Baptized in the name of the LORD - My Testimony

Today, April 1st, 2012, I was baptized at my church. <3

It was a joyous occasion and I'm very happy about what God has been doing for me all these years. Below is my personal testimony about how God has worked in my life and how He's changed it.

I guess you can say I’ve lived a fully Christian-by-name kind of life since I was born. My parents became Christians in Hong Kong before coming to America, and they’ve been attending CCUC before I was born. I grew up in a Christian home, I went to Sunday school every week, and I was even put in a Christian education system. I knew all the Bible stories and I believed in Jesus, and what He has done for me on the cross. I don’t remember when I started calling myself a Christian. It felt as if I was just born Christian. I was confident in calling myself a Christian at such a young age (grade school). But that was just a sliver of what I thought being a Christ-follower was.

It wasn’t until sophomore year of high school that my take on my faith turned for the better. A lot of it contributes to when I was in Jared Lee’s Sunday school in my first year in Kingdom Seekers. Since I knew all the Bible stories so well and was confident in my faith, I took the initiative to answer his often-feared question, “What is the Gospel?” Every answer I gave him, he just turned it around, and it really made me realize how shallow I’ve been treating my faith. I was always the nice girl, who always knew the right, Christian thing to do; I was what I like to call a “textbook Christian”. I had all the head-knowledge, but it never deeply resonated in me, what it meant to follow Jesus. I started to look at my faith more carefully, and was being hungrier for a deeper relationship with God. I wanted to know what it felt like to fall in love with God. I wanted to know the passion of those who are just crazy for Him. I wanted to feel that for myself. I went to Teen Camp that same year, and that was where I consciously asked for Christ to be in my heart. That was probably the first real conscious choice I made to follow Christ.

After that, I slowly grew in my walk with God as I tried to look at things in a new light at school. I took Bible lessons and chapel talks more seriously, and was often discouraged with the spiritual dryness of my high school. Because, it isn’t a surprise that being a Christian just became routine when it is all you knew since you were a child. But it also made me want to know the people in my class on a deeper level, as brothers and sisters in Christ (I’m still working on it). In the last years of high school, I went through a lot of trials and triumphs in my growth with God, be it in school or in church. College was coming up, and I was afraid of losing my faith. Thankfully, it only grew increasingly to this day.

My freshman year of college has been such a blessing to my faith. I’m in a great Intervarsity group and I’m in situations where I can talk about my own faith. Being on my own just led me to be more dependent on God, and I thank Him for putting my friends and family where I needed them in times of trial. It’s just that I’ve seen and experienced much in being God’s presence and seeing His work. I’ve felt the joy of the Spirit of the LORD so many times this past year, and I can’t ask for anything more joyful, or more fulfilling than those moments. It’s just such a blessing that I am taking my faith more seriously in the way that I want God to be the center of my life. It led me wanting to be more intimate with my family, more earnest with my friends, and more genuine with acquaintances and strangers. It also led me to have more trust in God, and I’ve never felt such peace before to do so.

 There are times where I am wrapped up in my own stress and fears that I feel numb to God’s words. And that scares me. But it’s so encouraging that God is unchanging and that I am His prodigal daughter, His rescued princess, and His lost sheep. This year after Winter Fest (an Intervarsity conference/retreat), God reminded me of His characteristics as a King, a Redeemer, a Savior, and a Shepherd. That weekend, I recommitted myself to the Great Commission saying, “Here I am, send me.”

I really believe God placed me in Christian home and education for a reason. Had I not have the Holy Spirit, I’m scared of what my life could’ve been. It doesn’t matter if you were born in a Christian or non-Christian home or how your life was. God reaches out to everyone with His unconditional love and grace. There are definitely trials to come, but I’m excited for what God’s going to show me for the rest of my life. LORD, following You was the best decision of my life. I can’t ask for anything more. I want to fall deeper in love with You, God. You are my LORD and King!

Thank you, be blessed :)