By Ruth, United States
I was born in a small town in southern China, into a family of believers dating back to my paternal great-grandmother’s generation. Bible stories, hymns of praise and sacred music played in church were my constant companions through the happy days of my childhood. As I started getting older and academic pressure grew, my heart started to slowly grow distant from the Lord. However, the Lord never left me; whenever I called out for Him, He would help me. The grace and holy name of the Lord Jesus were rooted deep within my heart. I remember the year I took the college entrance exam, no one thought I’d be able to test into a good college, including my teachers. Facing blow after blow, I nearly gave up all hope, and I too thought that I’d never be able to test into the college I wanted to get into. But then something popped into my mind—a phrase I heard at church when I was little: “Where man ends, God begins,” and in a flash I felt like I’d been enlightened. I knew it was right: Where I reach my limit is where God begins. The Lord’s capabilities are the absolute greatest, and I believed that as long as I genuinely leaned on the Lord then He would certainly help me. And so, I started praying to the Lord Jesus often: “Oh Lord, please help me. If I can test into the college of my dreams without a hitch then from now on I promise I will never distance myself from You, and I will accept You as my one and only Savior in this life.” While doing that, I was also paying a price inconceivable to most people; during my entire senior year of high school I was practicing the piano whenever I wasn’t eating or sleeping. I was pretty much practicing for 10 to 12 hours a day. I didn’t know where that strength was coming from that was propping me up, but I figured it had to be the Lord listening to my prayers and quietly helping me. The gratitude to the Lord within my heart grew. In the end, my long-cherished wish was fulfilled; I tested into one of the top music academies in the country, and as a result I believed firmly that the Lord Jesus was my only Savior. In my senior year of college I didn’t know what path I should take after graduating, so I called on the Lord Jesus and asked Him to show me the way, to open up a path for me. In 2004, shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack in the United States, practically all visas for entry had been frozen, but to my surprise I received a full-ride scholarship to a university in the US as a result of a professionally recorded CD of myself. I got a student visa without a single hiccup and went to America to pursue my studies. These two experiences—testing into college and going abroad—showed me that the Lord had helped me to realize dreams that I never would have been able to achieve on my own. I became even more firmly convinced that the Lord Jesus is the true God and that He is my Savior, and I need to properly practice my faith in the Lord and follow Him.