Confirmation Testimony — Brian Woo

Admin •
March 8, 2015

6 Minute Read

I was born and raised in to a Christian family and was surrounded by the Lord’s presence ever since I was born. But only recently did my real Christian life start. I went to church my entire life but I only went because my parents went. So I’d go to church, be with friends, and play. I never went to church with the intent of “I’m going to talk with God, learn more about Him, and praise Him”. During service, I’d listen to the sermon and sing all the songs and do everything but without really trying to connect with God. I just did all that because that’s what was expected of me. During prayer, I remember always closing my eyes, putting my hands together, and that’s it. I didn’t pray, I just sat there quietly waiting for prayer to end. This went on for a couple of years until I moved to Mokmin. Now, I still didn’t fully believe in God but I was definitely coming closer to Him and thinking about Him more.

Once I came into EM, I still wasn’t very different. Thankfully, Caleb’s sermons were there to save me. Every week his sermons seemed to speak to me. They all connected to me, either it was related to a problem I was having or it was just something that spoke to me on an emotional level. This was the first time I had ever felt like God was really there, watching over me, and helping me. I constantly looked forward to Sunday service.

About a year later, I came across this phase where I started questioning Christianity, God, His existence, etc. The main reason for this was because of a school discussion in grade 9 where we were talking about beliefs and religions. There were many good points in the discussion but the one thing that stuck out for me was “What if we are just wasting our time believing in something that isn’t real?” This really hurt me as well as made me start wondering. My family and I have invested so much time into God and Church. What if all of this really was all for nothing? I tried to tell myself, “No. I shouldn’t be thinking like this. God is real and He will always be here for me.” Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I ended up losing interest in church for a bit. I wasn’t as eager to go anymore. I tried to pretend to be sick or something. But I didn’t completely stop, I still forced myself to go.

What saved me from this phase, was the summer retreat that we went to about a year ago. It was just like every other retreat, games, eating, service but something was definitely different. On the second night, we had the extra long service followed by extra intense prayer. Caleb had finished his sermon and we had started prayer. We were praying for each other. But thing is, while everyone was praying for each other, I just stood there. I wasn’t praying or anything. Just standing there thinking to myself “Why aren’t I praying for everyone and myself?” I don’t remember specifically what happened next but someone came to me and started praying, so I just closed my eyes and listened. I clearly remember that person reminding me that God was always there with me no matter what happened or how hard a situation might have been. That’s when I realized, God is real, he was always by me, protecting me, and comforting me. Then someone came to me and prayed for me as well. They told me to open up my heart and let Him in, otherwise it just wouldn’t work. And so I did. After the retreat ended, I had felt like a brand new person. I was eager to go to church and learn more again. Ever since I opened up to Him, I’ve relied on Him more.

Now I pray to him about everything, whether it’s to thank him for answering a prayer request or just to talk to Him if I ever want to. Before, I thought there was no point in praying for something since I thought, “Why would He bother to help someone like me when there are so many others more important things but now I rely on him for just about anything. Whenever I’m in a tough situation, I look towards him asking for an answer or for comfort. During exam week, I got really stressed so I decided to take a short break from studying and just talk with Him. I found it really comforting and I was no longer stressed. I was able to think straight. It also became easier to talk openly about God and Christianity. I now know that there isn’t anything to be embarrassed about thanks to The Receiving Jesus Meeting The Receiving Jesus Meeting was also an extra measure in confirming my faith. Through the meeting I was able to understand that He will always be there to help me no matter the circumstances as well as that He truly does love me a whole lot.

The biggest change in my life was becoming a flock leader. Becoming a shepherd was a huge thing for me since I wasn’t sure if I was ready or if I even had the abilities to lead a group. So when I was offered this leadership role, I prayed about it for a while. He told me that I was capable of doing this and that I’d be a leader sooner or later. So I told Anthony, that I would like to be leader. Obviously, at first I was nervous and not completely sure what I was doing but after receiving grace, I gained way more confidence and it just got easier from there. Through all of this, I learned that, God will always love me and that I just need to trust him and look towards him through my good days as well as bad days. He will always be there for me.

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August 21, 2022 • 5 Minute Read
Transforming Life (1) Testimony - Esther Ahn
Hello everyone, my name is Esther and I’d like to share my experience from taking Transforming Life Bible Study. I became interested in taking Transforming Life because it was about the spiritual disciplines and I felt that I lacked a lot of knowledge in that department, and so I decided to take the study in hopes of learning how to be transformed spiritually. I was also attracted to the idea that it was more sharing-based in a small group setting and I thought that that would definitely mean less homework compared to Living Life. I was wrong, but it was definitely worth it. Before deciding to take the class, I was struggling a lot with anxiety to the point where I would get scared to come to school or church or house church. I was also afraid of exposing myself by sharing too much during house church sharing and too afraid to take the next steps in my faith as a Christian. I wanted to challenge myself to share more deeply and wanted to grab at any opportunity to try and deepen my faith and surround myself with more biblical knowledge. I was also struggling towards at home responding to my family members in a kind way instead of raging at them. During the 13 weeks of Transforming Life, I was able to really to understand the significance of each spiritual disclipine and the homework during the week allowed me to really immerse myself in God’s word, put into action what we had learned that week, and surround myself and spend meaningful time with the other participants. I enjoyed the experience doing things as a small group where we shared our thoughts and went through and practiced the disciplines together. I cannot spoil all the activities and practices we did each week, but I can say it was really special to experience that together whether it was unique or a little painful or challenging. It felt different than the past bible studies I took, and I do think the group aspect was very memorable. Through some of the action-based homework, I was able to work on how to respond to the needs of others and realized my relationships with people around me such as family, friends and my co-workers at Cinnabon were also improving. Before, I used to shriek and get mad at my family members whenever they requested me to do something or help them. But slowly I was able to tone down my reaction, and although I didn’t suddenly turn into a jolly servant, my first reaction wasn’t anger. There was a portion of the bible study that really made a significant impact on me where we met up with our assigned Prayer Partner every week to share how we were doing, update each other on our progress with our spiritual assignments, and to pray for one another. My Prayer Partner was Sarah Cho and it did take long until I was able to open up to her about things I’d never talked about in detail to anyone before. I never would’ve expected us to be trauma-dumping every week on a Tuesday at the Fairview mall food court, laughing through our pain with tears in our eyes. That mall has really heard it all. I’m pretty sure people around us thought we were crazy and the mall shook from the intense cackling that came from talking about some of the deepest darkest wildest traumatic experiences. Believe it or not, I believe that was the start of inner healing for me and although it was pretty sad and funny, it was strangely one of the most relieving and comforting experiences to know that I was not alone in my pain. I realized that healing could really only start when I can share honestly and deeply without fearing how I’d be perceived. I used to be afraid of sharing parts about my life that seemed embarrassing or too much but after taking this bible study, it really allowed me to open up about all parts of myself, even what I considered would ruin my image or make me look bad. I realized God placed my church community so I had a space where I could be vulnerable. I now find it much easier to talk about my struggles during home gathering and I feel a lot more at ease instead of feeling anxious. I had a couple people tell me that they noticed I was more bright and seemed more comfortable during house church. They were right, I wasn’t having a mental breakdown before every church related gathering like I used to and I overall felt a lot more comfortable but I had attributed this change of character and this joyfulness to the end of the school term. But I do believe through this bible study I was able to let down my walls and God was working in me. I had tried to take this bible study thinking maybe through the spiritual disciplines I’ll undergo a huge transformation from my efforts, but I learned that the spiritual disciplines simply allow us to place ourselves before God so he can transform us, and that any internal change will show externally. I genuinely believe the 13 weeks I spent doing Transforming Life really shifted something in me that not only I noticed but others around me. Now I have a greater anticipation for how God will work in me in my path of transformation. Thank you to Pastor Caleb, the other Transforming Life guinea pigs, and to Sarah Cho. Thank you for listening!.

