God loves the world. Each of us is chosen by God, and we all have different experiences and stories behind our faith in God. Here are 40 stories and experiences behind people's faiths that I have heard and seen. Maybe the story behind your faith might be here.
While part 1 contains the stories of six Christians, part 2 concerns five believers who encountered God in their hard times, and part 3 tells four stories of people who believed in the Lord as a result of love and family influence, the fourth episode recounts five testimonies of ordinary people.
18. He found a Bible and got attracted.
Living on the fourth floor, he went out for morning exercise and saw a thick book on the windowsill of the third-floor corridor and felt it looked unique. Curious, he picked it up and saw that it was a book wrapped in newspaper. While opening it, he was astonished to see a brown print Bible. As a lover of books, he knew about the Bible, but he had never read it. So he carefully put the Bible in his study at home.
When he came back from the morning exercise, the first thing he did was to open the Bible. He inadvertently and randomly opened the Bible and saw the Scriptures in Proverbs 15:4. Therefore, when he had time, he read the Bible diligently and read the book of Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes once. But when he read 1 Chronicles and other volumes, he was confused about the content. With a desire for knowledge, he thought that since it was a Christian book, he had to go to the church to find the answer.
So he went to the church. The sister and pastor in charge of reception answered his questions, including the basics of Christianity, and welcomed him to come back the next Sunday. He came to church the following Sunday and became a Christian.
He said, "This is amazing grace! That Bible might have been God's gift to me. Without that Bible, I would never have become a believer. I previously sought knowledge, but I found the true knowledge of life in Christ".
19. Songs of praise led her to become a believer.
She is now a believer and the head of a church choir. "It was the church's song of praise that led me to become a believer," she said.
Fond of singing, she studied Bel canto since childhood, she sang very well. She had participated in singing competitions at school and work units, and also won awards. One day, she walked by a church and heard the singing inside the church through the church radio. She felt it sounded very warm and pleasant, so she could not help herself from walking into the church; she sat at the back, listened to the songs, and enjoyed the praise of the congregation and the choir. She found the Christian hymns melodious and easier to listen to and learn, so she joined the congregation and the choir in praise. She seemed to be hooked, and every Sunday night she attended the evening worship. After singing the hymn, she went away. Because she was not a believer, she did not listen to the sermon, she just wanted to sing. As time went by, she went to church every Sunday to praise (or sing, as she called it) and began to listen to the sermon. She learned to pray and read the Bible.
In the end, of course, she was baptized, then she signed up to join the choir. After examination, she became a member of the choir. Not only that, after some time, because she was good at singing and had music theory knowledge, she became the head of the church choir.
20. He became a Christian through his job.
He was in charge of a company and in the course of business operations, he maintained contact with a Taiwanese businessman for years. Because they were both trustworthy people, they had a very good impression of each other and became friends.
In a chat, he asked this Taiwanese business friend why everyone was willing to associate with him who was very trustworthy. The businessman replied with a smile, it was because he was a Christian. His father was a well-known pastor in Taiwan and his mother was also a pastor of the church. His son was also a believer and three generations of his family were Christians. He saw the power of faith in this Christian Taiwanese businessman, so he asked him for a Bible, and often listened to the man tell him about Christianity. He even went with this friend to a church in his city.
After he was baptized and returned to the Lord, God arranged a Christian friend for him. He also thanked this friend for leading him to the church and becoming a believer.
He said, "Everything that happens to me is God's will. They are a result of God's grace and I will believe in them all my life."
In his own business, he did not forget that he was a believer and adhered to faith and business ethics. He preached the gospel to his colleagues and friends in his company consciously and unconsciously. He also imitated Christ's example, to influence the people around him. His business got better because his business partners said he was "benevolent and trustworthy". He also attended evening church meetings and never went with the company vehicle but sat quietly in an inconspicuous place; no one knew he was "the boss". He also consistently paid his tithe. Whenever he heard the church had to do social charity work, he would actively participate in it, with dedication.
21. While working for the church, he turned to the Lord.
He was the owner of a construction company before he was baptized. That year, he bid for a church construction project for a church. The duration of this project was about ten months. To ensure the progress and quality of the project, he supervised the construction site of the church almost every day.
During this period, he also had daily contact with Christians and was influenced to "passively" receive the Christian faith. By communicating with the preachers and fellow workers of the church, he gradually got a preliminary understanding of Christianity. He also had a good impression of the pastor and fellow workers of the church who were in charge of construction and did not ask for "unwritten rules", but only wanted to work more quickly and economically. Sometimes, on Sundays, he would sit in church and listen to the sermon, which was very beneficial to him. The preachers of the church, seeing his love for Christ, also took advantage of the situation, imperceptibly preached the Gospel to him, and they became good friends. One day he answered the call and became a devotee.
When the project was coming to an end and the settlement was to be made, he waived the cost of 200,000 yuan and donated a piano, a large oil painting of Jesus Christ, and the pastor's office chair to the church. After that, not only was he baptized to the Lord, but his wife was also baptized as a Christian. Today, he still attends church meetings, dedicates, and maintains a good relationship with the church.
22. After believing in the Lord, he forgave his father for marrying his stepmother.
His father did business at the mall, and after he got rich, he had an affair. When his mother found out, she took him away from his father. Unfortunately, due to worry and a chronic illness, his mother passed away when he was in college.
During this period his father did not give him any money and got married to his "stepmother". He was utterly despondent and hated his heartless father. He once wanted to kill his father and die with him.
In his despair, a classmate came to see him and led him to the church. The head pastor of the church received them and counselled him about his situation and mental state. He came to the church on Sunday to listen to sermons, read scriptures, praise, and gradually got better.
Later, he became a believer, served in the Youth fellowship, became a leader, found his partner, and got married.
On the road of faith, his inner hatred for his father gradually disappeared with the passage of time and faith in God.
A few years later, he decided to "break the ice" between father and son and took the initiative to go home to visit his father. He bought something and called his father. The father, who was more than sixty years old, held his son and cried bitterly.
Now, for the sake of his father's happiness in his later years, he did not want money. Instead, he gives red envelopes to his stepmother whenever there is a festival. The father and son are not in the same city, thousands of kilometers apart, but they still keep close contact through WeChat.
To be continued…
(The article is originally published by Gospel Times.)
- Translated by Nonye Nancy
