How did your love story with God start? Did you come to know the Lord through evangelism, family influence, miracles and healing, Sunday School, Christian books, worship services, street preaching, or divine encounters? I believe it is both God’s outreach and the diverse and multifaceted nature of people’s faith that bring about one’s conversion. These pathways highlight the unique journey of each individual toward embracing Christianity.

After writing these reflections on who God is in my life, I would like to take you on a walk down memory lane with me, to the day God called me.

I was thirteen years old, a mere teenager, timid in all my ways. I was a prefect in my secondary school, which meant I got to eat my lunch twenty minutes earlier than the rest of the students because during school recess, I had to perform my prefect duties. So, as usual, I left the classroom and headed for my early lunch break. A senior prefect joined me, and no sooner had he finished his lunch, he started preaching the gospel to me. I was both shocked and scared. Let me explain. I was shocked because he was a Muslim and scared because I was a Buddhist, and what he was saying sounded strange and totally new to me. This was in the early 1970s, and living in Asia, we were more conservative back then. He end his speech when our lunch break was over. However, this happened for the rest of the week during our lunch at the canteen, and by then, I was desperate for him to stop bothering me. Finally, I gathered enough courage to tell him to stop because it was starting to irritate me. He didn’t object but held up a Bible and said if I would read it, he would stop pestering me. I took the Bible from him, thinking that was the end to his persistent preaching.
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Back at our old house, we had an altar that reached from the ceiling to the tiled floor on the balcony where we lived. There were morning and evening rituals of burning joss sticks to our ancestors and various Buddhist divinities. I took out the Bible and placed it on the floor right in front of me. I knew I needed to hide this book before anyone saw it. The worst scenario would be my parents disowning me and my grandmother going into a fit if they ever found the Bible. At the same time, I was curious about the writings in this book; why was I forbidden to read it or have anything to do with Christianity? Looking around, I knew I was quite safe. My parents were still at work and I could hear my grandmother cooking up a feast in the kitchen. What harm could come from just reading the Bible? Absolutely nothing, right? Then I remembered his last words after he handed me the Bible: he told me to pray before opening it. He made it sound so mystical, like there was a secret password I needed before I opened this sacred book! But what should I pray about? I didn’t even know this God he was talking about. Surprisingly, a question came to mind. I had always wondered about the many different deities I offered incense, joss sticks, and prayers to daily. Why are there so many gods and goddesses with various titles and powers in Chinese belief? Could there simply be one true and living God in this whole universe? Without further thought, I quickly muttered a sentence under my breath: “If you are the one true God of heaven and earth, please tell me from this Bible and I shall believe in you, for always.” I opened the Bible randomly (considering it was the very first time I held a Bible in my hand). My eyes fell upon the following words as if they were printed in bold letters:

​”The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:24-25, NIV).

I sat up straight and re-read the sentences, not even aware they were called verses. I dared not breathe too hard, fearing I might shatter that unbelievable moment! I couldn’t believe my prayer, a question that had been weighing on my heart as our household worshipped many gods, was answered so quickly and directly. A jolt of electricity coursed from my nape to my lower back, leaving me momentarily stunned. It felt like an eternity as I slowly closed the Bible, raised my head, and, speaking into the air (knowing without a doubt that He knew me), I gave my faith to the Christian God that day.

Of course, after my conversion, my journey of faith was a difficult one. There was plenty of drama afterward, but to cut the story short, that was how God made Himself known to me—a sinner, now the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:21).

What about you, my reader? How did the Lord God show Himself to you? I encourage you to keep on walking and embracing your faith for He is faithful and true, and His mercies endures forever (Psalms 100:5).

Are you seeking to know who God is? I urge you to attend a local church or speak to a Christian friend and begin your spiritual journey with God today!

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men’s hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
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– Ecclesiastes 3:11 AMPC