When I first came to America, I was in the second grade. I went to a catholic school where I first heard about God. However, since my English wasn’t very good, I didn’t know what was going on during services. During communion, I simply thought they were giving out free food. After second grade, my family moved from Florida to California where I attended a public school and was no longer exposed to God until my piano teacher being a pastor’s wife invited my family out to church. Since my family just moved and didn’t have a lot of friends, we decided to go. However, church was more of an outing and we only went when we felt like it. It wasn’t consistent, and had little to no impact on my life.
During middle school, I had a short temper and started getting into fights. Since I never started any of my fights, I always felt justified to fight back at the people who annoyed me or picked a fight with me. However, I never got into trouble for my fights and I felt that I could always get away with whatever I did. Without having experienced any consequences for my actions, my sin led to more sin to the point where I shoplifted and thought I could get away with it. However, I was caught and this was the first time I truly had to face the consequences of my sin. I not only brought trouble on myself, but also on my parents. Since my dad works in Taiwan solely to support the family, so that the rest of the family can live in America, my mom had the responsibility to raise the children. With the grandparents finding out about this incident, my mom had to endure a lot of yelling. As a result, my mom forced the kids to go to church every week hoping to correct my behavior. Feeling so bad for what my mom had to endure and what I have done, I took church more seriously. Church started to make more sense and gradually, I realized that I not only sinned against my family but more importantly against a holy God. I needed a Savior to save me from the wrath of God that I deserved for sinning, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. As John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” I desired to get to know Christ more.
Towards the end of high school, I started losing a lot of my close friends because I didn’t feel like drinking and partying with them. As a result, I grew lonely and blamed God for the unhappy events in my life during senior year. I purposely sinned against God, thinking it would anger him; As a result, I grew more and more distant. Yet, God drew me back to him. During the summer, my mom signed me up and paid for a summer retreat without telling me. Grudgingly, I went to the retreat not wanting to waste my parent’s money. During that retreat, I was totally humbled by God and I cried out to him in repentance for getting mad at him for no reason, and I felt the full weight of my sins.
Even though I can’t pinpoint when I accepted Jesus in my heart, I know I have been made new. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Now, I have been attending UCLA’s Grace on Campus fellowship group, where I have been blessed with friends who are striving for God with the same passion I have. I have been growing exponentially, learning how to study the bible, to grow in godliness, and to disciple others.
Looking back to events in my life, I realized God ordained each event to happen in order to save me. If I didn’t come to America or wasn’t a bully in school, I probably would be standing here today. As Romans 8:28 states, “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” God is totally in control.
During middle school, I had a short temper and started getting into fights. Since I never started any of my fights, I always felt justified to fight back at the people who annoyed me or picked a fight with me. However, I never got into trouble for my fights and I felt that I could always get away with whatever I did. Without having experienced any consequences for my actions, my sin led to more sin to the point where I shoplifted and thought I could get away with it. However, I was caught and this was the first time I truly had to face the consequences of my sin. I not only brought trouble on myself, but also on my parents. Since my dad works in Taiwan solely to support the family, so that the rest of the family can live in America, my mom had the responsibility to raise the children. With the grandparents finding out about this incident, my mom had to endure a lot of yelling. As a result, my mom forced the kids to go to church every week hoping to correct my behavior. Feeling so bad for what my mom had to endure and what I have done, I took church more seriously. Church started to make more sense and gradually, I realized that I not only sinned against my family but more importantly against a holy God. I needed a Savior to save me from the wrath of God that I deserved for sinning, and that Savior is Jesus Christ. As John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” I desired to get to know Christ more.
Towards the end of high school, I started losing a lot of my close friends because I didn’t feel like drinking and partying with them. As a result, I grew lonely and blamed God for the unhappy events in my life during senior year. I purposely sinned against God, thinking it would anger him; As a result, I grew more and more distant. Yet, God drew me back to him. During the summer, my mom signed me up and paid for a summer retreat without telling me. Grudgingly, I went to the retreat not wanting to waste my parent’s money. During that retreat, I was totally humbled by God and I cried out to him in repentance for getting mad at him for no reason, and I felt the full weight of my sins.
Even though I can’t pinpoint when I accepted Jesus in my heart, I know I have been made new. As 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” Now, I have been attending UCLA’s Grace on Campus fellowship group, where I have been blessed with friends who are striving for God with the same passion I have. I have been growing exponentially, learning how to study the bible, to grow in godliness, and to disciple others.
Looking back to events in my life, I realized God ordained each event to happen in order to save me. If I didn’t come to America or wasn’t a bully in school, I probably would be standing here today. As Romans 8:28 states, “we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” God is totally in control.