Admin

December 29, 2023 • 4 Minute Read
Transforming Life (2) Testimony - Helen Song
Hi everyone, today I’m going to be sharing my experience taking Transforming Life bible study. I had attempted to take a life series class twice previously but without enough sign ups the classes didn’t happen. I believe I did so at the time because I thought it was the right thing to do and best course of action, not because I had a deep desire to take these classes. Therefore, without much thought, or knowledge as to what type of class this was, I found myself signing up for transforming life. As I learned more, I grew anxious whether I, an extreme introvert, would be able to share about my challenges, personal reflections, and unveil my relationship with God. I was also worried about the time commitment with weekly classes, the homework and meeting with my sharing partner in conjunction with my often-overwhelming work schedule. You can probably sense the trend but I’m a highly anxious person, which is why I try my best to take control of what I can. The best way I found that I could do that was to plan. Plan for my future to reach the next big milestone, budget for providing not only for myself but for my family too, efficiently scheduling my time at work down to the little things like running simple errands and meal-prepping. As classes started, every week we delved into a different spiritual discipline, learning about what they are, practical ways to apply them in our daily lives and opportunities to put them into practice. All the spiritual disciplines we covered are interrelated and cannot be ranked in importance; however, personally there were two that spoke to me – the spirit of simplicity & submission. There was one specific passage that challenged me which was from Matthew 6:30-33. So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. It’s a popular verse that most Christians have heard of and that I was aware of as well, but one I continued to struggle with. During this specific week I promised myself that every time I found myself feeling anxious, I would thank God for everything he’s done for me, to have faith in his provisions and for peace in my heart. Looking back, God has always provided for me in ways I couldn’t have planned for. For instance, I graduated with average grades, but found myself getting a job right out of school in the field that I love and studied for. I needed to commute to work but didn’t have my G licence or a car. However, the weeks leading up to my start date, I passed my driving test, and happened to buy a car off a friend who was leaving the country for a really good price. In doing this, I’ve started to experience the peace and freedom of not having to worry about my five-year plan or my finances or how I’m going to meet my next deadline. And not to say you shouldn’t plan, but I think my heart is in a better place when I do it now. God also reminded me that I can’t possibly plan or dream big enough for what he has planned for me. He works in ways I cannot account for and with that in mind, I was able to let some things go and concede in this fight for control with God. Lastly, I was astonished at how God opened my heart to share willingly and vulnerably week after week. The worries that I had prior were replaced with peace and joy. I’m so thankful that I was able to take this class. I won’t sugar coat this and tell you all that it was easy and that I’ve fully embraced this “Jesus take the wheel” lifestyle. I felt incredibly challenged, confronted by my short comings, and continue to struggle going to God with my worries. Despite this, I came out of this class with high spirits, showered with God’s love, grace, and faithfulness to continue learning, and deepen my relationship with Him. I’d like to thank Pastor Caleb for leading us the past 13 weeks and for my fellow transforming life classmates for their encouragement, continuous prayer and for making this an enjoyable experience. Thank you for listening.

Admin

October 15, 2016 • 5 Minute Read
New Life (1) Testimony - Anthony Cho
I think our lives as children would have been so much easier if our parents did just this one thing. When I was little I always thought, if Mom and Dad could just do this one thing, I’d listen to whatever they say. If they could just explain WHY every time they told us to do or not to do something, it didn’t even have to be a good reason, I’d be satisfied. I think our Christian journey is much like our growing as a child. When we receive Jesus, we are given a chance to redeem a new life, in “Christian-ese” we call it being born again. And now suddenly we’re tossed into this new family (church) with new expectations. And suddenly there are new guidelines and boundaries, not necessarily something we signed up for. And we start striving to be good and good-er. Because now God is our dad. But if you’re anything like me, this ideal ends right about here. Why? Why do we have to follow Jesus and Paul and the teachings of the church? Jesus thanks for the new life, thanks for giving me birth into your family – but, I’m not so enthusiastic about your ideals. Your values, your direction. I think I know better about running my own life. You probably relate this to your parents, right? Thank you for giving me birth mom, dad. But I don’t need your rules, I don’t need your standards. Your rules just keep me from having fun. Even up to last year, my life was a constant struggle – God’s way or my way? Q.T. or facebook? Ministry or video games? Prayer or pizza? Go to house church or stay in my bed? And it’s not that I didn’t want to pray or do Q.T. – but compared to everything else in life, school, food, Instagram, Jesus just took a lower priority. I didn’t know why prayer could be more important than my social reputation. I couldn’t see how reading about ancient people in the bible could solve my financial debt. Serving is cool, and prayer looks alright – but how is that going to help me get a job? God’s way seemed irrelevant, inefficient, and old-fashioned. But I took New Life bible study – and it did one very important thing – it told me why. It answered my question of WHY we serve, who we are and why it’s important to live by these guidelines. It was exactly what I needed. It changed my perspective on the purpose of my life. I changed my thinking. I changed my worldview. I changed my values. I began to see who I was through the eyes of Jesus. And perspectives lead to thoughts, which leads to action, which leads to habits, which ultimately leads to destiny. God has been changing my heart from the start of this year and New Life class solidified it. Once I knew the true purpose of prayer, of ministry and spending time with God – was able to take to heart seriously and start applying them in my life. And as I began to devote more of myself to God’s purpose for my life, I’ve been seeing more evidence of God’s activity in my life. In the morning as I fill myself with God and his spirit, the promise of self-control and discipline keeps me aligned to his peace. I’ve never been busier in my life. I work, I volunteer, I’m involved in ministry and I go to school but I’m so peaceful. I’m not stressed like I was in the past. It’s easier to reach out first and apologize, and take responsibility for my actions. During and after new life I’ve made several phone calls, reconciling with people I had hurt in the past. Serving is becoming more of a joy and less of a burden. My relationships with others have been flourishing. Prayer is not a monologue, but a conversation. God helped me climb out of debt and now financially I’ve been more generous, and I believe God has been providing. I write down every single penny I spend in my ledger, and a quick review showed that my spending for other people increased about 400%, and over spending for myself decreased. I was able to let go of my 7-year long gaming addiction. Not that gaming is bad, but as God showed me the wonderful life I was called to live, I realized that gaming took away my time from the people around me – and I didn’t want that anymore. I’m happier, so much more content because my life feels significant and purposeful. I’ve been able to let go of more and more past wounds and baggage. Christian life is actually enjoyable. I attribute all this to Jesus Christ, who I am not ashamed to call my Lord. Of course, that’s the highlight reel. Do I still get stressed sometimes? Yes. Did all of my unhealthy old habits completely disappeared? No. But I know this – I have definitely changed for the better. New Life helped kick start a new season of spiritual growth and maturity because it convinced me to change my perspective. And with my new perspective I’ve been making better choices, and fewer regrets.

