My Faith Story

Family Background

It was my mom who first came to faith through a Chinese Christian lady who shared the gospel with her in 1986. I was barely seven years old when my mom would bring me and my three siblings to a Bible-believing church which was three hours away from our hometown. Our six-hour round-trip Sunday travels to church lasted for 12 years, during which I prayed the sinner’s prayer and underwent water baptism twice. Thus, I grew up hearing Biblical preachings, attending Sunday School, memorizing verses, joining Bible quizzes, and studying in a Christian school. Although this is the case, I did not have a strong conviction of my sin and why I needed Jesus in my life. My childhood seemed perfect. I thought I was a “good” kid and didn’t see myself as having much of a sin problem unlike others.

Personal Encounter with Christ

I have a faint memory of the first time I prayed the sinner’s prayer. The second time, however, was much more vivid. I remember going to my Sunday school teacher and asking her to help me pray the prayer of acceptance again. I was in tears and told her that I was unsure where my soul would go if I were to die. She explained the gospel to me and led me in prayer. It was one April afternoon when I was twelve years old.

Years passed, and I was already in university when I made several poor decisions in my life. I felt that I would never be able to recover from my sinful ways. One midnight, my heart was gripped with overwhelming fear and guilt over my sins. I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Two questions deeply troubled me: “Am I really a Christian?” and “If I die tonight, where will my soul be?”

My soul was restless, searching for answers, so I reached for my Bible. As soon as I opened it, my eyes landed exactly on Romans 10:9–10:

“9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.”

As soon as I finished reading the verses my heart was filled with so much peace. It felt like the supernatural peace of God flowed from my head to the sole of my feet and has completely washed away all my guilt from sin and fear of death. The verses felt so alive to me that night, as if the words were jumping off the pages of the Bible, illuminating my darkened heart, and comforted my troubled soul.

I preached the verses to myself as I read it meditatively. I declared that Jesus is Lord, and I believed that God the Father raised him from the dead. I knew in my heart that I trusted Jesus. He is my Lord and Savior, the only answer to my problem of sin, guilt, and fear.

Afterwards, I climbed into bed and immediately fell asleep. My soul was finally at peace with God.

Maricon is one of our authors. She is serving with her husband who is the Assistant Pastor at Immanuel Church in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. She is homeschooling their children, Sophia and Joash.