Editor's note: A male believer K (pseudonym), born in the 1980s, now has a happy family with two children. In both work and faith, their family is a beautiful testimony to the people around them. Recently, during an interview with Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper, K shared his own testimony of God’s grace and how he overcame the sin of living together before marriage.
The following is a summary of K's testimony told in the first person:
In the library, when I was looking for a seat, I met a female classmate who treated me in a very sincere manner at that time. When she introduced the Bible to me, at that moment I thought Christianity was just “spiritual opium” as described in some books. But later, when I got in touch with her again, she preached the gospel to me. On Christmas Day in 2001, I went to attend the Christmas gala at her church and sang hymns together with her. When I graduated from college, she gave me a copy of the Bible. Just then I knew it was good, but put it aside without looking at it again. Right before graduation, she finally said to me, "When you encounter difficulties in the future, you can go to church for help." After that, we lost contact for years.
After graduation, I moved to a new city. When my business failed, I called her and she comforted me on the phone, saying that “a joyful heart is a good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Proverbs 17:22). I asked her to say it a few more times, because when I listened to these words, I felt so sweet in my heart, and I easily memorized them.
Then, I started looking for a church. Miraculously, I was given a gospel flyer in my residential complex shortly after. Later, when I listened to the hymns in a church, I felt my soul was cleansed and became joyful and peaceful, even though I could not understand the sermon at the time. In about a year, I had a basic understanding of faith.
Subsequently, a new employee at my company told me she was a Christian and introduced me to her church, in which believers had more intimacy than in the Three-Self church I attended before. Church family members would have afternoon tea together sharing beliefs and life experiences.
Before I turned to Jesus, I had the sin of living together before marriage. At that moment, I was moved to disconnect from this sin. After trying several times, I asked to break up with my girlfriend but failed.
One day, when I made up my mind to break up with her, she put a knife on my neck. I said, "It doesn't matter if you kill me. First please allow me to kneel down and finish a prayer.” I prayed: “Lord, I don't want to offend you. If I die like this, I hope that I will die without sins. I belong to you when I am alive as well as dead." As soon as the prayer was ended, my girlfriend let go of the knife which immediately fell to the ground.
Holding the Christian faith, I started a completely new life. God blessed me with the best wife. Soon after I got married, we had our first child. Then I prayed and we were blessed with a second child.
God is merciful. God wants us to experience Him and His presence. There are many things, in total about 1,000, that I have experienced with God's presence. Although sometimes my wife and I might have fights, fortunately, Christians can pray before God who can intervene in our lives. He has built our family and granted us many blessings and joys.
I often ask myself: Why do I live? What is the foundation of my life? I will get a clear answer in faith. I am also very grateful in front of my children, for whom I can set an example of loving God, life, and their mother. Now I'm in the second half of my life. Even if I didn’t play well in the first half, it was okay. Like playing soccer, I hope to score more on penalty kicks in the second half so that my family glorifies God's name.
- Translated by Shuya Wang