Admin

September 20, 2017 • 4 Minute Read
New Life (2) Testimony - Paul Yoo
Hey guys, today I’ll be giving my testimony on New Life and sharing why I took this class, the experiences before and after I took this bible study. My initial decision to take this class was to provide myself more exposure to God outside of just church life. The purpose behind the decision was to provide understanding and commitment to not a religion, but a relationship. I was struggling greatly with identifying what having close friends really meant after my first year of university ended. There were many times I had frequently asked questions to myself: what am I doing wrong in this relationship? Why is there a lack of connection? How come there’s a lack of vulnerability? We hang out, but do they actually like me? Why should I trust this person? There were times of emptiness and a sense of loneliness because I couldn’t find an answer to my questions; I felt insecure for being insecure, and I felt too embarrassed to share with anyone. I needed guidance and someone I could freely talk with all the time: this is where God comes into the picture. I was reminded how in one of my previous bible studies, Living Life, that if our relationship with God grew, our relationship with others would too. This all had me thinking. God already knows everything about me, but for me, I knew more of Him than actually knowing Him. Having a relationship with God is a privilege, yet it seemed at times like an awkward relationship you have with a friend’s friend or a distant cousin. Just like any way a relationship requires to grow, I needed to spend repeated commitment through intentional communication, prayer, and learning more about the character of God. Taking New Life provided me with the answers to how I can improve my relationship with God, and how being part of a community is important in our Christian lives. As a result, I’ve been happier with not only my relationship with God, but with those around me. As I came to learn more of God’s character, through talking with him, and being more aware of answered prayers, my affection for him grew, and so did my desire as his servant. I came to love him and his patients for me during my frustration and confusion. Through my walk with God, my love for him grew. I started to see how once one receives this love, you’re filled with the desire to do something to please the one you love. My love for him led me to serve at the RK retreat where I had a difficult time at first, but found joy in serving and relying on him for strength. God also helped me to open my eyes to the power of ministry through House Church. To exemplify, there was one time during house church where two members shared how someone they cared dearly for was struggling relationally. When I heard these people share, I felt the peace to open up with a similar problem; it felt as though I wasn’t the only during such struggles and that my problems shouldn’t be disregarded based on how large in magnitude they seem to others. The truth behind Christianity being a community made more sense after being aware of being part of House Church. The beauty of it is that you don’t feel alone when someone shares the same struggles and it’s even greater when you hear how it was resolved when people testify to answered prayer. The community aspect I’ve questioned and reserved myself from has become evidently important through the changes I’ve experienced through bible study. I’ve become accountable with brothers in Christ and felt free to share my struggles without filtering as much. Being accountable has helped me clear out my thoughts and reflect on the rights and wrongs behind my actions and words. Although there will be times I won’t say the right things and my walk won’t always be steady, I hold onto what God has given to me through what I’ve been given, what I’ve learned through Living life, and the joy behind the repeated commitment in my walk with God. Thank you for listening.

