This amazing testimony was received from a lady in Jakarta, Indonesia.
John 1:12 states: “Yet to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God;”
I am a born-again-Christian and was raised in a Christian family. I attended church service every Sunday with my family. Yet, I never knew the love of God until one of my friends asked me to attend her church. I was really curious as to how she seemed so different in the way she worshiped God. It seemed that she knew God very well, as I have never seen someone worshipping the Lord in such an intimate way, not in one of my church service, in any case.
Afterwards, at home in my bedroom, imitating my friend, I tried to focus in my prayer & worship by singing a song to God, at least I knew that I was sincere in searching for God. I was so drowned in worship, not knowing how long I kept on worshipping, until I saw Jesus’ face smiling at me. He did not say anything, yet His smile somehow relieved all my pain and wiped away all my doubts. Every fear, every weakness, every sin, everything that was bad in me was washed away. I saw myself completely cleansed, all my sin washed away like dirty water running away from me. Then I saw a cross and I was given an understanding that through that cross, all of my bad habits were exchanged with all of Jesus’ good. What an unfair exchange! Yet, the cross showing the price that Jesus paid for bringing me to Himself. The cross clearly gave me an understanding that Jesus really loves me.
That day, in my bedroom, I was born anew, accepting Jesus into my heart as My Saviour. Since that day, my life has never been the same again. This happened in 2001.
A while after this, I accepted an offer by a company where I worked, and moved to another city to do a job that was different from my previous work. I thought I will easily adapt to the new surrounding and new job. Sadly, I never knew that this was only a dream and my imagination. Everything became so difficult and tough and I was so depressed, even considering to quit my job. Meanwhile, God gave me His children as my new community in church and in a cell group. However, I did not intend to become actively involved in serving God in my new church. Shocked, immediately I was given a task as a worship coordinator of the young adults’ community in that church. I was mad at that time, since I was going through a tough time and felt depressed. I asked God for permission not to serve Him, reasoning that I cannot serve Him if I had to face hard times at the same time. But Jesus said that I must keep serving Him, no matter what. I obeyed.
Through attending the sermon each week, attending the cell group and serving the young adult community in church, my faith grew and became stronger as I listened to God’s Word and worshipped Him continually. Every day the burden and hard times I faced in my job became lighter and lighter and somehow I could rejoice, though I still faced many difficulties. I was so grateful to God and realised that if I refused to serve Him, I would not have grown so close to Him and would have missed His miracle in my life.
After two years doing the difficult job, Jesus even prepared a big box of surprises for me. The company gave me a reward to go for on-the-job training in another country. Thereafter, the company also rewarded me with a big bonus. Finally, my boss asked me to come home and I was given a promotion. At that time, I thought I was not done fighting and have not yet achieved the things I wanted to be considered successful in my job. Yet, it seemed that God had a different plan. He made it clear to me that it was through my weakness that His power was made perfect. My thoughts were not His thoughts, neither my ways His ways. And my time was not His time. I cannot comprehend God’s way and God’s time, yet I put my trust completely in Him as He loves me.
My homecoming was a time of victory – God’s victory over me! 🙂
A true Believer
Jakarta, Indonesia