How we found SDA Church

[banyandreams]

It was some days before the Chinese New Year, 2004. My father was suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and catracts, while I was facing a major crisis in life, and did not know what to do.

My father and I prayed to God for help, we prayed that God would guide us to find a true church that we could feel at home and might fit in. For we had been Christians for many years, we could not find such a church.

Then on the 4th of the New Year, which happened to be a Saturday, I didn't know why but that morning I felt headache. I told my father I wanted to go out for a walk. My father didn't like me to go out to the nearby river beach alone, so he suggested we ride bikes together to the city to look for church.

I called a pastor of the True Jesus Church that I knew before and asked if he could give us the address of a church in our city. He gave us. So we rode toward the place which he told us. It was about 40 minutes' bike ride from our home. When we got to the street, we found there were two churches across from each other and both were having service inside. We felt puzzled and didn't know which one to enter. We parked our bikes in front of one of the churches. A man gave us a program schedule and told us there was a music service for New Year celebration inside the church. As I was very fond of singing, especially after I came back from Africa, I said to my father, "We can always go to the other church at any time, but this music service is only once, if we miss it we can't have it again." So we decided to enter this church.

We were not disappointed. Actually the service was far beyond our expectation. I had never heard such beautiful choir singing before in China, in four parts of voice. I remember they had altogether 22 programs that day, group singing, duet, choir singing, etc, some were performed by children, very cute and nice. Moreover, although the church was under construction, the stairs didn't even have rails and the floors were bare cement, but I felt there was a family-like atmosphere in the church. Many people came with their aged parents and their little children. After service, I saw them greeting each other as if they had known for many years. Then we had lunch together in the church. This was my first time to have lunch in the church. In the churches I had been to before, people always went home right after the service, not knowing each other even after many years.

I was thinking about whether we should come back regularly or not, then an inner voice told me “When you get a good thing, take fast hold of it and do not let it go. So I begged my father, "Let's come to this church every week!" And my father agreed because he also liked this church very much.

So we went to that church every week. Later we found it was a Seventh-day Adventist Church.

By and by, they lent us books to read. The more we learned, the more we believed it was just the church that we prayed for.

I was looking for job at that time. I had been a teacher, but I felt dissatisfied with the school system and the methods employed in the schools. I prayed for God's guidance. And then I thought why must Christian teachers go to schools that deny God to teach, while so many Christian parents spend so much money to send their children to these schools to study? If parents would only give half of that money to us, we would educate their children in a much better way than those schools. So I told this idea to a sister in our church, she told me the church in Shencheng were already doing that. So I went to Shencheng.

I found it was a lovely and lively church, with a congregation of about 50-60 people, 70-80 at most. But they did a lot of work. They heeded to health diets and set up medical evangelism training program several years ago, then about three years ago, they gathered 14 or so of their children, and employed Christian teachers to teach them in the church. Every Sabbath afternoon, they divided into groups by age and studied Ellen White's works and made discussion. It was this weekly study of truth that gave them wisdom and faith to do the many works that other bigger churches were unable to carry out, because of people's mind being too much influenced by worldly standards and opinions.

I spent many happy days there with the children and the brothers and sisters. I made some drawings of our daily life, which may be seen at this page:

http://matthew.hitechemall.com/garhvn/Arts/Shencheng/shencheng.htm

It was a big turning point both for me and for my family to find SDA church. I had been wandering in the world but now God has opened a way for me to go. Although I still do not know all about my future, but I trust God will continue to lead me, this brings a deep peace in my heart.

When I came back from Shencheng, I had so many new things to share with my family. First of all was how to eat healthily and nutritiously.

Although we had read Counsels on Diet and Foods, left alone by ourselves, we would turn vegetarian diet into mal-nutritious diet. However in Shencheng, I saw how richly God prepared for us, it is possible for us to eat like kings and queens without eating flesh.