Admin

August 20, 2021 • 7 Minute Read
New Life (3) Testimony - Joyce
Hi everyone, today I’m going to be sharing my experience taking New Life bible study! I decided to take this class because I thought it was what I should do. I completed Living Life in 2018 and New Life is the next bible study, so I took it. In hindsight, I probably could have thought more about timing and planned to be more organized before signing up and starting – I didn’t take into account that I’d be juggling work, school, and bible study, so it’d be challenging to balance. But I’m really glad that I just decided to take it. Before taking this class, one thing that always bothered me in the back of my mind was the lack of change in me as a Christian. After getting baptized or confirmed, we expect to become a whole different person. But after my confirmation, I was still the same. This was an expected and obvious result because I was living the same lifestyle with the same mindset. I knew there needed to be some kind of change both internally with my thoughts and externally through my actions, but I chose to suppress this knowledge and conviction and just keep moving forward as I was, mainly because I thought it was so hard to live as the ideal Christian and felt like there was an expectation to give up a lot of things. I naturally convinced myself that it’s okay; I believe that Jesus died for my sins and I accept Jesus as God, so I’m saved – that’s the core of my faith and determines my salvation. Which is true. But I had a wake up call during bible study – it was the deep understanding that the biggest adjustment we need to make in our lives in order to live a new life as a Jesus follower is our value system (or perspective). And I was like shoot, just had to call me out. Now I really have to do something about it… It really hit close to home because I knew I was pursuing a life that aligned with my value system: enjoying life, having fun, having a stable career, being prosperous. It all sounds amazing and everyone wants this, right? These things in and of themselves are not bad or wrong and because I knew they weren’t, I convinced myself to not feel guilty for wanting and striving for them. But it was through bible study that I realized the root of where I did go wrong and this was hearing about how Satan convinces us to cling to these very normal and natural things as the most important things in life. These things are not bad to value or pursue but he twists these good things and instills fear in us to make us become obsessed and controlling, to try to live our lives our way – and that is exactly what I had been doing. My intentions were good: “I want to enjoy the good and comfortable things in life”, “I want to accomplish many things”, “I want to be able to take care of my family”, but when they become your everything, that’s when it’s a problem. I finally acknowledged that I had that problem. I was chasing only these things and they were controlling my every thought, action, feeling, and intention. I was living a life where I didn’t choose God and every day, I lived according to what I wanted and my plans. I was chasing my definition of happiness, which was established by what our society and I deemed acceptable and admirable. Because I wanted to achieve this life according to that standard, God and His standards were not a priority (like at all). I had tunnel vision and focused on doing everything I could to ensure that I was taking the right steps to be able to eventually create this ideal life for myself. This was with regards to all aspects of my life – work, school, social life. So you can see: issue confirmed. I learned that there’s two parts to this: first is culture. My thoughts and behaviours were heavily influenced by the culture that I’ve naturally assimilated into – you know, the culture that commends nonstop grinding, excessive freedom, and associates success with possessions and reputation. I’m very easily swayed by these things, so I felt convicted when I read the message “Our loyalty must be to God even when it conflicts with our culture”. This has always been so hard for me to do. The second is a result of culture, which is fears and worries – about not doing enough, not being enough, and not having enough. For example, I was always stressing so much about the future and my performance at work. My mind was consumed with both of these – worldly desires and anxieties. When I finally acknowledged that there is a spiritual condition at the root of my attitude and perspective, I identified that I was in the middle of a spiritual battle. These were all strategically planned and planted by Satan, cultivated through the deception and culture he created. We were taught that the solution to resist the worldly value system that influences us is starting by giving up the small things that we hold onto. I realized that for me, that’s FOMO. Not necessarily in the social aspect but more of fear of missing out on the good things in life on this Earth. It’s hard to overlook this because it’s a desire, lifestyle, feeling – it’s so deeply ingrained into me that it’s hard to break its hold. But I am more conscientious of the priority I place on these things and feel more of its weight now. Knowing the severity of how I’m lead by these values was the wake up call I needed to take it more seriously and re-evaluate my priorities. What I took away from this long reflection and lesson is that I need to be alert when I begin to idolize worldly values and when they control me because I’m so weak and susceptible to this attack. I also have to be willing to accept a reality check – it literally took me years to finally acknowledge it and take responsibility for my faith because I didn’t want to deal with it and change. Finally, to turn to God for the strength to change my perspective because it’s so tempting to just overlook the issue at hand and continue to live the way I want. So, I know I can’t do it on my own but on my part, I just have to be cautious of the spiritual battle I’m in, be willing to change my wrong value system, and partner with God for Him to lead me. This is the peace that God has left with me after New Life. Honestly – I shared this on the last day of bible study, and I’m not sure if it was the answer Pastor Caleb was expecting but – I’m nervous. I don’t have the confidence to transform my life and change my value system, which is why I know it’s a journey I need to be on with God. There’s no doubt that I’m going to get sidetracked in my day-to-day life and pulled back into my old ways and mindset. But I believe it’s all part of the process. It’s training my mind and heart to desire what really matters, so that I can live life by the spirit instead of the flesh and become more of who I was created to be. Thank you.

Admin

September 30, 2015 • 7 Minute Read
Shepherd Appointment Testimony - Edward Eun
Hello. My name is Edward Eun and it is through God’s grace, that I am being appointed today as a shepherd. I want to share with you, a bit about myself, how I decided to become a shepherd, and how I will serve as a shepherd. My family moved to Canada over 40 years ago and God has blessed me with a beautiful and faithful wife and a precious daughter. After working about 10 years in Canada, I got a chance to work in Korea. So we sold our house, packed up everything and moved to Korea in 2003 and we stayed nine years in Korea. Although I didn’t expect it but during the nine years that we were in Korea, God had worked in me, to open-up my mind and my heart, and really transformed me. Before we moved to Korea, I attended church and did a lot of church work, but I don’t think I truly knew about God’s grace and love. I did not have a deep understanding of what the gift of salvation is, what it means to be redeemed and what we are to do with this salvation. During the nine years that we were in Korea, we attended a church where I received training on what a disciple of Jesus is and what our mission in life is. It sounds very basic stuff but it was something that was not deeply taught to me while I was in Canada. This training and teaching were truly a blessing for me and helped me to understand who God is, who I am, and that God provides all that we need. After living nine years in Korea, we moved back to Toronto in the summer of 2012. It was a huge adjustment for all of us and it was not easy re-establishing our lives in Canada again. We visited several churches but we could not settle on a church that Sharon and I felt was the church that God had wanted to us join. Then one of Sharon’s friend said that we should visit Living Water Fellowship or LWF at Mokmin Church. So, we visited LWF and after we prayed about it, we decided together to make Mokmin our church and LWF our ministry. About four months later, Pastor Caleb’s family and our family held LWF’s first house church gathering and we attended that house church for one-and-a-half years. However, we wanted to be part of a house church where the members were closer to our life situation. So last summer, we joined Kim Hyun-soo’s Vitamin house church and we have been attending that house church since then. When Kim Hyun-soo announced that he was stepping down as a shepherd because of Jang Kyung-hee’s health condition, he said that there were two ways that a new shepherd can be appointed. Someone can volunteer or someone can be nominated. After he said this, I was hoping that no one would nominate me. I was thinking this because it already wasn’t easy meeting every week and sharing my life, and to be a shepherd, I just felt that I couldn’t do it because my work was too busy and stressful enough. And then, our house church nominated me. I took a deep breath and said that I needed to think about this and to pray about it and talk it over with Sharon. I asked if I can have one week. During that one week, I felt like there was a heavy burden placed on me. Whenever, I spoke to Sharon about this, she often would say to me “you have to decide” I prayed about this every day and just when I felt like I could do it, I was making excuses why I couldn’t do it. Timing is not good for me right now or I am not capable to be a shepherd or work is just too busy these days, and I have no time nor the energy to be a shepherd. Then one day as I was reading the Bible, I came across the book of Psalms chapter 127 which said: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. It felt like the Holy Spirit was convicting me through these verses. “ … the Lord builds … the Lord watches …” I realized once again that my life is not my life. I do not build my life nor do I make it with my strength. I do not have hope in myself. My life was purchased for a price and therefore I am a disciple of Jesus. Luke 9 says “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” The Lord is in my life and he will build it and provide all that I need. If the Lord wants me to work in his ministry and be a shepherd, then I just need to obey. After I prayed about this, I accepted the nomination to be a shepherd. I told Sharon about this and asked her if she is ready to be a shepherd’s wife. And she said “yes” but with a slight hesitation. Of course, this does not mean that we will never face difficulties with house church or that there will be no conflicts or tough times. Satan will try his best to stop God’s ministry by creating problems, but I am going forward … we are going forward, not because we can do this on our own but because I know that the Lord will provide all the strength and love that we need to do HIS ministry. Through this, I realized once again that it is so easy for us to look for things that will make us more comfortable or avoid situations that will cause stress or hardship, but I don’t believe that is what a disciple of Jesus should be doing. House church is a ministry of serving to save lost souls and serving requires love and strength. This love and strength cannot come from me alone but must come from the Lord. God will often use a weak person to do his ministry and I need your prayers so that I can get strength and love from Him. I went to Houston conference last year, and the pastor there told us that the shepherd’s wife does 80% of the work. So, also please pray for Sharon as the shepherd’s wife. I hope and pray that through the Holy Spirit working in our house church, that we can love each other, understand each other and earnestly pray for each other. I also pray that through our house church and through other house churches, that many VIPs can come to know the love of Jesus. I thank God for Kim Hyun-soo and Jang Kyung-hee, for their love and patience for serving as shepherd and shepherd’s wife for the last five years. I also thank the Lord for Pastor Caleb, and his prayers and dedication to building up LWF and preparing EXIT students for adulthood. Please continue to keep LWF ministry in your prayers. And finally and foremost, I want to thank God our Father, for giving me and Sharon this amazing privilege and opportunity to serve as shepherd and shepherd’s wife in his ministry. Thank you for listening to my testimony.

