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Chenfei
Melody
Charles
Iris
Long
Jing
Minhua
Rosa
Millie
Zuying
Allison
Chenfei
Chenfei from The Summit Church on Vimeo.
Melody
God found me* in a Duke dormitory, at 8:00 on a Sunday morning. He didn’t come with fanfare and miracles; He stood by and quietly waited for me to turn around, and then welcomed me with love and forgiveness.
For the past few months, I’d been going to a… Bible Reading Group. Many of my American friends are Christians, and I was curious. Until then I was open-minded, but I had come to the conclusion that there wasn’t enough evidence to believe or disbelieve.
My first experience with the Bible was studying Philippians. The second week, 2:17 caught my attention, “And even if I am poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. And you should be glad and rejoice with me.” Paul’s selfless devotion and his incredible ability to rejoice in all circumstances struck me deeply; there must be something genuine behind what he thought. As I read that verse, I felt the presence of someone standing behind me; I thought He looked at me. But at the time, I dismissed it as a trick of my imagination.
A few weeks later, we had finished Philippians. A friend came to see me, overwhelmed with worries and fears. I found myself telling him about Paul, and trying to share the wonder I felt about Paul’s perseverance and joy in the face of incredible suffering. I realized, then, that I was on the verge of believing–and yet, I also felt that I had no real conviction. I was a hypocrite. As I went to bed, I tried to pray for my friend. And I said, “God, if you’re out there, show me you exist, and I will believe.” As I did, I felt a tremendous feeling of peace and completion wash over me–as if a gap in my heart were being filled.
But I awoke the next morning still full of doubt. I wanted to make sure that this God was out there, and if He were, I wanted to give Him all my devotion from the bottom of my heart, and not simply out of a fleeting half-asleep impulse the night before.
So I went down to the commons room in my dorm, and sat down, my mind still full of turmoil. I thought about my friends, their struggles, and quietly, hesitantly, I started to pray again. As I did, I felt someone standing behind me. I knew that it was God, or maybe it was Jesus. I knew that He had been standing there, waiting for me to turn around for a very long time. And I knew that He had been watching over me though I had ignored him for 20 years of my life. Here He was: still watching, still waiting, still forgiving.
I turned around. He didn’t speak to me, but I spoke to him. I told him that I was sorry for ignoring Him for so long. And I accepted Him into my heart.
*When written, Melody was a sophomore Physics major at Duke, raised in Hong Kong by working-class parents, atheists. This is her story.
Charles
It’s been a couple of weeks again; finals have passed and so has spring break. This week starts the new quarter and I’ve been working at my lab in downtown Chicago. The view out of my cramped student office on a clear day stretches as far as my eyes can see, across Lake Michigan. It is beautiful, the works of God. Unfortunately, the weather remains chilly; it is times like these when I miss the early arrival of spring in Durham. How is the weather lately?
I now work at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, basically a hospital for physical rehab. My lab concentrates on leg prostheses research and several members (including myself) are working on a design of a cheap foot prosthesis that can be easily made on the road with minimal equipment and material. We are targeting people in developing countries, where wars and mines (past and present) have taken away the legs and livelihood of many who cannot afford to pay for even the cheapest of the current technology. It is rare to find meaningful projects in academia where so many researchers get lost in the monotony of applying for funding and pushing the boundaries of science, while forgetting about real and impactful applications. I feel very blessed to have found something that has a purpose for me and truly motivates me. As far as I know, there is already a non-profit team with our previous design, traveling in Afghanistan and fitting patients with these prostheses. I hope to travel with one of these teams after I graduate in June 2009. After all these years of feeling unsure about what my degree means and what it allows me to do, I think I’ve found some meaning.
As I mentioned, growing into a more responsible engineer and Christian, I feel a calling towards working in global health, largely in the developing countries. I’ve recently read the inspiring story of Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea, and I think that’s really made an impact on how I see my future. I have always had dreams of starting my own company too and that will really give me the flexibility to adjust my business model, choose my customers, etc. I’m taking a course called Entrepreneurship for Engineers this quarter and we are supposed to form a team and basically start a company on paper. Hopefully, we can come up with some good ideas and get the ball rolling.
