of
thanks to that sister who brought my mom and me into the church.
Now I think back, I truly believe that it was the Lord's will for
me to know Him. When I read Philippines in the New Testament, my
experience coincides with Paul's in that the Lord has laid hold
of me so that I can lay hold of Him. It is marvelous!
Testimony 4
I've been seeking the "purpose to life" ever since I was quite young.
In Taiwan, I remember reading Bhuddist teaching pamphlets and thinking
to myself, is the purpose of our journey here really to suffer?
Why?? Is there really a supreme being out there? If so, what's he
like, and why would he make us suffer?
Fast-forward a few years to junior high in the US. Someone handed
me a booklet on "What is Christianity?" I read it with intrigue,
because I've frequently heard negative comments about Christianity
in general while in Taiwan. I was curious to find out why some people
felt the way they did about Christians. I went through the little
booklet, reading about this God-person named "Christ", and how He
was so great and merciful, how He had suffered for our sake. The
booklet didn't dwell a great deal on how I'd go to hell if I didn't
believe in Christ, so I didn't feel repelled. In fact, I felt sadness
for the sacrifice this Christ suffered. I didn't think deeply about
whether I was a sinner or not, but I did feel moved by His sacrifice.
The booklet ended with the invitation of a prayer to accept him.
For fun, I read it out loud, but little of it afterward.
Fast-forward to my sophomore year in college. The entire family
was still "seeking". I had just relocated with my family to Houston;
we were in Baptist country. My mom's friend invited us to her church,
so we went, despite some of their preconceived discomfort with Christians.
My parents observed the vibrant youth group there, and felt that
my sister and I could benefit from interacting with them. So we
started participating in the youth group activites. For the next
few months, my family went to church off and on, and my sister and
I joined the youth group evening activities as well as Sunday school
(taught by the husband of my mom's friend).
Soon, summer approached, and the subject of summer camping trip
began circulating in the church. For $75, it seemed like a great
deal of fun, as I had never camped before. However, it was a bit
pricy, so I had decided against going on the grounds of lack of
money. The Sunday school teacher wanted me to go, so he helped me
to acquire church subsidy. I got permission to go, but my sister
stayed behind.
Summer camp was really a great deal of fun. We had large group gatherings
followed by small group gatherings everyday, on top of fun activities.
I particularly enjoyed the large group gatherings, where we sang
hymnals written for young people, and listened to serious sermons.
During one of these large-group meetings, the pastor finished his
sermon, and asked for people to step forward if they felt a calling.
Largely due to the sermon (the exact content of which I no longer
remembered, but seemed related to sins), and partly due to the energy
and enthusiam of the people around me, I felt overtaken by the Spirit,
by an urge to pour out my emotions and cry, by an intense desire
to step forward. I felt nervous, urgent, discombobulated, but peaceful,
all at the same time. Peaceful? Why peaceful? Perhaps peaceful that
I could be given simply by stepping forward and committing myself
to Him...
I hesitated a moment. The pastor called to us again, and this time,
I gathered enough courage to walk up to the front. The college saints
that have cared for me in the past cheered. I made a conscious decision,
prayed with the pastor, and accepted Christ into my heart. My parents
were somewhat shocked to learn about my decision. They weren't upset,
just disbelieving that I would go and do such a thing. The wonderful
and praiseworthy part, though, was that my parents and sister eventually
accepted Christ. Our Chinese pastor arranged to baptize the four
of us on the same day. That was September 1996. Hallelujah!
Testimony 5
Life was good in college. I had the friends I wanted, I found the
hobbies I liked, and I was in the best program for my degree. I
was on track to a successful future. Of course, being in the computer
field when the tech industry was hot helps. Not only that, I had
all my plans laid out. I will go to work for a couple of years,
save up some money, and live in a foriegn country. To prepare for
this, I was also studying a foreign language on top of two other
majors. But not only did I study hard, I also played hard. My friends
and I would always hang out in the weekends. Whether it was trying
out new restaurants or watching movies, we always had something
to do. I never did homework on Saturday in my entire college days.
I work hard and I play hard.
But the surprising thing is, everything seems perfect but inside
me there was a question "Is this the way you want to live your life?"
I was convicted by the emptiness inside me. Is this life at its
best? Would I still feel the emptiness if I followed all my plans?
Back in high school, I was always say a little prayer before I go
to bed. Now in college, I seemed to successfully phrase God out
of my life. I was busy with my life and God was only scheduled in
on Sunday mornings. During the weekdays, I could careless whether
He existed or not.
Ever since my conviction, I seemed to live in contradiction. I want
to live the way I wanted, yet there is something missing. Eventually,
fed up with the way I live, I said a simple prayer, "Lord, if you
are out there, save me from my condition." And that He did.
Testimony 6
Well, I can't say it was one clear moment, but more of progressive
realization on the depth of Jesus' love, that eventually became
more obvious to me through my youth. There was and still is a simple
beauty about Jesus. To me, the stories of how he appreciated the
innocence of children was a reminder to me of his depth of love.
Although I am completely amazed with his parables of what it is
to believe in him and believe in God, I find solace in the one truth
of "Loving your neighbor as you would choose to be loved". I am
a person generally effected by my emotions and the emotions of others,
so this statement paints an ideal for me that I hope to attain...
through the eyes of the Lord. Before my realization, I was immature
with my ideals... being very self-righteous. After my realizations,
my ideals became more based on love for others in the body.