Admin

July 17, 2017 • 6 Minute Read
Shepherd Appointment Testimony - Grace Kwack
Hello, My name is Grace Kwack and I will be sharing my testimony with you today. Before I begin, I’d like to say a very big thank you to Pastor Caleb and Jennifer. Throughout the four years of being in Lampang house church, I have received so many blessing from them. It was so nice being welcomed every week with a smile and so much warmth. They have provided me and other house church members with so much love and created a safe space for us to share about our lives and be vulnerable. I am very grateful for Jennifer’s home cooked meals and Caleb’s visits to our universities during exam time. The greatest thing I am thankful for is the way they showed me what it means to have a servant heart. I hope that I can become a shepherd like them who carries a servant heart everywhere I go. Last September, I had an amazing opportunity to go to Hawaii to attend a Discipleship Training School for six months. I spent three months in Hawaii learning more about the bible and the nature of God. It was a period for me to expand my knowledge about God’s word and have a better understanding of His heart for me. After the three months lecture phase, I went on a mission trip for another three months to a small country in Europe, called Kosovo, and also to an island in Greece to serve in the refugee camps. Being in those countries I was able to experience so much of God’s grace and his love for the nations. The six months that I spent away from home were very memorable and my life was transformed by the truth of God’s love. I truly believe that those six months were one of the most precious times of my life. I returned home earlier this year in March and my transition period was more difficult than I had expected. When I came home, I didn’t have a job and I wasn’t in school, so I spent most of my time at home for the first two months. I think I was afraid of losing the intimate relationship that I had built with God during my time away from home. For that reason, I spent a lot of time reading the bible and reflecting on my relationship with Him. The thoughts of being a shepherd had crossed my mind for a couple years but I ignored those thoughts because of my endless excuses. My main excuse came from the fact that I am a university student who lives away from home. I didn’t believe that it would be possible for me to serve as a shepherd. However, during the two months of being home and seeking God, the thoughts of becoming a shepherd returned. My time spent in Hawaii, Kosovo, and Greece was absolutely incredible that I actually had my own plans to return to Hawaii to serve as a staff member with YWAM. I planned to graduate university as soon as possible so that I could return to Hawaii and I also wanted to go to South Africa to attend a bible school. Eventually, these plans became another excuse for me to not become a shepherd. Considering taking on the role of a shepherd and wanting to leave home brought tension to my heart and I began to feel uncomfortable. One day, I was doing QT and came across Ecclesiastes chapter three. This scripture talked about how there is “a time for everything” in our lives. It emphasized how God brings us into different seasons in our life according to His plans. This made me reflect and realize how much I was trying to control my own life. I was planning for my future based on my own selfish desires. That’s when I decided to ask God, “What season am I in? What time is it in my life?” After seeking for God’s answer, I came to understand that the six months I spent in Hawaii, Kosovo, and Greece was a season for me to grow, learn, and be born again. The two months I spent at home was a season for me to rest in God’s presence and embrace His blessings. For the next couple weeks, the thoughts of becoming a shepherd kept returning to me. However, instead of discomfort I felt a lot of peace and excitement about serving. I felt that God was placing this in my heart and came to the conclusion that now was a season for me to obey the Lord by serving as a shepherd without resisting His plans for me. After this, I asked God to provide me with confirmation so that I’d know that this thought wasn’t coming from my own impulsive feelings. I am so thankful because God provided me with three confirmations. The first was through my mom. After deciding I wanted to serve as a shepherd, I had shared this with my mom and the very first thing she said to me was, “Wow grace, my prayer request has been answered!” Hearing this, I felt so much comfort because I understood that God was not only placing this in my heart but also answering my mom’s prayer request. After this, I spent a couple weeks praying more before sharing with Pastor Caleb and Jennifer. What they told me was that during the time of Daniel fast earlier this year, one of their main prayer requests was for our Lampang house church to multiply. Hearing that their prayer request had been answered too, I felt more peace in my heart. However after speaking with Pastor Caleb and Jennifer, I began to feel anxious, worried, and doubtful about becoming a shepherd. Things began to feel more official and I started to question whether I could be a good shepherd and whether I had what it takes to be one. But right at that moment, when I felt so much distress, God provided me with His last confirmation. He spoke to me directly through His written words. As I was doing QT, I came across Proverbs 23:26 which read, “My child, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways.” When I read this, I felt that God was saying to me “Grace, don’t be afraid, just give me your heart of wanting to serve and watch what I can do with it.” That was when I decided to give my heart of wanting to serve completely to God. I believe that God has called me to be a shepherd in this season of my life. Although being a shepherd will not always be easy and may bring difficult times, I trust that the Lord will provide me with wisdom and guidance. Please pray that I may become the shepherd that God wants me to be. Thank you.