As for Myung, she has been working at the National Institutes of Health this year before going to medical school in the fall. As far as I can tell, she’s had a pretty successful application process, having gotten into many of the top ranked programs. I think she’s decided to attend Stanford. Ever since working with North Korean refugee students in Seoul last summer, she has wanted to return to work there in the future as a doctor. By God’s plan, she came across a third year medical student at Stanford, actively working with North Korean refugees, just as she plans to. We both agree that Stanford is God’s choice for her. Not surprisingly, this guy is a Christian and has offered to introduce Myung to the churches in the area. Amazing.
The more I observe the people around me and the predicaments that they are in, the more I see that God is able to resolve issues (large and small) in such amazing ways. Yes, I would’ve said these were all coincidences, but now, I think otherwise.
Iris
Hello everyone, it’s so glad to share my testimony:
About ten years ago, I read a book, the title was “100 stories one should know from the Bible”, I hadn’t finished it, but all I remembered was that it was full of scary punishment, and I thought: “See, this is religion, always trying to scare people and make people obedient; and there are so many wars that are caused by religion”.
One year ago, after I came to the United States, I started to join some Bible study groups, as a way to learn foreign culture. Gradually I found the Bible to be full of wisdom and philosophy, and I got to know that it wasn’t only for the west, but for the whole world. I was deeply attracted by the meaningful stories. So I wanted to learn more and more, I didn’t miss any opportunity for Bible study, I even attended Bible study 7 times a week at the peak.
At that time, although I was reading the Bible, praying and attending fellowship like a Christian, I knew my heart had not changed. Then I tried to do it not only with my brain, but with my heart, I could feel that God gradually changed me, I realized I was selfish, I was a sinner and needed savior. I was deeply moved by what Jesus had done for us. He is the savior!
Now when I read the Bible, I feel it’s a book full of love. Just like Jesus said, He is the light, the vine, the bread, to give me direction, strength and everything. I am really thankful to be a Christian, to put God first, to love, to serve.
Thank you all!
Long
I started attending English Bible classes about 11 months ago because I wanted to improve my English level. On the journey of my studies, I found that the Bible is a truly good and amazing book. The books of the Bible let me think deeply. I found many important truths and answers to those questions that I had been seeking for a long time.
Before I knew Jesus and God personally, I already had a feeling that God was with me. Looking back, I know that God was helping me make choices in my life and giving me guidance even though I knew nothing about Jesus or Christianity. In the first several months of Bible study, I had struggled with knowing whether the God of the Bible, along with Jesus, was the God who I felt but did not know.
I am sincerely thankful to God for arranging me to be a visiting scholar at Duke, and am very thankful for all the people who helped me realize that my God is the God in the Bible. When I believed in Jesus, I found no conflict in my mind. It was in fact God the Father, Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit who had been drawing me close to Him.
From that time, my purpose in attending Bible class changed from studying English to seeking true faith in the true God. I was willing to follow in my heart what is said in the Bible and to put God first.
I know that God loves man and that He sent his son Jesus to the world to wash away the sins of man. God made Him the only way to repair man’s relationship with God.
I have enjoyed praying, reading the Bible, and attending fellowship as part of my true belief in Jesus. Christ has taught us to love, give thanks, forgive, and to give up ourselves to glorify God.
Iris and I know that we are beginners in Christianity, but we want to make progress and grow as much as we can. Our country, our family, and our friends back home are atheistic, and we want to share the true Gospel with them in the hopes that they will be changed too.
-Zhang Long
Jing
A little over one year ago about twenty of us from Blacknall [Church] journeyed to
Mississippi. There we participated, however briefly and with limitations,
in Katrina Relief efforts.
Among us were several Duke students one of whom was a friend to a couple
of us. *At the time* Jing was not a believer, though he was not against
participating in activities – even Bible studies – with Christians. In
deciding to join the relief overture during spring break he admitted that
he had declined to go to “Florida with a couple of girls”, and instead
came with us whom he knew (and trusted). We are so glad he came along!
He was a delightful addition to our team! At the time we also believed
that important witness to Jesus could occur in his presence, mostly
informally, during a service experience.
*At the time*…
On Easter Sunday afternoon (2007) Jing was one of ten people who submitted
to Christian baptism in the Durham Chinese Church and gave testimony to
his beginning trust in Jesus. He is continuing to grow in the Lord (He is
reading through the Bible with a couple of students.) and has joined the
church choir!
