A New Life — Alice Luo’s Testimony

As a college student in Appleton, Wisconsin, I believed that as long as I worked hard, the future would be under my control.  God began to change this mentality subtly, beginning in my junior year when an elderly man invited me to attend services at his church.  I loved the wisdom of life in the pastor’s sermons, but felt no strong attraction to the message of “salvation.”  Life was easy for me then, and I saw no need for personal salvation.  My elderly friend also didn’t press me to know and accept Jesus into my life, perhaps to avoid pressuring me and overwhelming me with too much information.  Still, I so enjoyed what I heard from the pastor that I started digging into the Bible verses he mentioned.  Alas, I soon found myself bogged down for lack of guidance.

As time went on, I moved often between cities, and thus received few invitations to attend church and stopped going to services regularly.  I did make a small, crucial investment, however: I bought a personal Bible and always kept it with me.  Whenever I felt depressed, I would read small bits of it to gain insight for living.  Although I read the Bible irregularly and without much understanding at first, the habit grew until I was soon reading chapter after chapter from the book of Matthew.

All this prepared me for 2021, a very hard year for me.  At home in Beijing that year, one marked by political repression, I kept a grueling schedule, working during the day at a Chinese tea shop and attending Zoom classes late into the night for my master’s degree program at American University.  In May and June, my employer at the tea shop came under investigation for fraud.  I was devastated and became even more so when I later learned that the local government, instead of helping my employer, had sided with those who had tried to deceive and cheat him.  Another calamity followed soon after: my beloved grandma passed away suddenly from stroke, and I traveled for several days and nights with a grieving heart to attend her funeral at my dad’s home village.

After these stressful events, I returned to my routine of working at the tea shop and getting my schoolwork done.  The fraud case was eventually settled in my employer’s favor, and my grandma’s funeral was respectfully arranged by my family.  Everything seemed normal on the surface, but I began to feel a change coming over my heart and personality, one that I could not comprehend.  People often describe the change as “gaining maturity” or “entering adulthood”.  But I hated it, for I felt a hardening of my heart, and I saw in myself a negative, unsmiling, cold and sarcastic person.  I knew I was never like this, and now I suddenly didn’t know who I was or who I was becoming.  Some of the customers at the tea shop said I was finally getting to know the dark side of the world. Yet, in my heart, I knew this person wasn’t me, and it certainly wasn’t the person I wanted to become.

Amidst the confusion, I picked up reading the Bible again, this time with an even stronger yearning for its wisdom.  I used to rely on Daoist texts, Confucian writings, and Buddhist scriptures for insights as well.  But as I read the Bible, the Lord’ words moved me in a way that I didn’t fully understand, and I felt a growing personal relationship with God, one that I had found nowhere else.  I also longed to attend church services again.  Even though I was still hesitant to entrust myself fully to God, the Lord answered this longing with perfect timing and precision.

In August 2021 I moved to the D.C. area to complete my education, and discovered to my great astonishment that the Chinese Christian Church was just a 5-minute walk from my home!  I came to the church on the very first Sunday after arriving in the U.S., and I was elated to learn about the worship services, the Sunday school classes, the fellowship groups, and the opportunities for Bible study.

How unfathomable is God’s grace!  At the darkest and most disorienting time in my life, He brought me into His household at CCCGW!  Thanks to the love of brothers and sisters at our church, help from our pastors, and the Happiness Group ministry, I soon trusted God and prayed the Sinner’s Prayer to receive Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior.  I found comfort in Jesus and was finally able to leave behind the apathy, shame, and resentment that I had previously harbored against relatives, colleagues and friends.  Jesus gently cleansed me of these sins with his love and sacrificial death.  I changed my attitude and behavior toward others and stopped repaying evil with evil.

My new life as a Christian has indeed given me a new beginning!  I have regained my childlike kindness, innocence, and gentleness toward people and things, and I now live with incredible optimism.  I no longer worry so much about the future, and have peace in all areas of my life, be it work or study.  Even if things turn out differently than my expectation, I know I’ll always find joy in God.

Thanksgiving 2024 will be the third anniversary of my baptism at CCCGW.  I have since transitioned from being a student to a working professional, from life as a young girl to that of a married woman, and from thinking only of myself to being a Christ-follower willing to serve the Lord and his people.  I’m learning to discipline myself according to God’s Word, to manifest His enduring love.

May our Lord continue to strengthen me, grow my love, wisdom and endurance, and use me as I follow Jesus Christ in offering myself as an instrument for His service.