Admin

June 8, 2023 • 7 Minute Read
Shepherd Appointment Testimony - Joy Kim
Hi everyone! I’m here today to tell you about how God has led me to make the decision to become a shepherd. Some of you know this already, but this decision has been a long time in the making and so there have been many blessings and lessons I’ve received along the way. I tried my best to organize my thoughts, but I apologize in advance if it seems like I’m rambling. I’m just really thankful to be here. So for those of you who don’t know me, my name is Joy. I’m 26 years old. I’m a nurse and i’ve been a part of The Seed since I was in grade 6. I joined Chiang Rai (then called Lampang) house church in 2014 in my first year of uni. Since then, I’ve been faithfully served week after week by Pastor Caleb and Jen. They have seen me through many tough choices and ugly moments through the years. There have been many a time when I called Jen in a panic because I needed to make a decision about a job offer, or fought with my boyfriend or someone was in the hospital. They were there for me every time to listen to me, encourage me and most importantly pray for me. I’ve learnt a lot from them, but I think the most important way that they helped me to grow was in the very beginning – one day when Pastor Caleb was driving me home after house church. At the time, I was in my first year of university at McMaster. I was trying to make friends and trying to find a new church there but also coming home maybe every other weekend or so, not for any other reason except being homesick and feeling out of place in Hamilton. It was at that time that Pastor Caleb challenged me to consider committing to coming back every weekend to serve at The Seed. I was pretty surprised at what he asked. At first, it seemed too unrealistic – I worried about whether I would be able to keep up with my schoolwork or really fit in at school if I was coming back home every weekend. But after praying about it, I started to feel a nudge in my heart to do it. After a lot of humming and hahing, I still wasn’t sure. But I made the decision to say yes, and said to God “I’ll say yes, but I need you to make this work for me.” And over the course of the next four years, I witnessed time and time again as God would make it work. I would get classes ending early on Fridays, starting late on mondays, clinical placements in Toronto. And if not that, I know that God was making it work because my grades came out okay! And so, I want to say that I am thankful to you Pastor Caleb for challenging me back then, because it allowed me to experience what happens when you say to God, even when things seem scary or impossible. He comes through and prepares the way ahead of you. I have experienced so many blessings and the joy of serving at our church because of it. With that being said, I want to share a bit about how I finally decided to say yes to becoming a shepherd. I love our church and I love the people here and I love serving here. I also love house church ministry and over the years, I’ve grown to learn and appreciate how God has worked through this ministry at our church. So years ago, I decided that I would become a shepherd, some day, when the time was right. And then in the last couple years or so, I noticed that our house church has been growing and growing and I think everyone was really started to feeling the pressure of needing to multiply. I felt the tension and nudging in my heart to step up, but I put it off while I waited for the circumstances to be right – to have a steady job that lets me have every Friday off, to be done youth shepherding, to have a husband and a home, and to feel like I was mature enough or wise enough. The biggest thing I was worried about was the fact that I had been hired to Public Health for the pandemic on a temporary contract that was set to expire at any time. And if I couldn’t find another job in public health, then I’d have to go back to working in the hospital, meaning I’d be busy all the time with an irregular schedule and not being able to attend, nevermind host house church meetings. It was at the height of this brooding and spiralling that Pastor Caleb gave a sermon about excuses. He spoke about the paralytic lying on his mat by the pool of water, talking about how he could never be healed because he could never get down to the water in time. He said that this mat represents the excuses we’ve been sitting on all these years, and challenged us to pick up our mat and how we have no reason not to if we have experienced God’s faithfulness in our lives so far. This is what finally gave me the kick in the pants I needed. I looked back at how faithful God has always been and I realized that I had no reason not to say yes. Yes I was still living at home with kinda questionable job security and no husband, but I gave that to God and asked Him to make it work and talked to Caleb and Jen in August of last year. Since then, I’ve experienced grace after grace. I committed in August, and then got a job offer to stay in Public Health in September. I even got moved to an office just 10 minutes from home in April. My family helped me renovate our basement so that I could host at our house. My friends offered to help cook and open up their own homes for house church. I’ve experienced once more how God makes a way for us when we trust Him and obey. That being said to be honest, there are still lots of times that I have found myself struggling with nervousness, fear and doubt coming to today. I find myself comparing myself to the people around me and thinking – these friends of mine are so much wiser, more caring and kind than I am. Who am I to be their shepherd? The audacity!!! I get scared that I’ll let people down. I feel like I’m not faithful enough or christian enough. I know I’m lacking in so many ways. But I’m encouraged by what it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I’m holding onto the fact that it might not matter so much who I am or what I can do, because it is God who does the work, not us. I’ll end this testimony by asking you all to pray that I and the rest of Papua New Guinea House Church will start our ministry with humble and prayerful hearts, and that we would always be sensitive to notice and thank God as He does his work through our house church. Thank you all for listening!