P.S. Jing was baptized by Pastor Daniel, who himself came to faith while a
student at Duke many years ago!
Minhua
I became a Christian in May 2015, after being a seeker for more than five years. My journey started at Duke University when I was a PhD student in Electrical Engineering there from 2007 to 2012. I was invited to a student fellowship called Duke Chinese Christian Fellowship (DCCF) near Duke campus. Immediately I was attracted by the loving relationships in this Christian family. My first observation is that Christians are very sincere. They are willing to face their deepest or darkest parts of life, share them among us, and get help and encouragement through the words of Christ. There are very few places where you can find this kind of sincerity, transparency, and intimacy. I attended the fellowship regularly every Friday night, and sought the opportunity to understand the Christian belief behind this loving relationship. As a “elementary” seeker, I frequently challenged the truth and authority of the Bible. The believers there were very friendly and patient in answering my questions. At the same time I was very attracted by the elegance (e.g., Isaiah 40) and depth (e.g., Galatians 5) of the verses in the Bible. It is a beautiful book to read by itself. So I kept reading the Bible with enthusiasm and attending the fellowship, and became a “senior” seeker by the time I graduated from Duke. After that I stayed in Chicago for one year and moved to Seattle. I found the same kind of love in International Christian Fellowship (ICF) in Seattle.
As a researcher with an engineering background, I was trying to reach God through reasoning and reverse engineering. For many years I thought that only when I could understand God enough will I become a Christian. I could not believe a God that could not justify his existence and authority to me. The situation changed in May 2015 when I was working for a company in Seattle. After one year’s work in this company, I realized that this is not the kind of work I would like to do for a life time. I tried my best to plan a career path for myself, but the future is so vague and uncertain that I could not figure a way out. These thoughts hounded me and kept me from falling asleep for weeks. I even went to see doctors and took some medicines for the disorders I developed, but without much help. Finally I sought help from my Christian friends, and in a phone call to my spiritual mentor, I voluntarily accepted Jesus as my savior, believing that He is in control and He has a good plan for me (Jeremiah 29:11). After that prayer, my mental status gradually restored to normal, and I could have the kind of unexpected peace in my mind (Philippians 4:4-7). Praise the Lord who healed me. It is hard to explain why medicine could not cure my anxiety but faith in the Lord could, from the perspective of engineering or science. It is also hard to explain why believing God seemed so hard to me before, but now only through a short prayer I could do it. I realized that I should use my heart to reach out for God in addition to my brain, as experiencing God is more important than reasoning about God (Isaiah 55). In addition, God opened a way for me to explore a new job position in New Jersey. As I become a Christian, I understand that the real journey just started, and I will happily “press on toward the goal to win the prize” (Philippians 3 12-14).
Minhua Chen (August 2015)
Rosa
Hi, my name is Rosa, I’m from Singapore, and this is the story of how I met Christ.
I come from a pretty typical Asian upper-middle-class family that is non-Christian. In fact, till this day, I am one of the few Christians in my entire family. My parents are highly educated, and from a very early age, they emphasized to me the importance of education and hard work. Being an obedient daughter, I followed their teaching, worked very hard in school, and mostly attained the good grades required of me. Like most of my peers, I started to build my identity around my achievements at school – how much I excelled in academics, how pretty I looked, how many friends I had. These things defined who I was as a person. But even at an early age, I found that there was a sense of deep dissatisfaction in my heart. I was never happy with who I was. If I didn’t do well, I was crushed. Even when I did, I thought I needed to do even better, because there’s always someone who was smarter, prettier, or more popular than I was.
I started going to church with my grandparents when I was eleven years old. But after a few weeks, my initial enthusiasm about church began to wane, and going to church soon became just an obligation every Sunday. Although I was a “church-goer” all throughout high school, I didn’t really consider myself a believer. In fact, I was ashamed to identify myself as a Christian. Religion was a part of my life that was kept in a small box. As long as it remains hidden and didn’t interfere with the rest of my life, I’m ok keeping that box somewhere. Still, I thank God for my grandparents and those Sunday school teachers who kept me going to church all those years; because even though I wasn’t serious about my faith back then, at least it introduced me to Christianity, and planted a seed within me.
At the end of high school, and I was given an amazing opportunity to study abroad in the United States. I was really excited. There I was, at the age of 18, leaving home for the first time, travelling half way across the globe to a new land that was full of promise of new experiences and adventures. But little did I know that I was also about to meet Christ for the first time.
