My name is Bill, and I have been a follower of Jesus for over 20 years. I believe the first time that Jesus called me was during a quiet ride on the Bart to work. As I observed people sitting and standing silently, I began to wonder if there was more to life than just going to work and repeating the same routine every day. It was then that I felt a higher calling and began to contemplate the meaning of life.
Later on, my girlfriend at the time, Phan, took me to church, and I started hearing messages about God and Jesus. After learning about Jesus’ love for me and how he died on the cross for my sins, offering the hope of true life, I decided to accept him as my Lord and Savior. Although I can’t remember the exact date, I know it was in the early 2000s when I gave my life to the Lord, and I have been following him ever since.
Everyone has a unique story to tell, and I would like to take this opportunity to share part of mine with you.
As a child, I attended a Christian school, which led me to start going to church. However, as I grew older, many of my friends also invited me to church, and while I enjoyed spending time with them, I did not have a personal relationship with God.
As I entered adulthood, I began to experience unexpected events that were beyond my control. My family was involved in serious car accidents that scared me; my son was born with a bone problem requiring major surgery. Witnessing my son’s suffering was painful, but I learned I could pray with him and provide support during his recovery.
Throughout different stages of my life, I have faced various worries and challenges, including concerns about my son, parents, family, job, and daily routines. However, I find comfort in a Bible verse that says,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”
2 Corinthians 12:9
Through reading the Bible and deepening my faith, I have learned that although I have limitations and cannot control everything, God is the most powerful force I can rely on. Whenever I face difficulties, I turn to God for guidance and help, and I find peace in knowing that worrying does not solve problems. God gives me the strength to face whatever challenges come my way.
Over the years, I have experienced God’s presence, help, comfort, and care in many ways. He knows our needs, and when I trust Him and put my life in His hands, I know He is my All in All.
An Ordinary Childhood Growing up, I was a shy and quiet child. I was not the best nor the worst in almost everything. I lived like most of the kids I knew until…
A Quest for Meaning When I was a teenager, my life was up and down. I continued to live and do things just like everyone else, going to school to get better grades. Things began to fall into place during the latter part of high school. During this period, I also began to ask, “What is the meaning of life?”
Stumbling on the Question The meaning of life was a challenging question to answer for me. Although I thought about it, I talked to others and read books; still, that answer was very elusive. Eventually, I concluded that to find the answer to the meaning of life, I have to find where I come from.
I studied science and the theory of evolution, which at the time was a very popular theory to explain the existence of humans. Many accepted it without question nor fully understood it. But, on the other hand, I found that it has so many holes in the theory that it requires an extraordinary amount of faith to accept it.
The other common alternative to the question was that God created humans. I found that equally difficult to accept at the time. How could you prove the existence of God? Even if you could prove it, how could you determine Who He was? There were so many “Gods” in this world.
A Downward Spiral Failure to find the meaning of life resulted in my lost interest in most things. The only thing that prevented me from the total collapse was I still hoped that one day I would find the answer to the question.
A Pleasant Surprise One day one of my classmates approached me while I was reading Nietzsche’s God is Dead. He invited me to join his church meeting, which I have accepted without hesitation. In the meeting, I found out Christians’ belief in God was not without evidence. On the contrary, they have cited so many proofs that I found it very reasonable to believe in God even though I cannot see Him. Eventually, I believed in God.
A Renewed Life After I had concluded that God created humans, I started to search in the Bible why God created us and what was the meaning of life. After discovering the answer in the Bible, my outlook on life changed. I not only have regained interest in living, but I also have the strength and determination to fulfill the meaning of life. There are more ups and downs in my life now, but no matter what happens to me, I move on toward fulfilling my life’s purpose, and life is beautiful because of this.
Before I accepted Christ, my life was marked by unhappiness and insecurity. I always longed for a loving family, but I never truly felt like I had one. As I grew older, I entered into a relationship and believed that I had found someone I could trust and love, but I was wrong. I felt deeply unhappy, miserable, and hurt.
One day, my friends brought me to a church that was quite different from what I had imagined. What drew my attention was the warm and friendly people, and I immediately felt loved. I continued attending this church and learned about the love of Jesus and how He sacrificed His life on the cross for me because He loves me. This type of sacrificial love truly touched my heart and was what I had been searching for my entire life.
From that point on, my life changed. Jesus lifted my sadness and filled my emptiness with the love of brothers and sisters that I had never experienced before.
Hello! My name is Rhiannon. I’m a 10th grader who’s currently attending AHS (Alameda High School). I enjoy being active a lot. I like to go on hikes, snowboard with friends, and attend jiu-jitsu with my brother. And it’s always exciting traveling with my mom.
In kindergarten, I attended a Chinese Christian school. I was so scared of starting a new school on the first day of kindergarten. I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to my parents, not to mention making friends was also a huge struggle for me. That was until one of my classmates approached me and started talking to me, which helped me adjust better to a new classroom environment and a new school. It was that same friend who invited me to come to church. At first, I didn’t understand why I was there. I simply went, because my best friend was there. But as I continued coming to church, I enjoyed listening to the lessons about the miracles that were performed by Jesus. I began to want to accept Jesus as my savior. As I got older, I opened up this thought in my head, where I began to wonder if I would ever have a genuine relationship with God. Later on, I began to experience God within my thoughts.
Since I attended church at a very young age, I began questioning God’s word and everything that happened in the Bible. I didn’t understand how anyone could die and then come back to life again or if someone was born blind but then was healed and can now see. Those things didn’t make sense to me at all. The biggest doubt I had was believing that there was heaven and hell. Back then, I did want to believe that. But it was just really hard to believe and understand all that was true. All these bible truths cannot be explained by scientific facts that I have learned so far.
I struggled a lot during the pandemic. Online learning was really hard for me. I had a huge lack of motivation to do anything, I found it really hard to focus during zoom meetings, and there were several technical difficulties I had to face from time to time which was very frustrating for me. My mood started changing as I went through the years of having to do more remote learning. I always felt stressed and angry all the time, and from then on, every day became a challenge for me. I began to pray to Jesus more often with a lot of the problems I had, and I found comfort in talking with him. I felt a lot calmer, and I could tackle situations that came at me.
Despite my doubts and struggles, I continue to keep believing in Jesus because I know He has a plan for me. I put my faith in Him, trusting that I will be alright in His hands.
Hi, my name is Evelina, and I am currently in 5th grade. I play the piano and viola, and I absolutely adore animals. I come from a large family of five sisters.
I learned about Jesus by attending church regularly with one of my sisters. At first, I had doubts about God’s existence, as well as the reality of heaven and hell. However, as I continued to attend church and read the Bible more, I gradually felt the Holy Spirit’s presence within me, resolving these uncertainties.
What motivates me to attend church every week is the warmth and hospitality of my brothers and sisters in Christ. They always make me feel welcome and included. What keeps my faith in Jesus strong is the knowledge that He died on the cross for me.
