Growing Life (9) Testimony — Sophia Sung
Hello everyone, my name is Sophia, and I will be sharing my experience in taking Growing Life and how it brought change in my faith.
Growing Life was a life series that I always was willing to take; however, I always ended up moving it back using excuses like school and other personal reasons. Since the pandemic, I struggled with my relationship with God, I barely prayed once a day and did not feel comfortable attending my house church. I even found myself questioning if I am living a life of Christian and I wondered if I am being a hypocrite to my youth members. One day, Grace reached out to me and offered to take Growing Life with her. This was when my faith was weak and was most distant from God. Knowing that I needed some personal time with God, I took Grace’s offer gratefully and thinking that it’d be a blessing.
I started the 7-week journey with Grace with lots of excitement. I was eager to build a habit of doing daily QTs and prayer. However, during the first couple of weeks, I was dismayed by the amount of homework that I had to complete each week and was disappointed at finding myself struggling to do daily QT. I was frustrated to see how weak I was but as I continued to do my daily workbook and met up with Grace each week, my attitude towards my homework and this life series changed. I was reminded of the true foundation and the mindsets that I should have as a Christian. Before taking growing life, I was reluctant to pray but through learning the method and reasons to pray, I realized once again that prayer is not something that’s hard to do and I don’t need to find it burdensome. And most importantly, I was reminded that prayer is powerful. Furthermore, meeting up with Grace each week really allowed me to learn and grow. I sometimes attacked her with many questions regarding Christianity, but Grace always gladly and sincerely answered my questions. I was able to acknowledge that her answers were not just from her intellect, tradition and experiences, but through knowledge of God and scripture. I was also comforted and encouraged to know that I am not the only one struggling with prayer and bible reading and being attracted to worldly things. I came to accept that my old nature still lives in me but Jesus Christ who gave me a new life is still in control. All I have to do is let Christ direct my life and seek the love of God. I also realized once again that the youth ministry is not something that I do alone, but it is done through God’s guidance. Also, knowing that I have my youth ministry partners who are in one body of Christ, I felt less pressured to keep the burden to myself. Each day I learned His greatness and devotion towards me and through discipline, my heart gradually filled with peace and joy. As I start my day with devotional, gratitude and confidence became the basis of daily lives. And through deep conversations with Grace, I was able to find myself slowly changing.
Verse memorization that was difficult and overwhelming is now my shield when living my unstable life and my prayer to the Lord is no longer a duty but a conversation that brings confidence. Each day I begin to think about what I can do to glorify His name and now I purposefully live a life that lifts up His name. Through Growing life, though I did not experience a dramatic change, I know for sure that my attitude towards life changed; I’ve become more comfortable with sharing in my house church and I end the day with thanksgiving. Growing Life helped me draw closer to God and I was reassured that Jesus is surely the Indwelling Christ, Controlling All. As I live my life, I know I will continue to have ups and downs in my Christian journey and there may be times when I would skip Quiet Time. However, deep in my heart, I know who God is and His jealous love towards me. Therefore, I can rest in his love and presence regardless of my life situations. My prayer is that I will continue to build a healthy habit and walk with the Spirit.
Thank you for listening