When I started my freshman year of college, I started attending weekly Sunday services held by a local campus ministry. I went to these services with the same attitude of boredom and indifference as I had before, but slowly I began to hear a repeated message that deeply intrigued me. The message was that Jesus Christ is a personal God, whom we can have a relationship with, and whom we can experience in our daily lives. It was a radical concept to me: that God isn’t just some being up in the clouds, but that He is actually a Person whom we can interact with and develop a relationship with. So this was when I decided there must be something more to Christianity and that I wanted to study this religion with more rigor. I attended foundations class, joined small groups, bible study groups, anything I could find. And as you can imagine, my knowledge of the Christian God grew exponentially. By the end of that year, I was convinced of the truth of Jesus, and I openly accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
So I came to accept Christ through studying the Word, reading books, hearing the testimonies of others, and a series of my own logical deductions. But those were all just head knowledge, and my heart was still somewhat unmoved at this point. Somewhere along the way, I began to pray this prayer: that God will reveal Himself to me personally, that I will experience Him in a mighty way. And God did answer my prayer, just often not in the way that I expected.
Starting my second year of college, I found myself going through a dark period in my life. Nothing drastic happened, but slowly and surely, things that I’ve found security in before all started etching away. I began to struggle in my academics. In the past, I’ve always been able to meet my goals with hard work and determination. But not this time; I struggled and struggled, and found myself struggling even more. Relationships that seemed so steady and fulfilling were suddenly full of tension and began to seem fragile and unpredictable. I gained a lot of weight within a short period of time and I was having body image issues. Even my faith, that I thought I had just found not long ago, didn’t seem to help much. In fact, I began to doubt the very existence of God. If God was real, where was He? Why was I struggling so much? Was this all a delusion? I tried to maintain my image on the outside, but on the inside, I was sinking deeper and deeper into depression. Everything that I have built my identity upon – my academics, my physical appearance, my relationships, my knowledge of God – started crumbling before my very eyes. It was as though whatever I had been standing on suddenly gave way, and I went on a free fall.
I wish I could tell you that at this point I cried out to God and He spoke through the clouds in a loud voice, but things are seldom that dramatic in my life. I had no faith to cry to God then, I barely wanted to talk to Him. But in my most desperate moments, I would sometimes whisper, “God, if you are there, you have to do something to save me. Because I don’t know how long more I can last like this. If you can’t save me no one can.”
Well, after going through depression for almost a whole year, I began to recover little by little. I struggled a little less in my academics; somehow I found the wisdom to deal with my relationship issues. With the encouragement of brothers and sisters around me, I began reading the bible and praying again, and found that my heart was once again filled with a new sense of hope. At some point, I realized, without a shadow of a doubt, that it was God who had saved me. I realized that in my darkest moments, He had always been there. When I had no more strength to carry on, Jesus was the one who carried me through. And at that moment I felt like He lifted the veil that covered my eyes, and I saw Jesus clearly for the first time. Beautiful Jesus, glorious Jesus, my Savior who delivered me, who deserves all of my praise.
That veil that had been covering my eyes was my own pride that was built upon the things of this world – idols of my heart that I was still holding on to so dearly. Only after all these idols were removed was I able to see Christ clearly without distractions. After that experience, I knew firmly in my heart who Jesus is. I’m not saying that my walk with God has been perfect ever since. In the years that followed, there were times when I still doubted God, when I was still angry at Him; sometimes it is still a daily struggle to put His will above my own. But I can always look back on that period of my life and know for a fact that God is real, that Jesus is alive within me.
I’m not sure how much change went on the outside, but I can testify that there has been an incredible transformation on the inside. In John 8:30-32, Jesus said “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. There is indeed such freedom in knowing the truth of Christ. There’s freedom from my sins— my sins of depression, unbelief, unrepentance, unforgiveness, self-reliance, and pride. All these sins were holding me bondage, but in Christ, I gave them up and found freedom, for His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).
But not only that, I found another kind of freedom – the freedom to be myself. I no longer have to prove my own self-worth, whether it’s through my academics, physical appearance, popularity, or whether I have a boyfriend. I am no longer defined by these things, but I am first and foremost child of God; my identity is grounded in Christ. My feet is no longer planted on things of this world, which are like shifting sands and can crumble without a moment’s notice; but they are now firmly planted in the Word of God that endures forever.
