God's Sovereign Arrangement for me to Come to the Local Church

I was saved in a denomination during my senior year in high school in Hawaii. I thought I loved the Lord, but it was really hard for me to get into the Lord’s Word there, because in my fellowship group there was no such atmosphere of reading the Bible. Later, I was accepted into the University of California in Irvine. Upon my leaving Hawaii I was really desperately praying for a church to go to and a place to stay in Irvine. I had no relatives and no friends there, so I had to depend on the Lord wholly. Before I left Hawaii I received in the mail a letter asking me whether I would like to meet in UCI with the Christian Students on Campus. I checked the “yes?box and sent it back. There was no response or reply before I left Hawaii. I lived in a hotel in Irvine for many days and I would pray constantly for a church to go to and a place to stay.

On the first day of school in UCI, I saw a whole street of club booths on the road and people recruiting the freshmen to join. Suddenly I heard a group singing, and when I raised my head I saw a few people playing the guitar and many Caucasian and Asian faces brightly smiling and singing praise to God. I stopped and observed their joy. I really admired them. A Christian sister walked up to me and asked my name, and where I was from. Amazingly she recognized my name from the postcard which I had sent a long time ago from Hawaii. Within me there was just a confirmation that this was the church that I had prayed for; soon after I also found a place to stay.

Then I became really involved in church meetings. I had never before seen a group of Christians loving the Lord with all their heart and all their being. When I had difficulties they always came and comforted me, and showed me the Lord’s Word. So I started to love the Lord and get into the Word of God—the Bible. We always get into small groups and read a chapter of the Bible and are fed by it (John 6:57, 63). I really enjoy these Christian meetings, since they have helped me to understand the Word and even I can share with others the Word. 1 Timothy 2:4 says, “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.?I really think that meeting with the local church has helped me to the truth of God’s Word more fully.

J.T.

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