Admin

October 21, 2023 • 5 Minute Read
Confirmation Testimony — Estelle Kim
Hello, I'm Estelle, and as someone raised in a family where religion was held to a high degree, the beliefs and values of Christianity were drilled into me ever since I could remember. One of the first things I learned from this religion is the foundational truth that "God is good." It might sound silly, but as a clueless child, I found it fairly easy to accept this concept because God created colours, and for as long as I could remember, I've always found so much of the world's beauty in its colours: the vibrant green of trees that made me hate walking to school every day a little less, the bright orange of campfires that would glow on the faces of people that I loved, and the yellow and reds of sunsets so beautiful that it made me thank God for being alive. How could a God that wasn't good create something so incredible? But, as I grew older and life more complicated, faith was no longer this simple. For the past several years, I've been burdened with various troubles: conflict in my relationships, overwhelming stress from school, low self-esteem, and struggle with self-identity. Although difficult for me to admit, the more I suffered, the more I found myself questioning God. If he's so good, why allow all these bad things to happen? If he loves me as much as everyone claims he does, how can he just sit back and watch me hurt? As more of these questions started to build up unanswered, the further I strayed away from God until, eventually, I decided to give up on our relationship and disconnected myself completely. So now, suffering through all these hardships alone, everything in my life started to drain its colour, and my world began to grey. I began to look at the sunset and was no longer fazed by its beauty. For two years, my faith was at an all-time low. I barely ever prayed or read the Bible, and most of the time, attending church felt disingenuous and forced. It was during these past two years that I endured some of the most difficult times I've ever had to go through, but through them, I slowly started to notice signs of God working in my life. It started with little things that I could easily pass off as a coincidence, such as someone randomly reaching out to check up on me when I was conveniently at my lowest. Then, the signs started to become a lot more obvious when, one day, God came to my mom in prayer and revealed a massive burden I had been carrying on my own for over a year. Then eventually, the signs became impossible to ignore. During the Sunday service after this summer's retreat, our guest speaker, Pastor Doug, shared a sermon about exactly what I had been crying to God about just the night before. In this sermon, Pastor Doug addressed every question I had about God and his goodness. He taught me that instead of resenting God for the parts we don’t know about him, we should love the parts we do know. After receiving this message, I realized that God was hearing my cries, and I could no longer pass this all off as a coincidence. As a result of the constant signs I was receiving from God over the past year, I finally acknowledged how he has been present and working in my life. I began to open my heart to him and decided to take GPS for a second time; this is where I received Christ and made the decision to get confirmed. A verse shared in GPS that really spoke to me was (Revelation 3:20) See! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him, and he with me. Initially, I believed that my darkest of times were a lack of God in my life, but this verse highlights that that couldn't be farther from the truth—God was always there, standing at the door, knocking, and I just refused to hear him. It wasn’t until I let him into my heart that I could feel the dull world around me grow vibrant in colour again. Something that helped immensely through my rocky journey in faith was house church. House church blessed me with a support system I could lean on whenever I felt myself growing weak in faith. Listening to members share about how God was working in their lives made me hopeful that one day, I might be able to feel him working through mine as well. I'm forever thankful for every one of my house churches and want to thank each of my past and present shepherds for always supporting and looking out for me in times where I couldn’t for myself. After accepting God back into my heart, the biggest change I’ve seen is how I manage life’s hardships. Before, I wholeheartedly believed that whatever challenge I faced, I had to face it alone. I pushed away those closest to me because I didn't want to be a burden. But now, I allow myself to be more vulnerable with the people in my life and tackle every hardship with the knowledge that I can always lean back on God. God has brought an amazing technicolour to my life and, although I may never fully understand the extent of God's goodness, I've still decided to put my trust in him because, for the first time in forever, my life is no longer grey. Thank you.

Admin

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March 8, 2015 • 6 Minute Read
Confirmation Testimony — Brian Woo
I was born and raised in to a Christian family and was surrounded by the Lord’s presence ever since I was born. But only recently did my real Christian life start. I went to church my entire life but I only went because my parents went. So I’d go to church, be with friends, and play. I never went to church with the intent of “I’m going to talk with God, learn more about Him, and praise Him”. During service, I’d listen to the sermon and sing all the songs and do everything but without really trying to connect with God. I just did all that because that’s what was expected of me. During prayer, I remember always closing my eyes, putting my hands together, and that’s it. I didn’t pray, I just sat there quietly waiting for prayer to end. This went on for a couple of years until I moved to Mokmin. Now, I still didn’t fully believe in God but I was definitely coming closer to Him and thinking about Him more. Once I came into EM, I still wasn’t very different. Thankfully, Caleb’s sermons were there to save me. Every week his sermons seemed to speak to me. They all connected to me, either it was related to a problem I was having or it was just something that spoke to me on an emotional level. This was the first time I had ever felt like God was really there, watching over me, and helping me. I constantly looked forward to Sunday service. About a year later, I came across this phase where I started questioning Christianity, God, His existence, etc. The main reason for this was because of a school discussion in grade 9 where we were talking about beliefs and religions. There were many good points in the discussion but the one thing that stuck out for me was “What if we are just wasting our time believing in something that isn’t real?” This really hurt me as well as made me start wondering. My family and I have invested so much time into God and Church. What if all of this really was all for nothing? I tried to tell myself, “No. I shouldn’t be thinking like this. God is real and He will always be here for me.” Unfortunately, it didn’t work. I ended up losing interest in church for a bit. I wasn’t as eager to go anymore. I tried to pretend to be sick or something. But I didn’t completely stop, I still forced myself to go. What saved me from this phase, was the summer retreat that we went to about a year ago. It was just like every other retreat, games, eating, service but something was definitely different. On the second night, we had the extra long service followed by extra intense prayer. Caleb had finished his sermon and we had started prayer. We were praying for each other. But thing is, while everyone was praying for each other, I just stood there. I wasn’t praying or anything. Just standing there thinking to myself “Why aren’t I praying for everyone and myself?” I don’t remember specifically what happened next but someone came to me and started praying, so I just closed my eyes and listened. I clearly remember that person reminding me that God was always there with me no matter what happened or how hard a situation might have been. That’s when I realized, God is real, he was always by me, protecting me, and comforting me. Then someone came to me and prayed for me as well. They told me to open up my heart and let Him in, otherwise it just wouldn’t work. And so I did. After the retreat ended, I had felt like a brand new person. I was eager to go to church and learn more again. Ever since I opened up to Him, I’ve relied on Him more. Now I pray to him about everything, whether it’s to thank him for answering a prayer request or just to talk to Him if I ever want to. Before, I thought there was no point in praying for something since I thought, “Why would He bother to help someone like me when there are so many others more important things but now I rely on him for just about anything. Whenever I’m in a tough situation, I look towards him asking for an answer or for comfort. During exam week, I got really stressed so I decided to take a short break from studying and just talk with Him. I found it really comforting and I was no longer stressed. I was able to think straight. It also became easier to talk openly about God and Christianity. I now know that there isn’t anything to be embarrassed about thanks to The Receiving Jesus Meeting The Receiving Jesus Meeting was also an extra measure in confirming my faith. Through the meeting I was able to understand that He will always be there to help me no matter the circumstances as well as that He truly does love me a whole lot. The biggest change in my life was becoming a flock leader. Becoming a shepherd was a huge thing for me since I wasn’t sure if I was ready or if I even had the abilities to lead a group. So when I was offered this leadership role, I prayed about it for a while. He told me that I was capable of doing this and that I’d be a leader sooner or later. So I told Anthony, that I would like to be leader. Obviously, at first I was nervous and not completely sure what I was doing but after receiving grace, I gained way more confidence and it just got easier from there. Through all of this, I learned that, God will always love me and that I just need to trust him and look towards him through my good days as well as bad days. He will always be there for me.

