I am from Wuhan, China. My father is an atheist. He is stubborn and strong willed, and is the authority of my family. My mother is gentle and kind, and her personality is relatively weak. She first came to believe in Buddhism when I was in high school, and often took me to temples to worship Buddhas for blessing. Because of various doubts and confusions about Buddhism, I did not become a Buddhist and just go to the temple to accompany my mother. I focused on science subjects in high school, majored in economics in collage, and majored public administration in graduate school. My job is stable as well. The whole learning experience in education and the job field has made me a person who pursues perfection and is highly motivated. I feel that I must rely on my own efforts in everything. It also caused me to constantly worry about all kinds of things and to plan everything in advance.
Since I came to the United States to know and accept Jesus Christ, all this has changed.
The beginning of the change was that I accidentally saw a beautiful church in Grand Teton National Park online. I didn’t believe in the Lord back then, just want to see the beautiful scenery so I went there with pleasure. The moment I walked into the simple designed little church in the beautiful mountain, I was surrounded by a magical power. The light in the church was very dark, and there was only a transparent glass window facing the entrance. The light and scenery from outside penetrated into the church became the flowing scenery inside the church. This made the black wooden cross in front of the glass window particularly eye-catching. An old saying “there’s always God three feet above us when you raise your head.” suddenly appeared in my mind, and I unconsciously kneeled down in front of the cross. My heart was unprecedentedly calm and gratified. This was my first close encounter with Christianity . Looking back now, I think it was the Lord’s calling to me.
After coming to Kansas, one Sunday, one of my classmates asked us if we would like to attend church activities. We went with curiosity. The atmosphere of the gathering was particularly harmonious. From time to time there were people talking to me, caring about my pregnancy and asking if we needed help. I found that this group of people was different. Everyone of them had a sincere and warm smile. I didn’t see tiredness, depression, and anxiety on their faces. What I saw was their happiness, satisfaction and sweetness overflowing from their hearts. This is a magical thing for the young people like us who have just entered the career rising stage and are facing all kinds of pressure. Therefore, I started to participate in some church activities since first, I can enrich my life and second, I was very happy to be with this group of people. Before Thanksgiving, my classmates took us to participate in an outdoor church activity called “Journey to Judea”. The stage props and the real natural environment were cleverly integrated to simulate the classic scenes and important historical events of the Old Testament and New Testament. Suddenly a thought came into my mind. “This is Christianity, and Jesus Christ is real!
Since then, we have longed for knowing more about Jesus. By chance, we were introduced to Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church. This was really God’s beautiful arrangement again. After several Sunday worships, we were sure that this is what we are looking for. We made our minds to believe in Jesus Christ! Afterwards, the time we spent in church was really the most belonging, joyful, and peaceful period of time for us during our stay in the US. I had a lot of communications and prayers with my church brothers and sisters. We saw the difference between Christians and the ordinary people when facing difficulties, challenges, and setbacks in their lives. They do not compare, be prideful, be anxious, or be greedy. They have calmness, humility, joy, strength, warm hearts, and love! Every small group meeting, Sunday worship, fellowship and Bible study are the things I was looking forward to the most.
Having fellowship, singing songs, and learning the Bible at Sister Mei Rong’s house not only giving us chance to eat good food, but also giving us a sense of comfort and home. Sister Xiaoyan Qu’s family has always been helping and caring about our daily needs. Through church brothers and sisters, the Lord provided us our physical needs and also the spiritual guidance and nourishment. I remember the first time I met with sister Lian Xu for lunch. During chatting, I learned that she was training herself for running recently and planning to participate in the marathon. I was surprised by her confidence and courage because I knew how much perseverance was needed for running the marathon. Furthermore, sister Xu is not a young woman in her 20s. She told me that every day she followed and completed the training plan designed by the sports watch. This watch recorded her various physical parameters like a coach, and adjusted the sports plan according to these data to ensure that her goals could be achieved. Just like our God, He is so powerful, He has long-term plans for each of us, He knows our needs and our limits, He gives us beautiful arrangements, all we need to do is to trust Him firmly and follow Him, then we will be able to achieve His beautiful plan! This is the secret of how the brothers and sisters in the Lord have the joy and peace! In this eschatological age, Christians will have suffering, but their attitude towards suffering and the principles of treating others allow them to be justified by faith and deed, so that they can enjoy the joy and peace in Christ.
Looking back at the journey in this foreign country, we stumbled and encountered many difficulties. For example, our visa is about to expire due to COVID-19 pandemic. We were clueless and did not know what to do, besides we also had to take care of our babies. Right at this time, sister Cuihua and sister Qu provided us information for applying visa extension. I encountered some obstacles during the application process. Sister Qu was always with me, gave me support, and contacted brother Dai to solve the problem in time, allowing me to successfully complete the application process. Sister Qu told me, “Everyone will face difficulties. Whenever we worry about the unknown, inner peace is replaced by anxiety. In fact, when we look back after everything passes, we figure out that we should’ve had more trust in God. God’s grace is enough for us. Those difficult experiences have become the wealth of our lives! ” Since then, whenever I encountered difficulties again, I recalled the passage that sister Qu shared with me. I prayed to the Lord, and my heart became more peaceful. Although the difficulties still need to be faced, I have peace in my heart, and I have more confidence to deal with everything. Thank God, He is by my side. He knows everything. When I am in trouble and need help the most, He provides the righteous people who surround me like clouds to help me. He cares for me, He loves me, He never leaves me!
Looking back at this journey, I feel that God is leading me step by step in the path of salvation, helping me to know Him, to accept Him, to turn back to Him, and look up to Him! Indeed, “What God has prepared for those who love him is that the eyes have never seen, the ears have not heard, and the heart has not thought of it” (1 Corinthians 2: 9) At first I just hoped that getting close to Christ would make my life in a foreign country less boring, but God always gives us more than we can imagine! During this journey of ups and downs, God taught me a lot of lessons. I am no longer greedy for prosperity, I no longer fight for victory and not admit mistakes, I am no longer angry with my family, I no longer worry about tomorrow, I no longer suffer from looking for superiority among comparison … Thank God! Thank God for working in my heart, not only transforming the outside of my life, but also constantly purifying and renewing me from the inside! What I believe in is the only God. Unlike the idols of others, He is a true and living God. His words not only changed my life in the world, but also promised me an eternal hope!
According to the verses I saw in the book of Hebrews “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Before I have no faith, He became the founder of my faith and let me have faith; now that I believe in the Lord, I experience him being the achiever of my faith every day in my life!
