I Was Lost But Now Am Found
Hallelujah, in the name of Jesus I bear testimony. By God’s grace, I was baptized in May 2012, at the age of eighty-two. Amazingly, the Lord waited for me for forty years, before I became His child.
FIRST ENCOUNTER
In 1972 I worked in the printing operations section of a local newspaper. During that time, I was one of the players in my company’s table tennis team, and we frequently traveled to East Malaysia for matches.
My manager at that time, Elijah Yeh Guan Wei, was a member of the True Jesus Church. As he was also the leader of the table tennis team, we would travel abroad together for table tennis competitions. When we were overseas, I would often hear Elijah Yeh asking the local people if there were any True Jesus Church nearby. This left an impression on me, but I never asked him about his faith because I was not interested in religion at that time.
WITNESSING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRAYER
On one occasion, while traveling across the South China Sea to the island of Labuan in East Malaysia, we encountered a thunderstorm. We became extremely anxious. I thought that we would surely perish at sea—especially when the waves hit the ship violently, and we had to close the windows to prevent waters from flooding our cabins. Then, I noticed that our team leader had knelt down and had started praying in tongues. Soon afterwards, I saw someone walking over to take control of the ship’s helm. Miraculously, the storm soon subsided and the ship continued its journey.
I vividly remember that the person who took control was a passenger on board. Out of curiosity, we asked him what had happened. The man replied, “The captain was inexperienced and had we not avoided the waves, the ship would have capsized.” In fact, the person who took control of the ship’s helm was an experienced sailor who just happened to be on board.
I wondered whether we would all have perished, if our team leader had not prayed.
MORE THAN THREE DECADES LATER…
Before believing in Christ, I adhered to traditional Chinese religion; my late mother used to worship the Chinese deities. I followed her, praying to these deities and participating in the rituals.
In 2009, I discovered that my son and his family were attending church services. So I asked them which church they attended. To my surprise, it was the True Jesus Church! This jolted my memory and I recalled that incident nearly forty years earlier. My son then invited me to a family evangelistic luncheon organized by the True Jesus Church. I agreed and thereafter, I started to accompany them for Sabbath services. My first observation of the True Jesus Church was that many people kneel down and pray in tongues. Yet I was not surprised, as I had seen my manager praying in this manner before.
For the next three years, I attended services at the True Jesus Church and sought to understand the truth of salvation. The sermons opened my eyes to things that I formerly did not believe in; I learned of many new things as I listened to the sermons, which helped to build my faith. Also, as I grew older, I began to think more about life after death. I even went to the public library to search for information on the difference between True Jesus Church and other Christian denominations.
Studying the truth in the True Jesus Church motivated me to follow my children and grandchildren in their belief and to be of the same faith with them. However, I did not accept baptism until my mother passed away at the age of 102.
When I was hospitalized for three days due to an accident shortly after the Chinese New Year 2012, I suddenly realized how fragile life is. What if something more serious happened and I wasn’t baptized? Would I lose the chance of salvation? This realization jolted me to get baptized as soon as possible.
MY RESOLUTION
After baptism, I resolved to go to church and worship God every Sabbath. My thoughts about coming to church are that we ought to listen to sermons attentively and pray to God earnestly. Seeing my son and his family actively attending church services also inspires me to do likewise.
Looking back, I am thankful for becoming a Christian while I am still mobile and my mind is still alert. I encourage everyone to respond to Jesus’ calling while we are still active and able, instead of waiting until the last moment of our lives.
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor 6:2)
May all glory and honor be given to God. Amen.