Admin

May 16, 2015 • 4 Minute Read
Confirmation Testimony — Sophia Sung
I was born in a Christian family so going to church was a regular lifestyle for me. Sunday was the day when there was no plan except for going to church. In Korea, going to church was fun because when I memorized the verses and collected 주보s I got prizes. I came to Canada when I was in grade 3. My first church in Canada was very small so everyone had service together. The service itself wasn’t that bad but it was difficult for my faith to grow since I couldn’t learn much. My parents thought having a strong relationship with God is very important especially in teenaged years, so we decided to move the church and that church was Mokmin. Since I was in grade 3, I had to go to the Sunday school. Sunday school was fun but felt like I was in a school. I didn’t like listening to the sermon because it was boring. I became grade 7 and went to my first EM retreat. It was completely different from Sunday school retreat, and it was much more holy and fun. On the second day of the retreat everyone prayed, so I prayed too. While I was praying, I don’t know why but suddenly tears came out. I was kind of embarrassed because I thought I was the only one crying and it was my first time crying while praying. Also, there was this feeling but I ignored it. After that retreat my life was the same, nothing really changed. Starting from last year I was interested in God and wanted to meet Him. I got interested because my sisters sometimes talked about how God was working in their lives and that made me curious who God is. When I went to the March retreat I prayed that I could meet him throughout the retreat but I didn’t really know what kind of feeling was meeting God. I was disappointed that I couldn’t meet him but I just waited for the next retreat but still I didn’t meet Him in any of the retreats. I was still curious about God and his love so I started to pay attention to Caleb’s sermon. Most of the time, I felt like God was talking to me. I was surprised so I became excited to listen to the sermon. One day there was an announcement about Bible 101, I wanted to join but at the same time I didn’t want to because there was an exam. But my goal of 2015 was to grow in faith and to get confirmed so I decided to take the course. On the first day I wanted to quit because waking up earlier than my school time was a nightmare to me. However after the first lesson, I waited for the week to pass by since Caleb’s lessons were fascinating and I learned something new every week through the book, “The Story.” While I was learning about the Bible, I learned that God loved me from the beginning and even when I didn’t know or care about Him. This course helped me to be certain that God is real. I strongly recommend this course to everyone who doubts God’s presence and wants to know how much He loves them. When I started to realize God is real, I decided to go to receiving Jesus meeting. At the end of the meeting Caleb asked me why I hesitated to get confirmed. The reason was that I did not feel that I’ve met him, but Caleb said that I shouldn’t trust my feelings because feeling is just a feeling. So I decided not to trust my feelings but decided to have faith. From Bible 101 and Receiving Jesus meeting, I now know that God is with me even though I feel like I’m alone. Now if I get stressed or have problems, I always look up to God and pray. Some people experience God through difficult situations but for me, God came to me slowly and quietly. I know that I may fail and trust my feelings, but I know for sure He loves me in whatever situations. I’m so excited about His plans for me and how God will work in my life. Thank you.

Admin

October 26, 2015 • 5 Minute Read
Confirmation Testimony — Emily Eun
Hi guys, after 16 years of attending church, I finally decided to get confirmed. I have to be honest; it was not easy making this decision. But of course, this decision was not made on my own, but with God. I felt that the time had come for me to speak out on my own that I accept Jesus Christ as my saviour and Lord. So I was born into a Christian family, and I got infant-baptized. I followed my parents to church every Sunday. While living in Korea for nine years, I attended a church where they had an EM side for young teens. I got to know more about God through QT (quiet time), and bible study groups. However, I still lacked knowledge about who God is and about the bible. Back then, I didn’t know what confirmation was, or even that the word existed. However, after growing up and gaining more knowledge about the bible, I realized there is more than just attending church every Sunday. After moving back to Canada, I came here to Mokmin Church and joined EXIT. Then, I heard about Receiving Jesus Meeting. Whenever I heard the announcement that there will be a meeting, I always struggled deciding if I should go or not because I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take this big step. Whenever I saw others getting confirmed, the question that always stood out to me was “If you were to die today, are you sure you will go to heaven?” I was always doubtful if God was happy with me because of any sinful habits or actions I might have done. However, one Sunday there was an announcement about Receiving Jesus Meeting, and I felt the urge to go. I don’t know why, but I felt that if I don’t attend, I never will. I was also quite nervous because I wasn’t sure what I was stepping into and what will be required of me during the meeting. For example, will I have to take a test or answer some tough questions about the bible from Caleb. However, the meeting wasn’t like that at all. We read bible verses and Caleb talked about being saved and the five things that we need to do to grow after being saved which are; study the bible, pray, attend worship, have fellowship, and evangelize. Near the end of the meeting, my mind was full of worries, especially if I was really ready or not to accept Jesus as my saviour and get confirmed. However, I felt God’s presence during the meeting, assuring me that I was ready to accept Jesus as my saviour. So I made this confession at the end of the meeting. Before attending the meeting, whenever I was worried about school and other things, I didn’t look to God for help, but I tried to solve the problems on my own. I was stressed about attending art academy and preparing my portfolio for university, and about getting good marks in school. Looking back now, I regret so much not praying to God and solving the problems with his help because I know that he was there waiting for me to bring him into my life so that I can share with him all my worries and anxieties. However, after attending the meeting, without a slight doubt, I now turn to God and ask for His help for not only the big struggles in my life but also the smaller struggles as well, such as whenever I have to walk downstairs alone when it’s dark to get something late at night. Now I feel more protected knowing that I am a child of God, and it feels like I am in God’s hands wherever I go. These days whenever I pray, I pray longer and more deeply than just thanking God for my meals or asking him for better marks. I find that I am not able to pray short. If I say “Thank you for my meal” and I try to end the prayer, it is hard for me to finish. I feel that the Receiving Jesus Meeting and the deepened relationship between God and me caused this change. Although I have accepted Jesus Christ as my saviour, there still is a lot more space for me to grow in my faith and get closer with God. I don’t think that just because I got confirmed now, I’m a good Christian and all I have to do is come to church every Sunday. I feel that it instead is a challenge for me to keep this close relationship with God, and depend on the Holy Spirit to help me become more like Jesus Christ. Now I know the answer to the question “If you were to die today, are you sure you will go to heaven?” My answer is yes.

Admin