And because of this, I have found a new confidence in Christ, and by His grace, and new vision and a purpose. And the purpose is this – to worship God, to glorify His name in all that I do, no matter what it is. Whatever gifts He had graciously given me, I know I need to make full use of it and use it for his glory. I now have Christ as my shining light; I am no longer lost. I don’t know what my future holds, and at times I am still terrified of its uncertainties. But I have confidence that if I follow Christ, if I continue to fix my eyes upon Him, He will make my path will be straight and my life will ultimately fulfill the purpose that was intended to be fulfilled.
With this new confidence also comes a new sense of humility. One of my favorite verses comes from Isaiah 55:8-9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, either are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.”As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than you ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” The humility comes from knowing that ultimately I am not in control, that God is sovereign, and He is so much more infinitely wise and powerful than I; that I am like a mist, here today and vanishing tomorrow (James 4:14). But God can use a mist like me to do his will, and He still cares enough for me to help me in times of my desperate need. He loves me enough to die for me so that I can have a relationship with Him so that I can trust Him and depend on Him in my life. That, to me, is amazing. That describes a God that deserves all our worship and our praise.
So, that’s the story of how I met Jesus Christ. I hope this has been an encouragement to you. We all have our own path to finding God; but He is faithful, for He promised that if we seek him with all our hearts, we will ultimately find Him (Jeremiah 29:13).
Millie
I grew up in a small town in Northeastern China, knowing very little about Christianity. I had never been to a church before the age of 20, and I didn’t know any Christians personally before I came to the US. 16 years of education in China trained me to be an atheist. But personally, I thought it was still an open end question, and nobody really knew the truth. To me, it was an assumption under which we derive our own philosophy. But as for which assumption to make, that was just a personal choice. And when we were born into a certain culture, our culture had made the choice for us. As a Chinese, I thought I was born to be an atheist, just as I was born to eat with chopsticks. But after 2 years at Duke, I completely changed my mind and came to the decision of following Christ. How did this happen?
When I just arrived at Duke, I found myself exposed to Christianity for the first time in my life. I was curious about it, and I thought it was part of the American culture. I attended the Sunday service at the Duke Chapel, participated in Christian fellowships, and talked with several Christians. I was quite impressed, but I didn’t think I would ever need it in my life, since I came from a different culture. So when school started, I fully immersed myself into studying, and didn’t quite think about Christianity in my first year.
But in my second year, things started to go crazy. Last fall was the most challenging semester I have ever had. There was so much on my plate that it became a huge burden for me. I had to deal with never-ending tasks every day, and kept worrying even at night and couldn’t fall asleep. In this time of great stress and anxiety, I found a link to a daily prayer website on a professor’s homepage. From the prayer online, I read that God is in control of everything, and He loves me unconditionally, and knows all my worries and needs. These words poured into my heart just like rain falls into dry lands and brings life and hope. So at that time, I put aside my atheist assumption, and assumed that God exists, otherwise I was dying. I started to pray every night, and experienced life dependent on God and the power of God’s word in my daily life.
Finally, the storm ended and things started to settle down. From this personal experience with God, I realized that the assumption could make a very big difference. But I had very little intellectual knowledge about God, and I had tons of questions related with Christianity. So I attended the alpha course this spring, and learned two important lessons.
First of all, Christianity is not just an assumption. It is the most fundamental belief on which I am building my life.
And I praise God for everything He has done for me.
I praise God for leaving me uninformed for 20 years, so that my spiritual hunger could ever grow so strong and severe;
I praise God for giving me the bread just before I starved to death, so that I learned to appreciate it more than I ever could;
I praise God for drawing me into His family today by His almighty hands, so that I will never starve again.
Secondly, Christianity it is not constrained by cultural boundaries, and the truth of Christianity transcends all nations.
What a blessing it is when we become windows for each other to look into a different culture and see the same truth;
What a blessing it is when my parents and friends in China hear me talking today in a different language and yet the same voice;
What a blessing it is when the rain from Heaven is poured onto different peoples with the same thirst, and gives new life to everyone in His kingdom.
Zuying (in Mandarin)
Read pdf here
Allison
…from Singapore wrote this song