At that time my father was suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure and cataract. Since we practiced vegetarian diet, within half a year, he went back to the hospital to take physical examination and found he was healed completely. My father was very happy, he would tell others his experience whenever there is a chance. For this his faith increased greatly.

[olger]

Praise Him indeed

[Guest truthseeker007]

Great story, i wish i could be one of you. Once i enter a church i feel condemned by the other church people. The last time i felt so incredibly terrible and alone. well, i ll always be an outsider till the day i ll cease to exist.

[banyandreams]

Dear truth seeker, I can understand your feeling. Do not be disappointed. We are all very different people, we have different ways of thinking, of doing things, of saying things, which sometimes make us feel shut out from a community when we happen to be the minority. I guess we need to learn to express ourselves, to win others' understanding instead of arousing hard feelings...it needs wisdom, a love for life, for God and for others...

[banyandreams]

Seek and ye shall find. God has given us this promise. So I will not stop seeking. I believe I can find friends that can understand each other, and share some common principles, interests and goals.

In the world of plants, some plants may grow better with some kinds of plants, but may get sick when growing by other kinds of plants. We need to find out which plants can be grown together, which not.

But first I think I need to let others know what kind of a person I am. I can't blame others not understand me when I have made no effort to let others understand me. After this effort, I believe I can always have a circle of friends, no matter how small it may be.

[Guest truthseeker007]

thanks banyandreams. I hope the churches in CHina will prosper and achieve the freedom to worship the way they want. The Western point of view on China is pretty negative concerning human rights and censorship etc. I am glad you ve found the right church. The best church in the world.

[Gerr]

Great story, i wish i could be one of you. Once i enter a church i feel condemned by the other church people. The last time i felt so incredibly terrible and alone. well, i ll always be an outsider till the day i ll cease to exist.

No one can take away your peace unless you let them.

"There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Rom 8:1 NKJ

Gerry

[Gerr]

Thanks for a great story. I love reading stories of people who are drawn to Jesus.

Gerry

[Guest truthseeker007]

Please pray i ll be able to keep walking in the spirit and not let my flesh take over my life again. Those two are always at war with each other inside of me.

[banyandreams]

Look to Jesus and not look to yourself. The more we look to ourselves, the weaker we would become, for we are but flesh and sinful. Look to Jesus, fill our thought with His goodness, His example, and with all the beautiful and lovely things He created and set around us, we will be changed into a person like Him, lovely and beautiful.

Do you know that in gardening, the best way to fight diseases and pests are to make the soil fertile so as to keep the plants strong and healthy? It is better than to concentrate on pulling of weeds and killing pests.

Be postive! Think upon heavenly things, and read heavenly books, talk about heavenly things, and do heavenly things, surround ourselves with heavenly things, then evil will have less chance to bother us.

[phkrause]

Very good advice.

pkrause

[Tallmark]

"You are what you think." This is more true than most people realize. I'm against doctors and the things they have to do to treat dis-eases. So many times EGW says that our doctors are supposed to be different than the world's. Not to use drugs, treat with veg meals, fresh air, sunshine, etc. We're not any different than the world's docs, and we're having the same dis-eases as the rest of the world. I read a book once called "Your body believes everything you tell it." The title alone says everything. So many people who forget things (which everyone does sometimes) say something like "... well, my mind's starting to go already." They're conditioning themselves to be morons.

Most people work for a big hospital in the congregation that I attend. My views are not welcomed there. I walk in every Sabbath knowing that my presence is a blessing to many. Sure enough, it is. How different would things be if my attitude was negative.

There will always be someone ready to cast that first stone, but I'm not going to give them a thought in my brain. Neither should you. Focus on those who you bless by being there.

[Naomi]

Yours is a beautiful testimony about what God has done for you and your family. Not everyone in the Family Of God will share your love, and peace. Most will understand and rejoyce with you.

thank you so much for loving, and caring enough to share.

Courage!